The Foreign Service Journal, June 2016

8 JUNE 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL LETTER FROM THE EDITOR A Heightened Focus on Corruption BY SHAWN DORMAN T Shawn Dorman is the editor of The Foreign Service Journal. Department officials. Yes, we have three articles from State Department officials writing in their official capacities. This is something we usually avoid. As AFSA’s flagship pub- lication, the FSJ is the voice of the U. S. Foreign Service—not a State Department mouthpiece—and we value our editorial independence highly. In this case, eachmember of the FSJ Editorial Board—a model of good gover- nance at the micro level—evaluated and scored each article separately on its merits, as always. Following a lively debate about the wisdomof publishing three pieces from senior department officials, the board decided it was worth doing. The reasoning: Each article takes a different angle on the theme, and together they comprise a solid overview of current U.S. policy on corruption—corruption as a front-line policy priority (Assistant Sec- retary Brownfield); the security dimensio n of corruption (Under Secretary Sewall) ; and a ground-level case study in efforts to combat corruption (FSOGeorge Kent) . Those articles are followed by an examination of “The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Rule of Law Abroad” byThomas Firestone, an expert on inter- national corruption and attorney who spent eight years as a legal adviser at U.S. Embassy Moscow. And for an assessment of the impact that tolerance of corruption can have on outcomes, State Department Historian Ste- phen Randolph offers “Foreign Policy and the Complexities of Corruption: The Case of South Vietnam.” his month’s focus is on global anti-corruption efforts, a leading foreign policy priority for the United States. The problemof corruption and its corrosive impact and the challenge of working in countries around the world to combat it are not new to diplomats and development profes- sionals of the U.S. Foreign Service. But the issue is taking on a new urgency in 2016 as global awareness of the security dimension of corruption expands. As we go to press, Secretary of State John F. Kerry is in London participating in the first-ever global Anti-Corruption Summit—a gathering of world leaders from government, business and civil society. The summit produced a first Global Declaration Against Corruption, announcedMay 12, in which world leaders agreed that: • Corruption should be exposed— ensuring there is nowhere to hide. •The corrupt should be pursued and punished, and those who have suffered from corruption fully supported. • Corruption should be driven out— wherever it may exist. Ambassador Stephenson devotes her President’s Views column to the subject, calling on Foreign Service members to rally behind this policy emphasis and play a critical role in the global effort to take on corruption and promote good gover- nance. She launches the focus, introducing the three lead articles fromhigh-level State With that overview on the table, we invite you join the conversation. The Journal ’s primary role is to provide a forum for the lively debate of issues of interest to foreign affairs professionals, to foster dis- cussion and to share the unique perspec- tives of diplomatic practitioners. Is the U.S. getting it right on anti-cor- ruption? Does the U.S. government today have a credible voice in this discussion? If not, how can it regain that voice? What should the United States be doing to com- bat corruption, and how can the Foreign Service best advocate for clean and trans- parent governance? Send feedback to journal@afsa.org, or respond to the articles when we share themon the FSJ and AFSA Facebook pages. On a closely related topic, our lead feature this month by FSO Tracy Whit- tington spotlights a model of governme nt transparency, the Foreign Relations of the United States series program in State’s Office of the Historian, which publishes declassified government documents trac- ing U.S. foreign policy. Elsewhere you will find a Speaking Out calling for more support for families with children who have special needs. And in “Mental Health Support for FS Children: Parents Weigh In” we share a compila- tion of the comments we received for the January-February focus onmental health care in the FS that were specific to FS children. Next month, we bring you an inside look at the Foreign Service career, includ- ing an article on State Department FS hiring today and one on the status of FS spouse employment. n