The Foreign Service Journal, October 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2014 9 LETTERS The Need for Unvarnished Truth In the September issue of the Journal , Ambassador Kenneth Quinn eloquently asserts the need for unvarnished feedback from younger o cers to senior policymakers. Ken and I joined the Foreign Service at about the same time 45 years ago, when U.S. leadership in foreign a airs seemed paramount and, hence, the State Department was a logical venue from which to make a di erence in the world—our mutually held view. State’s Dissent Channel is designed to help do this, but it is not clear that it is getting the job done. As he relates, Ken was one of the rst in or outside of the State Department to report on the ruthless activities of the Khmer Rouge and the fact that they were not subservient to the Vietnamese com- munist leadership in Hanoi. For this, Ken deserved more than the AFSA Herter Award; his reporting mer- ited worldwide recognition. More impor- tantly, it should have been factored into State Department policymaking. Instead, Embassy Phnom Penh demanded that Quinn cease reporting! With my FSO colleague Craig John- stone, I was co-recipient of AFSA’s Rivkin Award in 1976 for dissent in connection with the evacuation of Vietnam. But my earlier experience with the Dis- sent Channel related to corruption, which was a central issue in Vietnam. While not unknown in our own federal, state and local governments, corruption is endemic in many other countries, where it is fur- ther fueled by the aid money and materiel that the U.S. and other countries infuse. In Vietnam, the result was that most goods, services and key jobs were for sale. Instead of a meritocracy, the interna- tional community unwittingly facilitated a “de-meritocracy.” Using U.S. govern- ment leverage to prune back corruption was the central tenet of a Dissent Channel paper I authored in 1970 with two Foreign Service colleagues—Basil Scarlis and Stephen Cum- mings—who, like me, were serving on detail to the Civil Operations and Revolu- tionary Development Support program, known as CORDS. In a six-page secret airgram sent in from Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker’s embassy, we were dismissed as young eld o cers who did not have the big picture. I hope that today dissent is taken more seriously. I have just subscribed to the Journal and rejoined AFSA after a lapse of decades in that hope. Let’s try to make a di erence in improving U.S. policies and programs in today’s complicated “glocal” world by reinforcing all mechanisms, including the Dissent Channel. Lionel A. Rosenblatt FSO, retired Washington, D.C. Diplomatic Warrior and Embassy Reporting Setting politics aside, I must express my admiration of former Secretary Hill- ary Rodham Clinton’s e orts on behalf of the late Foreign Service o cer who was likely our greatest since George Kennan: Richard C. Holbrooke. I wholeheartedly agreed with her proposal for Holbrooke’s burial at Arlington Cemetery, and was disappointed to learn that the White House refused to endorse it. Unlike Ambassador Holbrooke, I served in the U.S. military on active duty in addition to spending 27 years in the Foreign Service. Like all of my colleagues with similar military experience, I’ve always seen the State Department’s mis- sion as a joint endeavor with the armed forces to defend U.S. interests globally. On re ection, and with all due respect, it is unfortunate that our current administration does not appear to share this notion of America’s defense. Nor do they seem to value the lifelong loyalty of diplomatic warriors like Amb. Holbrooke. On another note, recognizing that some of my Management O cer and IRM Bureau colleagues may not be regular readers of e Foreign Service Journal , I felt compelled to share with them Shawn Dorman’s unique Letter from the Editor in the July-August issue on embassy reporting. I’m sure that many active-duty col- leagues can appreciate the outstanding linkage of past tradecraft with modern reporting that it highlighted. For retired colleagues who served with me in Embassy Moscow during the nal year of the USSR, the letter invoked nostalgia for that historic time. In response, nearly all of my email recipients joined me in praising the time- liness and inspirational tone of Dorman’s letter. ey also agreed with me that it was one of the very best FSJ editorials yet. Bravo! Timothy C. Lawson Senior FSO, retired Hua Hin, ailand Thanks for Guidance I would like to o er a heartfelt thank you to AFSA for recent help with a tax concern relating to my state of domicile. I was able to successfully resolve the issue by following guidance from AFSA. Ed Luchessi Management O cer Consulate General Nogales n MARCGROSSMAN TOWARDA “NEW”DIPLOMACY PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION SEPTEMBER 2014 TURNINGTHETABLESON STUKENNEDY ONASSIGNMENTWITH AFSA’S2014AWARDWINNERS