The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2006

raised the allowances, it covered the costs by cutting pay at more than a dozen other posts that had previ- ously received a 5-percent differential, irking many. “They changed the allowances. That was great,” says the Washington-based officer who has previously served in overseas assignments in Asia, Africa and Latin America. “But they took it out of other people’s hides. You can’t tell me they couldn’t find that money somewhere else.” There was positive news on the funding front in tes- timony Rice delivered before Congress earlier this year outlining the administration’s FY 2007 budget request. The request, if enacted, would boost State’s budget by 13 percent to $33 billion, the largest percentage increase requested for any Cabinet department, with $9.3 billion for State Department operations. About $23 million of that spending would go toward 100 new positions that would be targeted to transformational diplomacy, while another $1.1 billion would be spent on bolstering the department’s consular operations by hir- ing 135 new consular officers and passport staff. Rice would also spend $115 million on language training to boost fluency in languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Urdu and Farsi; $1.5 billion on construction of new embassies and hardening of existing facilities; and $276 million for professional training and information tech- nology upgrades. All of that, of course, sounds good. But anyone who’s followed the congressional budget process in recent years knows well that the numbers thrown out at the beginning often bear little resemblance to those enact- ed at year’s end. Much of Rice’s legacy will hinge on her success in following through. “We are the front lines of U.S. foreign policy,” says Kashkett. “We are there to make sure that things don’t deteriorate to the point where the military needs to get involved, yet we are a tiny percentage of the military in terms of funding. The bottom line is that we think that in a world like today’s, the Foreign Service needs far greater resources.” C O V E R S T O R Y J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 29 · One bedroom fully furnished condo · Deluxe full size kitchens · Washer/Dryer in unit · Free private phone line/local calls · Free cable w/ premium channels · Free weekly maid service · Parking available · Pets accepted · Free internet access in the lobby 2 Blocks to Main State Department Rent by Day, Week, or Month Per diem accepted all year round 601 24th Street, NW · Suite 102 · Washington, DC 20037 Tel: 202-223-4512 · Fax: 202-452-9541 E-mail: reservations@remington-dc.com · www.remington-dc.com Free in-room high speed internet