Welcoming the 173rd Airborne

The past couple of weeks have been fairly hellish.

We have had two CODELS, McCain and Bachmann. Plus, we have had two major conferences, the Lennart Meri Conference and the Freedom Online Coalition ministerial. Each conference brought high level visitors, including our Ambassadors to NATO and the OSCE and our A/S for Democracy, Rights and Labor. Plus, the Under Secretary for Management was here at the same time.

None, not one, of our visitors was the nightmare that visitors can sometimes be, but we are a small embassy and these visits involved lots of moving parts, lots of juggling. It has been exhausting.

Of course, a big part of the reason for all this is that with the crisis in Ukraine, suddenly everyone is interested in Estonia. Even my family members who thought when I got assigned here that Estonia was in Africa now know exactly where Estonia is.

So in addition to all the visitors, we also had lots of military stuff going on. Like the rotation of the Baltic Air Policing from us to the Danes, marking the first time that the Estonian air base will be used for that mission. Previously, all the flights have been done out of Lithuania.

And then there was this:



The 173rd Airborne sent a company to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They arrived here on Monday. With the way Russia has been behaving, everyone is happy to see them!

I actually got the be there for this one. I am exhausted, but that was a "man, I love my job" kind of day!

On Trailing

I am going to come out and say it.

I HATE the term "trailing spouse."

It is offensive.

The Foreign Service is one of the last bastions in many cases of what we think of as a 50s marriage. Dad works, mom stays home.

Two things.

That never really existed, and "Mom" didn't "stay home. She worked her a$$ off.

The Foreign Service though, can make it difficult for the non-employee spouse to have a regular career (unless you are a tandem couple). So the non-employee, male or female, must try to get embassy jobs or try to have a portable career. It is hard, sometimes impossible.

I joined so I wouldn't be a "trailing spouse." Gave up a career I loved to be with my wife. I don't regret it. I love my job and my life.

Plus

"Trailing Spouse" is the hardest job in the service.

The Huffington Post has a nice piece on trailing spouses and how hard it is for non-employee expats (not specifically about the Foreign Service).

PNG Me

So apparently Robert Mugabe is threatening to expel from Zimbabwe any Western diplomat who promotes gay rights.

He said:

“We will never have that here and if there are any diplomats who will talk of any homosexuality, just tell me. We will kick them out of the country without any excuse. We won’t even listen.”

You know, we normally try NOT to get PNG'd (declared persona non grata and expelled from our host country) in this line of work.

But...

I would wear that PNG like a badge of honor!

Career diplomat discusses gay rights in foreign service

Al Kamen with the Washington Post had a nice piece in "In The Loop" on Richard Hoegland. Often, Kamen makes me cringe...he often has things to say about the State Department that are profoundly unflattering. Sometimes justified, sometimes not.

In my humble opinion.

Let's just say that when they tell us in A-100 to be careful what we say and do in public and to make sure it passes the Washington Post sniff test (would you want it in the Post), they mean would you want to see it in "In The Loop."

Ambassador Hoegland was one of the founding members of GLIFAA, Gays and Lesbians In Foreign Affairs Agencies. And he is one of the ones that made sure that people like me can do our jobs without worrying that we will lose our clearance over our sexual orientation.

The article says:

Hoagland recalled a time in the 1990s when his security clearance was taking a long time to be renewed, and he suspected it could have to do with concerns about him being gay. He went to the head of diplomatic security and threatened, “You have no reason to deny my security clearance. I want it on my desk in one week, or I’m going to The Washington Post.”

Ambassador Hoegland spoke Wednesday at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Pride Conference.

He said that he had his clearance one week after that fateful confrontation.

He also said that he wasn't there to rehash ancient history. He said:

Despite such advances made worldwide, much remains to be done to promote and protect the rights of LGBT persons. It is the duty of American diplomats to shape foreign policy to promote human rights for all persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, especially in the far reaches of those countries that prove most hostile towards them. We rely on our strong Department of State leadership to back these efforts, and ensure that our diplomatic corps prioritizes human rights for all.

It is certainly my priority.

Springtime Allergies

Spring is awesome...it starts warming up (I hate hate hate cold weather...love Estonia, but really winter sucks), birds start singing, flowers start blooming. And since I don't really suffer from allergies, there is just no downside to spring.

Except...

Two things are bad about spring.

Taxes, which I wrote about yesterday.

And this.

EERs.

For those not in the State Department, this means Employee Evaluation Report. It covers the period from April 16-April 15 and is due May 15. It is the time when you write about how you single handedly saved the world and your supervisor says that you are the most awesome officer ever (except for every other officer who is also the most awesome officer ever). Everyone walks on water in EERs. As I have said before, you not only have to walk on water while turning it into wine in order to stand out. 

The people who are best at it, and therefore more likely to get promoted, are the ones who are best at taking credit for everything and for general self-aggrandizement. Those who like to give credit to the team, who also tend to be the kind of folks who you would want to work with and for, tend not to be as good at it.

I hate EERs. I feel dirty writing them.

I would almost like to go back to the old way of doing them, which you can check out from the form below and the post I wrote about it four years ago:

From February 2010:

I wish I could take credit for finding this gem. Actually my wife found it (though really, if I can't take credit for what she does, whose efforts can I take credit for?!)

At any rate, it seems particularly timely given our (me and No Double Standard) recent discussion of EERs and the like. What my wife found was Form FS 316, the Performance Report for Foreign Service Officers, Revised June 1949 (and then according to a stamp on the page, again revised in June of 1958).

Now by Foreign Service Officers, the form means male FSOs...there are no feminine pronouns on the form.

Also missing from the form are the big blank boxes you have to fill in (there is only one for a summary and recommendations). Not even a "suicide box." No, instead, it is a bunch of multiple choice descriptors and the rater is to underline the one which is most descriptive of the officer and his job performance and to x out the letter of the one least descriptive.

So an example is:
A. He will probably not go much further in the service
B. He demands a high degree of efficiency from those associated with him
C. He is not active in seeking desirable contacts
D. He is imaginative
E. He is probably one of our future career ministers.

You get the idea. As I said, SHE is not an option. But at least I couldn't find the part where they graded an officer on his wife's ability to host social functions.

So with that in mind, I thought I'd share some of the funnier descriptors:

*He shows little taste in his clothes. (Maybe this is why Secretary Powell had to put out the memo saying no flip flops or sparkly tank tops)

*He is inclined to be pompous (I wonder if they consider this a good thing or a bad thing?)

*He is careless in his personal habits (this is the guy who got dust on his pants and the dust stayed there for the whole season...he wore them EVERY DAY).

* He becomes emotionally upset at times. (What, screaming is bad?)

* He gives little promise of development (And yet still gets promoted)

* He is a clock watcher in slack periods (How is this a bad thing?)

* He is petty in minor matters (and in major ones, he melts down completely)

* He is slow (How often have you asked how someone passed the FSOT?)

* He does not wear well as one knows him better (He seemed nice for the first 5 seconds I knew him)

* He bores intelligent people (this is my personal favorite)

* He has an exaggerated idea of his own importance. (I am pretty sure I worked with that guy).

* He has a tendency towards hair splitting (is this a comment on his appearance?)

* He is of limited intellectual attainments (no doubt the guy who bores intelligent people)

* His personal appearance is an asset (well thank god for that)

* He is overbearing (In the Foreign Service? Shocking!)

* He impresses you as not being fully alive to the problem you are discussing (or maybe just not fully alive?)

You know, as I read this through, maybe we should bring it back. Of course, there'd be tons of lawsuits ("You can't call me stupid! Everyone is special!"), but there'd also be some honesty in the EER. Really all you need to do is add a feminine pronoun.

Tax Day

Today is tax day.

For the first time, we were allowed to file as a married couple.

Partly, anyway.

We did of course have to pay the "marriage penalty." I am okay with that for equality, and for the ability to protect my family (even when she is singing "What Does The Fox Say?", which she is as I type this).

But the extra that I am not okay with paying?

Having to get an accountant to do our taxes because they are now too complicated for me to risk doing.

And they are too complicated because we file as married federally and in Maryland, where we are now residents (yay! Full citizenship!).

But in Virginia and South Carolina, where we own property, we must file as single, as strangers. As though I picked a random person to buy property with.

And in order to file as single, not only do we file two returns instead of one, but we also must do FAKE single federal forms in order to figure out what we owe as single people. Which, of course, we are not.

South Carolina and North Carolina have been running this awareness campaign called #Married364. As in, we are married every day of the year except tax day.

And as one of my best friends, who is also legally married, on that day, we are forced to lie.

Preparations

So the preparations have truly begun.

We have just three months left in Tallinn.

I have begun my list of what needs to be in the suitcase, the carry on, and the UAB.

Lists make me happy...and more relaxed.

But of all that we have to take home with us, what always concerns me most is the pets. This is why I started the process of getting the CITES permit for my bird several months ago (I have the Estonian one...still waiting for the U.S. permit).

Last week, I took my dog for her shots, and today it was the cats' turn.

Now they are all ready to go...they even have their passports!

"Lemmiklooma Pass" means Pet's Passport in Estonian.
I love that the word for pet, lemmikloom,
comes from lemmik (favorite) and loom (animal).

#UnitedForUkraine

Embassy Tallinn is #UnitedForUkraine

It Isn't Just Ambassadorial Appointees Who Are Waiting

You would think that with all that is going on in Ukraine and the need for diplomacy to help keep this from escalating to World War III that our Congress would prioritize, at least for a few minutes, the Foreign Service.

And you would be wrong.

I get it. I have ranted plenty about political appointee ambassadors and how there are too many of them and that some, especially recently, have been, shall we say, underwhelming in the qualifications department.

So I had considered blogging about the recent articles in the Washington Post about the backlog of ambassadorial appointments that are just sitting, waiting for Senate action. But I hadn't done it yet. Because I get it. They want to make a point about the sometimes profoundly unqualified donors selected to be ambassadors to important allies. But I also know they were sitting on career appointees too, who generally (but not always) do know about the countries to which they are headed. This leaves a lot of posts without an ambassador...some 28 ambassadorial vacancies in Central and South America, and 10 of 40 posts in Africa are also waiting. Most of these are not posts given to political appointees. Some of these folks have been waiting for nearly a year, (for the wait times, look here) and for the usually decidedly not wealthy career appointees (a career in government service in NOT a path to wealth unless you are serving in Congress), this means trying to find temporary jobs and housing while they wait. It is expensive for them, hard for posts, hard for the jobs they sit in waiting to leave, hard for our diplomatic relations with those countries....basically, hard for everyone but Congress.

So the post was coming...I just hadn't written it yet.

And then I get an email today from AFSA, the American Foreign Service Assocation, our "union" of sorts (they can bargain for us but we can't strike).

It seems that the Senate is not just sitting on ambassadorial appointments.

According to the email, the Senate is now holding up the commissioning, tenuring and promotions of some 1,700 folks in the Foreign Service. They do say that "progress has been made," but I don't read that as they have actually released the hold.

Come on now people.

We aren't talking about Ambassadors here. We are talking about the average Joes working in the Foreign Service. And for most of these, we are talking about the absolutely most junior diplomats. Commissioning usually happens short after you come on board and finish A-100. Tenuring usually happens within your first three to five years in the Service. It has to happen within five years or you are out (so if Congress holds up approving tenure for these officers too long, people who we want to keep will be forced out). So we aren't talking about folks who have been in a long time. Lots of these folks are sitting in visa mills, making sure people can come visit the U.S. (and spend their money here), making sure you can get home from overseas when your passport is stolen, making sure you are cared for in an overseas hospital or jail should bad things befall you on your trip. They are the lowest ranked, lowest paid of the exceptionally bright and motivated people we bring into the Foreign Service each year.

This seems like a good way to keep them from remaining motivated.

And the promotions? Those can range anywhere from those newly minted diplomats getting administrative promotions to senior Foreign Service. But let me assure you, the numbers of promotions at the upper level pale in comparison to those at the junior and mid-level. (ON EDIT: I was told the promotions are only Senior Foreign Service).

You are hurting solidly middle-class Americans who are deeply devoted to this country and want to serve it.

Stop it.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

From left; U.S. Ambassador to Australia John Berry, U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Daniel Baer, U.S. Ambassador to Spain James Costos, U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford and U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic James “Wally” Brewster. (Photo by Blake Bergen, courtesy of GLIFAA)

GLIFAA (Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies) recently met with the five current Ambassadors who are openly gay. The meeting was covered by the Washington Blade, so you can read about it here.

A friend forwarded me the piece and asked, "See anything wrong with this picture?"

I did immediately. Do you?

I'll give you a hint: I have complained about it before.

I am glad there are openly gay ambassadors. Truly I am.

But where is the diversity here?

Why is there not a single lesbian in the group? A single person of color? Hell, even a single career person (though I hear rumors that at least that couple change soon, though we will still not have a lesbian or person of color in the bunch)?

It is time.

Past time, really.

Welcome to the 176th A-100!

Look, I remembered! (Cut me some slack...getting old is hard!)

Tomorrow, the latest crop of diplomats,  the 176th A-100 class, will begin their journey at the Foreign Service Institute. I hope there will be bloggers among them!

I know at least on blogger, Lynne over at Like Nomads, but with more stuff, will be among them. Congrats on becoming a tandem Lynne!

If you know of any other bloggers in the class, let me know so I can give them a shout out.

And welcome to the Foreign Service y'all!

Ten Years

Ten years. Three thousand, six hundred and fifty two days.

I can't believe it has been ten years since I walked into the Foreign Service Institute for the first time, found my way to that classroom that was not nearly large enough for the nearly 100 of us us over eager, uber keen, bright eyed and enthusiastic new diplomats.

I remember how nervous we all were, many (most, all?) of us feeling out of place among such over achievers. Wondering if we belonged. Wondering if we'd make it. Wondering what that future, and the world, held for us.

Wondering if everyone else felt as uncomfortable as I did in a suit!

A lot has happened in that ten years.

At times it has flown. At times it has crawled.

There have been times I couldn't believe they paid me to do this job and times I didn't feel they paid me enough to do this job.

 There have certainly been plenty of times when I contemplated leaving the service. By my count, about five percent of my orientation class did just that.

But mostly, I feel glad to have found this career and privileged to serve the country this way (even when the country doesn't seem to appreciate that service). And I am glad to work for an organization that treated us like a tandem before it could say so legally, and treated us like an official tandem even before the so-called Defense of Marriage Act was overturned. And I am glad to work for an organization that now advocates for LGBT rights world wide. And they pay me to be a part of that.

Which is pretty cool.

So happy 10th anniversary to the 118th A-100! We have made it halfway!

At Your Service Around the World

The Washington Post had a nice piece this past week about embassies around the world helping American citizens.

It is a really nice piece and I recommend you read it. It talks a lot about the work our consular officers do helping Americans, from warning them of potential dangers to issuing them new passports or in some happy cases, birth certificates (Babies entitled to American citizenship who are born abroad receive a CRBA, or Consular Report of Birth Abroad).

The reporter actually spent some time observing a consular officer doing his job. It is important work that I think most Americans, particularly those in Congress, are unaware of. As one of my colleagues said in a comment on the article, if Congress spent a day observing what we do abroad for American citizens, they would probably be rushing to increase our staff and budget rather than axing it.

And speaking of doing the right thing....

Speaking of doing the right thing, let me introduce you to our Ambassador to Uganda, Scott DeLisi.

He recognizes that getting to come to the United States is a privilege, one you probably shouldn't get if you

So he said that some visas may be denied for those people.


In an interview with the BBC World Service, Ambassador DeLisi, responding to a question about articles published by the Red Pepper newspaper under the headline “Uganda’s Top 200 Homos Named,” said: “We as a government … are appalled by the course that the Red Pepper has chosen...What they do within their society I may not be able to control, but I can tell you they will not be welcome in the United States of America…. Visas can be denied for people who incite violence, people who propagate hate, who have used political violence. There are many bases on which we can deny a visa. And I can tell you that we will be examining all of these issues as we move forward.”

Bravo!

Secretary Kerry Calls Discrimination Against Global LGBT "An Affront to Every Reasonable Conscience"

We have been really fortunate lately with our Secretaries of State, particularly from an LGBT perspective.

Secretary Clinton was obviously a rock star and from day one, wanted to do what she could to make the lives of LGBT people around the world better. And she was willing to start at home, with her own diplomats. And let me tell you, life is better for the changes we made.

And then we got our current Secretary of State, John Kerry. Secretary Kerry was an ally when it wasn't cool to be an ally. He was one of the the few, and the only one up for re-election at the time, who voted against the now defunct so-called Defense of Marriage Act. That took guts.

What he is doing now takes guts too. We are seeing a lot of backlash against LGBT people as a result of the Supreme Court overturning parts of DOMA. A flurry of laws have been considered (and thankfully dispatched, if not for the right reasons) under the guise of defending religious freedom. (And if you  think your religious freedom is being interfered with by my right to marry, please read this.)

Abroad, worse things are happening. In Uganda, they have passed a law making it illegal for being gay. You can go to jail for life for the crime of who you are and who you love. You can also be thrown in jail for not reporting a family (so to the family member I unfriended on Facebook last night for his snarky comments about world response to this law, I guess you would happily turn me in and see me serve life in prison.)

So in light of this law, I am really happy to see that Secretary Kerry is responding to this and all of the laws targeting LGBT people by saying we are going to focus on combating discrimination against LGBT across the globe.

He gets it.

During a press conference on the release of our annual Human Rights Report, he said the law in Uganda and those in some 80 countries around the globe, from Nigeria to Russia to Iran, are "an affront to every reasonable conscience."

And then he said:

“You could change the focus of this legislation to black or Jewish, and you could be in 1930s Germany, or you could be in 1950s or ’60s apartheid South Africa,” Kerry said during a roundtable interview with reporters Wednesday. “It was wrong there, egregiously, in both places, and it is wrong here.”

Exactly.

And thank you.

Unsettled

There used to be a blog out there called "Six Months of Settled." The idea behind the title is that as Foreign Service Officers, between arriving at a post and getting past culture shock and really settling in until you are bidding again and then mentally moving on, you get to feel settled in a country for about six months.

It is fairly true, but I feel like I have gotten more than that out of Tallinn.

Living here is easy and pleasant. There is so little of what you need to live comfortably that you can't obtain really easily here that it makes it easy to just snuggle in quickly like I do with my flannel sheets (because it does get cold!).

I have loved my time here. I love my job, my staff, and this whole place. So I have postponed mentally moving on because I like it so much here. Through the bidding process and getting assigned to my onward post, I never checked out of Estonia.

And I am still not ready to leave, but as I approach my last five months in Tallinn, I admit I am beginning to feel unsettled. And it makes me sad.

On the Myers-Briggs scale, I am an ENTJ. And I think it is the J part that really REALLY likes to plan. I love lists. I love having a schedule. I love thinking about what I am doing next and organizing it in my head and on paper.

I have already started the process of getting my orders, already registered for training, already made plane reservations for us and the pets, already gotten a welcome cable from Kosovo. And while I have avoiding breaking out the pen and paper so far, in my head, I am already making lists.

What do I need to remember to put in my suitcase? Should I start packing it now (NO!)

What should I put in my UAB?  Should I set it aside in one of the rooms we seldom use (again, NO!).

Maybe I should just start my inventory. (Okay, maybe).

I am even making lists of things I want to do to our new place in Maryland and things I will want to put into our consumables shipment to Kosovo (dog food, cat food, bird food...and diet Mt. Dew).

One list I should make, but won't, is places I should visit before I leave.

I figure, if I miss something I wanted to see, I will just have to come back.

And I will want to come back. Because I don't want to leave.

Feds to expand legal benefits, services for same-sex marriages

Some more good news out of DC. The Department of Justice has decided to expand recognition of same-sex marriages in the areas of federal legal matters, even if the couple does not reside in a marriage equality state.

This means that a person can visit his or her same-sex spouse in prison and the couple can file jointly for federal bankruptcy. It also means that just like with heterosexual couples, a same-sex spouse can not be compelled to testify against his or her spouse. There is already one case I know of where a woman was threatened with jail for not testifying against her wife.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said, "Just like during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the stakes involved in this generation's struggle for LGBT equality could not be higher...As attorney general, I will not let this Department be simply a bystander during this important moment in history."

You can read more here and here.

Just Getting Back...

I just got in last night from R&R (yay! Folly Beach!), so I owe you a few posts, some about the trip but mostly catching up on things I missed posting about.

I'll backdate them so that they appear in chronological order. 

State of the Union Address

Last night's State of the Union Address was phenomenal, particularly in terms of the shout-outs for diplomacy and diplomats.

Like this one:

"And I know this chamber agrees that few Americans give more to their country than our diplomats and the men and women of the United States armed forces. (Extended applause.) Thank you.

Tonight, because of the extraordinary troops and civilians who risk and lay down their lives to keep us free, the United States is more secure."

And this:

You see, in a world of complex threats, our security, our leadership depends on all elements of our power -- including strong and principled diplomacy. American diplomacy has rallied more than 50 countries to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands, and allowed us to reduce our own reliance on Cold War stockpiles.

American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria's chemical weapons are being eliminated. (Applause.) And we will continue to work with the international community to usher in the future the Syrian people deserve -- a future free of dictatorship, terror and fear.

As we speak, American diplomacy is supporting Israelis and Palestinians as they engage in the difficult but necessary talks to end the conflict there; to achieve dignity and an independent state for Palestinians, and lasting peace and security for the state of Israel -- a Jewish state that knows America will always be at their side. (Applause.)

And it is American diplomacy, backed by pressure, that has halted the progress of Iran's nuclear program -- and rolled back parts of that program -- for the very first time in a decade. As we gather here tonight, Iran has begun to eliminate its stockpile of higher levels of enriched uranium.

It's not installing advanced centrifuges. Unprecedented inspections help the world verify every day that Iran is not building a bomb. And with our allies and partners, we're engaged in negotiations to see if we can peacefully achieve a goal we all share: preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. (Applause.)

These negotiations will be difficult; they may not succeed. We are clear-eyed about Iran's support for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, which threaten our allies; and we're clear about the mistrust between our nations, mistrust that cannot be wished away. But these negotiations don't rely on trust; any long-term deal we agree to must be based on verifiable action that convinces us and the international community that Iran is not building a nuclear bomb. If John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today. (Applause.)

The sanctions that we put in place helped make this opportunity possible. But let me be clear: if this Congress sends me a new sanctions bill now that threatens to derail these talks, I will veto it. (Applause.) For the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed.

You can read the entire speech here.

State Department Reply to the Washington Diplomat

Director of the Office of Recruitment, Examination and Employment at the Department of State Kaara Ettesvold penned a reply to the article in the Washington Diplomat about the hiring slowdown at State.

She did note one error in the article:

"I would note that the article indicated that candidates who convert to the Foreign Service from the Civil Service (via the Mustang Program) or from Foreign Service Specialist positions are able to enter non-competitively. In fact, those who apply for these conversion programs also pass through a QEP process and sit for the same oral assessment that others face. These programs, which allow conversion candidates who pass the oral assessment to join the next entry class of Foreign Service employees, provide career mobility opportunities to Department employees in recognition of their skills and past service.

It is important to recognize the dedication of the thousands who pursue a candidacy for the Foreign Service. Many government agencies and private corporations consider the Department of State’s assessment process as the “gold standard” for competitive hiring, but, like any assessment process, it is certainly not perfect. We constantly evaluate and revise our process to make sure it continues to meet the needs of the Department as well as give opportunities to the broadest segment of U.S. citizens. Those of us who interact with candidates -- from recruiters and Diplomats in Residence (DIRs), to officers conducting the QEP and oral assessment -- are constantly impressed by the talent, creativity, dedication and perseverance of our candidates. Via our www.careers.state.gov website, we offer various ways to engage with candidates, from contact with the DIRs to a real-time exchange of information on the Forums."

You can read the entire letter here.