Every month in the Foreign Service Journal AFSA President John Naland writes a column. In the past couple issues Naland has focused on the professional development and responsibility of Foreign Service Officers. Reminiscent of the debates over the professionalization of the U.S. military officers corps in the past century, Naland has suggested a range of measures, including education and open debate, that would improve the overall quality of our diplomatic corps.
Naland's column in the November issue of the Foreign Service Journal was brilliant. In it he points out the obvious...while much of the criticism (including my own) of the Secretary in failing to get resources for the Department and in (quite frankly) misusing the men and women entrusted to her leadership is just, it ignores the obvious. The Secretary is supposed to be surrounded, supported, and, if necessary, challenged by the senior career leadership of the Department. That senior leadership has failed.
Naland sums the problem up well:
"These examples show senior officers failing to stand up for the career Service. Instead of speaking up to their political superiors about likely negative consequences of the pending decisions, some officers became compliant yes-men and yes-women. Some crossed the divide between nonpartisan career officials and political appointees by allying themselves with a politically appointed patron. As a result, they reaped personal gains such as obtaining or retaining a plum assignment leading to a pay-grade promotion or performance-pay bonus."
These officers know who they are. So do many of the rest of us. Happily, I do not believe they are representative of the majority of career Foreign and Civil Service personnel in the Deparment. Hopefully in the next administration, these people will be given an opportunity to shine.
0 comments:
Post a Comment