The Foreign Service Journal, September 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2015 13 somewhat as with apprenticeships under a master in a medieval craft guild. Perhaps the Foreign Service should be considered as much a craft as a pro- fession. Ray himself speaks of “the art and craft of diplomacy.” None of this is to say that the Foreign Service is without difficulties, exacer- bated no doubt by the politicization which the July-August FSJ so forthrightly addresses and by other agencies’ intru- sions into its domain. But these difficulties should be regarded as declines from its previous standards rather than as evidence that it is still on the way to professionalism. Overcoming them requires looking back to the Service’s own traditions, not importing values from the outside. The Rev. Theodore L. Lewis FSO, retired Germantown, Maryland Out of the Shadows Hats off to the FSJ for bringing the need for a professional Foreign Service out of the shadows. For too long we have ignored this issue, feeling smug in having run and survived the gauntlet of the highly selective FS examination and selection process. Ambassador Charles Ray’s article in the July-August issue points the wa y forward, but AFSA and its membership need to continually advocate and press for needed changes to transform the Foreign Service into a true profession. There will be little interest and no support from the management of the department in this effort. This is some- thing we need to do ourselves, and AFSA needs to lead the charge. Ted Strickler Senior FSO, retired Kansas City, Missouri n