state magazine, february/march 2000

U N I T E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F S T A T E

February–March 2000

StateStateM a g a z i n e

After The Wall

BerlinBerlin

Coming Up:

Lima

State Magazine (ISSN 1099–4165) is published monthly, exceptbimonthly in July and August, by the U.S. Department of State, 2201C St., N.W., Washington, DC. Periodicals postage paid at Washington,DC. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to State Magazine,PER/ER/SMG, SA-1, Room H-236, Washington, DC 20522-0602. StateMagazine is published to facilitate communication between manage-ment and employees at home and abroad and to acquaint employeeswith developments that may affect operations or personnel. Themagazine is also available to persons interested in working for theDepartment of State and to the general public.

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Deadlines: March 15 for May issue.April 15 for June issue.

StateStateMagazine

Carl GoodmanEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Kathleen GoldyniaART DIRECTOR

Nicole DeanerEDITORIAL ASSISTANT

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

James WilliamsCHAIRMAN

Sally LightEXECUTIVE SECRETARY

Janice BurkeFrank CoulterCheryl Hess

Stevenson McIlvaineWayne OshimaMichael Scanlin

4 All Was Quiet on the Y2K FrontPlanning pays off as the date rolls over without a hitch.

8 Post of the Month: BerlinBerlin wrestles with the new and old.

14 On Public DiplomacyWith integration, public diplomacy takes on new meaning.

18 Balancing Security and OpennessCan public buildings be safe and welcoming?

21 Johannesburg Observes Black History MonthConsulate uses a photo collection to mark the celebration.

22 State Forges Alliance on CyberterrorismSummit brings the public and private sectors together.

24 The Peace Corps–Foreign Service ConnectionLearning diplomacy at the grassroots.

28 Career AmbassadorsOnly 38 diplomats have made it to the pinnacle.

32 Diplomatic CouriersThey’re on the road again, and again, all 97 of them.

36 U.S. Commission on International Religious FreedomPanel reviews the status of religious freedom worldwide.

40 Roving AmbassadorOfficial takes WHA’s show on the road.

StateContents

D e p a r t m e n t o f S t a t e • U n i t e d S t a t e s o f A m e r i c a

StateMagazine

February–March2000No. 433

C O L U M N S

2 From the Secretary

7 Direct From the D.G.

D E P A R T M E N T S

3 Letters to the Editor

6 In the News

38 Medical Report

39 People Like You

41 Obituaries

42 Personnel Actions

43 Appointments

On the CoverBerlin’s Brandenburg Gate.

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Above, the corporate towers ofDaimler Chrysler, left, and Sony,right, in Potsdamer Platz, Berlin.

Below, Frankfurt diplomatic courierRaymond Malinke with his dispatchof diplomatic pouches.

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FROM THE SECRETARYSECRETARY MADELEINE ALBRIGHT

2 State Magazine

Security Is ‘Our’ Business

In the months since August 1998, the Africa embassybombings have been a searing reminder that thesecurity of America’s diplomats demands unrelent-ing vigilance and a fresh influx of resources. In the

weeks since December 1999, the revelation that a Russianlistening device had penetrated the State Department hasreminded us once more that America’s secrets demandconstant vigilance as well.

As of this writing in early January, the damage assess-ment from this second incident is still under way. But anumber of truths have been evident for some time.

The Cold War may be long over, but the espionagebusiness is alive and well. Concerns about such obviousprizes as U.S. nuclear weapons know-how and missiletechnology have been well publicized. The StateDepartment will continue doing its part to meet them bytaking the lead in U.S. efforts to prevent the spread ofweapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.

But security involves far more than weapons. Withintellectual property making up an ever-larger portion ofthe wealth of nations, economic espionage has become agrowing worry. And it often comes from unexpecteddirections, with some of the countries of greatest concernbeing those with whom we have the closest relationships.

So what are we to do? Are we simply to turn off ourcomputers, seal shut our safes, disconnect our phonesand attempt to represent America’s interests in the worldwithout dealing with any foreigners?

Of course not. If we close ourselves off in such absurdand self-defeating ways, we will have lost the initiativejust as surely as if the cowardly attacks on our embassiesabroad had caused us to retreat from America’s globalleadership.

But there are sensible principles to which we can andshould adhere. The overarching one is that the duty to bevigorously security-conscious must be discharged vigor-ously—every day, at every post, by every single personrepresenting America abroad and here at theDepartment.

For terrorists in their cowardice do not confront strengthwith strength; to the contrary, they probe for our weakestlinks. Similarly, espionage is ruthlessly opportunistic—pouncing on the conference room door left open, thenotepad left unattended “for just a minute,” the cell-phoneor cafeteria conversation indulged in “just this once.”

In eliminating potential weak links, we all have a roleto play. Whatever one’s duties or seniority, there is noU.S. government employee who deserves to work at theState Department or at any of our overseas posts inwhom a lax attitude toward security is acceptable. Andreinforcing this message is one of the highest responsibil-ities of our ambassadors and bureau heads—as well asthe Secretary of State.

We do not have the luxury of treating security as some-thing we can simply delegate to Diplomatic Security andour Marine guards. Without our help, there will never beenough of them to close every door that should be closed,secure every sensitive document or effectively enforcethe escort policy that was tightened last summer at theDepartment. Simply put, security is not “their” busi-ness—it is our business.

The kind of preventive vigilance I am talking about isnot glamorous. But we cannot afford the attitude that itis not worth troubling ourselves or our colleaguesabout. To the contrary, helping one another run a tightsecurity ship must become as accepted as alertingfriends who are preparing to drive away from ourhomes that their young children in the back seat do nothave their seatbelts on.

December’s Russia bug was not the first securitybreach in the Department. I am determined to do every-thing within my power to make it the last.

But that is not enough. At every one of our posts hereand abroad, the security of our secrets as well as our peo-ple must be treated with renewed rigor. If we all work asa team toward this end, we will save lives, safeguard ourcountry’s standing in the world and vindicate the trust ofthe American people. �

February–March 2000 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Let All ContributeYour report in the

November issue on thesuccessful use ofretirees as WAEemployees wasmost informative.Their contribu-tions are signifi-cant and appro-priate. Without

taking away fromthe important role that

these Foreign Service retirees ful-fill, your article once again under-scores the disparity of treatmentaccorded Civil Service employees inthe Department.

The absence of Civil Serviceretirees from the WAE roster isdirectly related to the unfair andunequal compensation rules.Consequently, the Department is los-ing out on the opportunity to drawon the equally talented and experi-enced Civil Service retirees to meetits urgent requirements.

Perhaps the time has come to mergethe Civil Service and Foreign Serviceinto a single, effective ExceptedService that meets human resourcerequirements at home and overseas.

Larry L. EmerySenior Executive Service (retired)St. Albans, Maine

Super IssueThe December issue was super.

They just keep getting better andbetter.

Jane NagyAddis Ababa, Ethiopia

Some Numbers, PleaseAs the main source of news about

State for Foreign Service retirees,you would perform a great servicefor us by printing at the end of the

obituaries the current Departmenttelephone number(s) for survivors toreport the deaths of Foreign Serviceretirees. The Office of PersonnelManagement maintains a toll-freenumber (1-888-767-6738) to reportdeaths of Civil Service retirees.

John SchultzGreenville, N.C.

Thanks, John, for your suggestion.The offices and numbers to contactappear at the end of this month’sobituary section.—The Editor

CorrectionsIn a December article headlined

“War and Peace in West Africa,” wemistakenly identified Guinea as acountry beset by war. It should havebeen Guinea-Bissau.

From the EditorFor the legion of employees involved in preparing for Y2K, the new

millennium came in with a yawn. There was very little to report or do,which was exactly what was hoped would be the case. It’s the kind ofreport that officials used to measure the success of the Department’sefforts to ensure that there would be few interruptions or slowdownsduring the rollover. Thanks to too many to name, the Department metthe test.

In this issue, we look at the Department’s efforts to forge allianceswith the private sector and other federal agencies to balance securityand openness in our physical structures and to protect our computersystems against cyberterrorism. Both issues are extremely complex andfar-reaching. We will need many active partners to find answers.

There are articles, too, about the close connection between the PeaceCorps and Foreign Service (the ratio is about one in 10) and diplomat-ic couriers, who ensure that our pouches are delivered safely andsecurely to our posts around the world. The latter may not fit theHollywood stereotype, but many of them have tall tales to tell.

All in all, this month’s story selection is a rich mix of people and pol-icy, activities and opportunities. We hope you’ll find them interestingregardless of where or how you’re reading us—fireside or surfside, lap-top or desktop.

Details on the new telecommutingregulation can be found in 3 FAM2360—not 2350—as was reported inthe December issue.

An article on religious freedom inthe November issue referred to oneof the countries criticized as“Myanmar, the former Burma.” TheState Department officially refers tothis country as Burma.

State Magazine Has MovedState Magazine has relocated

to SA-1, Room H-236. The tele-phone number is (202) 663-1700.The fax number is (202) 663-1769.The magazine’s email address [email protected].

I N T H E N E W S

By John O’Keefe

The International Interagency Y2K Working Groupmet early Saturday morning, Jan. 1, 2000, forwhat turned out to be its swan song. The senioranalyst combed over the events from the last 24hours—starting with the New Zealand time

change and following the midnight hour as it finallyrolled through Mexico.

He shook his head. “There is nothing to report.”On any given day, somewhere, somehow in the world

there is a serious technical problem. But at the dawn ofthe new century, after intense preparations for any con-

tingency, after thousands stood by waiting for the crashof crashes, there was no major technical failure.

Why not?Because the United States, other nations, corporations,

and international and regional organizations engaged ina broad, sustained effort to fix a worldwide problem thatthreatened the economic stability of all.

There was unprecedented international cooperationon Y2K. Through the efforts of John A. Koskinen, whochaired the President’s Council on Y2K, UnderSecretary of State for Management Bonnie Cohen andthe U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Y2K coordina-tors from U.N. member states gathered in New York inDecember 1998. The meeting culminated in the forma-

tion of a World Bank Inter-national Y2K CooperationCenter funded by the UnitedStates, the United Kingdom,Canada and the Netherlands.The IYCC established regionalcooperative councils world-wide to exchange information.

At the same time, the UnitedStates, Mexico and Canadaorganized a trilateral arrange-ment to ensure that there wouldbe no problems across borders.Meanwhile, the G-8 countries,the Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation nations, theOrganization of AmericanStates, the United Nations andvigorous World Bank programsaddressed the Y2K issue rightup until the millennium, goingthrough software codes andcorrecting dates.

Private and public sectorcooperation formed the secondleg of this stool. The FederalReserve, central bankers, theBank of InternationalSettlements and the internation-al finance community joined toensure that financial transac-tions would avoid Y2K prob-lems. Similar efforts contributed

4 State Magazine

All Was Quiet on the Y2K Front

Under Secretary Thomas Pickering, at thepodium, and John A. Koskinen, chair of thePresident’s Council on Y2K, brief the pressat the International Coordination Center.

Photo by Bradley Kofoed.

to preparations in air andmaritime transportation,power distribution, nuclearsafety, telecommunicationsand many other fields.

The third element wasdomestic preparations at U.S.Missions abroad and theDepartment’s lead in theInternational InteragencyY2K Working Group. The dia-logue conducted by U.S. offi-cials overseas with host gov-ernments and the resultingfeedback guided the policyprocess and allowed theDepartment to provide usefulconsular information regard-ing Y2K. That dialogue wasalso instrumental in the activeparticipation of so manycountries in Y2K planning. In the Department, the region-al and functional bureaus worked very hard to make surethat critical systems worked and that posts abroad wereprepared to continue their core missions, come what may.

All of these elements combined a focused, effectiveplan to encourage other nations to get ready and a suc-

cessful partnership with theprivate sector, internationalorganizations and othernations on solving Y2Kproblems. The results wereimpressive. Countries thatwere initially behind thecurve were able to leveragethe experience of others tosolve Y2K glitches before therollover.

Still, there had to be prepa-rations for Y2K contingencieson the night of nights. AtState, the Y2K team was onduty 24 hours a day for fourdays beginning Dec. 31. Theteam included representa-tives from each regionalbureau and many functionalbureaus. Consular Affairs

supplemented that group with its own task force. TheWhite House formed an Information Coordination Center,which drew representatives from all Cabinet departments,many federal agencies and private industry.

At the ICC, State managed the international side ofY2K, collecting information from other Y2K centers

around the globe, often through U.S.Embassies. Public affairs staff issuedpress guidance on internationaldevelopments. Technicians and sen-ior management of the “Day One”crew from the Bureau of InformationResource Management and theBureau of Finance and ManagementPolicy were prepared to fix comput-er systems glitches.

The effort was compared toD–Day preparations—a well-devised, superbly coordinated effortcombining countries, corporations,international organizations and non-governmental organizations as wellas the U.S. Departments of Defense,Energy, Treasury and Transportation and the U.S. Agency forInternational Development.

Before the rollover, UnderSecretaries Bonnie Cohen andThomas Pickering said successwould be having nothing to do onJan. 1. The legions of State employ-ees involved in the Y2K effort passedthe test. �

The author was State’s special representa-tive for Y2K international coordination.


Pete Sickle, right, Bureau of PublicAffairs, briefs John A. Koskinen.

Photo by Bradley Kofoed.

As a Y2K contingency, the Bureau of Finance and Management Policy identified critical posts, includingthe U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, and encouraged them to temporarily increase their cash reserves to over-come unforeseen problems. From left are Marine security guard Leonard Baxa, administrative counselorJohn Salazar, Marine security guard Dorian James, three delivery service employees, assistant regionalsecurity officer David Groccia, financial management officer Bob Coffman and cashier Andjar Suprihadi.

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I N T H E N E W S

6 State Magazine

U.S. Pays U.N. DuesThe United States paid the United Nations $51 million

on Dec. 20, virtually completing its payment of 1999 annu-al dues. Earlier, on Dec. 16, the United States paid $100 mil-lion toward bills owed from past years. This $100 millionrepresented the full implementation of the first series ofU.N. arrears payments authorized under legislationsigned by President Clinton on Nov. 29.

These payments will prevent the loss of the U.S. vote inthe U.N. General Assembly, an outcome the administra-tion and Congress worked to avoid.

The December payments bring total U.S. payments forcurrent assessments and arrears to the entire U.N. systemto $824 million since Sept. 1, 1999.

U.S., China Agree on Property DamageThe United States and China have complet-

ed negotiations stemming from the bombinglast May of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.This was the fifth round of discussions onpayments following an initial visit last June toBeijing by Under Secretary of State forPolitical Affairs Thomas Pickering. TheUnited States agreed last August to extendhumanitarian payments to the injured andthe families of those killed. These latest agree-ments culminate both sides’ efforts to resolveproperty issues, according to David Andrews,State legal adviser.

The two agreements include Chinese pay-ments to the United States for damage to diplo-matic and consular facilities in the People’sRepublic of China and U.S. intent to seek fundsfrom Congress for payments to China for dam-age to the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

Mr. Andrews said the Department will seekcongressional funding to provide $28 millionfor damages to the Chinese Embassy inBelgrade. In turn, the Chinese have agreed topay the United States approximately $3 millionfor damage to U.S. facilities in China. Mr.Andrews noted that the agreements mark amore positive trend in U.S.-China relations.

United Nationsbuilding, New York.

The Chinese flag infront of the ChineseEmbassy in Belgradeafter the embassy washit by NATO missiles.

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tions issues, she has become an invaluablestaff member in just three months.

Information Technology Specialists: Weare doing our best to continue recruiting top-flight information technology specialists, andI am pleased to report that our most recent jobfair attracted hundreds of applicants. Thefeedback from those attending was over-whelmingly positive. Of the more than 200people processed for further consideration, 55percent were minorities. We ultimately hiredmore than 100 new Civil Service employees

from last year’s job fair. In conjunction withour job fairs and other aggressive outreachefforts, our recruitment and retention bonusprogram is in effect and working better than I

had hoped. To date, 181 Foreign Service and 141 CivilService employees have received retention bonuses.

USIA/ACDA Merger: A significant boost to our CivilService ranks came last year with the merger of the U. S.Information Agency and Arms Control and DisarmamentAgency. I would like to personally welcome once againall of those employees and thank you for your coopera-tive spirit and your contributions to making theDepartment a better organization. Many of you hadalready been working for months to make the merger runsmoothly, and your efforts paid off.

“Metrochek”: I know that the private sector and a num-ber of federal agencies already offer Metro subsidies, anagenda item for quite some time. Our Office of EmployeeRelations is working with Metro to initiate the “Metrochek”program, which will allow employees to purchase fare-cards tax free through payroll deductions similar to theirThrift Savings Plan contributions. The annual savings forthe average employee will be around $300.

Telecommuting: Our new telecommuting regulationswere published in October 1999. The Department current-ly has more than 120 signed telecommuting agreements inplace. Employees telecommute one to two days weekly.Telecommuting is another area where the private sector islight-years ahead of us, but we are working hard to catchup and remain a desirable and competitive employer.

AFGE Contract: Last, I want to highlight as a very sig-nificant achievement for our Civil Service employees therecent signing of the first-ever labor contract with theAmerican Federation of Government Employees.

There is more to be done, but I’m convinced that theinitiatives I’ve outlined have already made the StateDepartment’s Civil Service workforce stronger and morecompetitive and a more attractive employment option forfuture applicants. �


As the baby boom generation nearsretirement, opportunities for train-ing and advancement in the CivilService have never been better at

the State Department. I strongly urge allambitious midgrade Civil Service employeesto take full advantage of the many profes-sional development initiatives theDepartment has taken to attract, nurture andretain a highly competitive Civil Serviceworkforce in the 21st century.

They include the following:Leadership Continuum: Many of you are

interested in the status of the LeadershipContinuum program. You should be. It is asurefire way to take control of your careerand ensure steady advancement. Built around compe-tency development at each stage of an employee’s career,the program currently enrolls more than 900 CivilService employees. State’s intranet web site has details.

Civil Service Overseas: I believe it is important to pro-vide motivated Civil Service employees with the oppor-tunity to try an overseas assignment and to use the expe-rience to enrich their work in Washington, D.C., oncethey return. We have made this opportunity availablewith the Civil Service Overseas Mobility initiative andthe Hard-to-Fill exercise. We find that the posts, theDepartment and the participants all benefit from theseprograms. More than 135 Civil Service employees cur-rently are serving overseas.

Presidential Management Interns: The PresidentialManagement Intern program is helping us to attract asignificant number of outstanding individuals to CivilService careers in the Department. We have a growingnumber of PMI alumni who are rising through the ranks.By the time you read this column, the PMI “Class of1999” will have 53 members. Six additional members areawaiting final processing before entering on duty.Overall, in 1999, the Department had 115 PMIs employedin at least 20 different bureaus.

Welfare to Work: Another very popular government-wide initiative that we have participated in is the Welfareto Work program. In 1997, government agencies made acommitment to hire former welfare recipients into the fed-eral workforce under the President’s welfare reform law.The Department has hired 94 persons under this program,including a young woman in the Bureau of Personnel’sOffice of Employee Relations, which had anticipated alengthy start-up time for a new hire. With top-notch com-puter skills and a personal sensitivity to employee rela-

DIRECT FROM THE D.G.EDWARD W. “SKIP” GNEHM JR.

A highly competitive Civil Service

BerlinBerlinPost of the Month:

Photo by Heinze von Hippel.


By Elizabeth G. Sammis

Braving a chilly winter rain, some 30,000 Berlinersstood before the historic Brandenburg Gate to cele-brate an extraordinary decade.

It was Nov. 9, 1999. Ten years earlier, Berliners hadembraced, rejoiced, laughed and cried as they breachedthe Berlin Wall in an unprecedented peaceful revolution.

Now, they listened to German Chancellor GerhardSchroder—flanked by Mikhail Gorbachev, George Bushand Helmut Kohl—speak of the accomplishments of theintervening years. Soon the crowd swayed and cheered asMstislav Rostropovich and 160 cellists joined the rockband The Scorpions in performing their 1989 hit songWind of Change. As the music floated above the crowd,torches blazed along the path where the Wall had oncestood, and night briefly turned to day as the BrandenburgGate exploded in a dazzling extravaganza of fireworks.

The Reichstag buildingnow houses Germany’sparliament.

When my husband and I went to live in East Berlin 15years ago, no one could have imagined such a night. Stillless could we have imagined that someday we would be apart of the U.S. Embassy’s historic move back to Berlin. Butthis is a city of surprises and one that has never stoppedchanging—from medieval vil-lage to elegant Hohenzollernresidence; from Enlightenmentintellectual center to industrialpower; from imperial capital to1920s Mecca of modernity; fromrubble-strewn wasteland tostubborn, beleaguered Cold War flashpoint.

The latest startling changefrom divided city to unitedcapital is one that Berlinershave taken in their stride.

When the change came in1989, it was sudden and pro-found, but sobering realitysoon replaced euphoria. Eastand West Berliners, crossingfreely now into one another’sworlds, discovered that morehad divided them than just aphysical barrier. As stepstoward German unificationdeveloped with startling speed,Berliners began to take stock oftheir unusual situation. The

10 State Magazine

Wall was gone, but traffic was snarled and telephone serv-ice chaotic. Public transit routes had to be revamped, rail-way service altered and a new currency adopted in EastBerlin and the German Democratic Republic. Outmodedfactories had to be updated or closed and crumbling turn-

of-the-century buildings reno-vated. And, in a much-debateddecision, the Bundestag votedto transfer the capital of unifiedGermany from peaceful Bonnto fast-moving Berlin.

The German government’smove has largely been accom-plished, though it will be sometime before the dust settles. Thefrenzy of building that began inthe 1990s has slowed, butcranes still dot the skyline, andthe shortest distance to any spotis still all too often through aconstruction site. The Germanparliament is now housed in therenovated Reichstag buildingunder Sir Norman Foster’sspectacular glass dome, butother government officialswork in temporary quarters.Many German governmentemployees still commute fromBonn. Some German newcom-ers feel uneasy about this new

Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate

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Enjoying an afternoonat the Berlin Zoo areambassador’s aide LesDeGraffenried, his wifeKatie and childrenTess and Andrew.

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eastern capital, where the inhabitants are known more forbrusque energy than for warmth. The task of bringingBonners and Berliners together is far from finished.

The fledgling U.S. Embassy faces similar challenges asit recreates itself in a new environment. In 1999, theembassy left its well-established Bonn home on the banksof the Rhine, and many staff members and their familiesalso made the move, joining the members of the U.S.Office in Berlin. Bringing everyone together has been achallenging but exciting task.

Right now, embassy offices are located in four differentparts of the city. The chancery is in Berlin’s historic cen-ter, the Mitte district, in the building that once housed theU.S. Embassy to the German Democratic Republic. Theconsular section, administrative offices and several lawenforcement agencies are in the Clayallee building, for-merly home to the U.S. Office, in the city’s southwesternZehlendorf district. A separate General Services Officefacility is nearby, and cultural and exchange programsare at home in Amerika Haus near Berlin’s famous zoo.Working at such widely scattered locations will be char-

acteristic of the post until the new embassy office build-ing is built near the Brandenburg Gate, a project tem-porarily delayed due to security issues.

Housing is similarly a work in progress. Most embassyhousing is clustered in quiet, tree-lined suburbanDahlem. Neighborhoods there are known for their pic-turesque streets and attractive houses and are nearBerlin’s forests, parks and long chain of lakes and beach-es. The bilingual John F. Kennedy School is also nearby.Though most embassy employees live quite far from thecity center, Berlin’s excellent public transit system dimin-ishes dependence on the automobile. Many embassydwellings are small and need modernizing, but planningis under way for a major building project to substantiallyincrease the number of high-quality units.

In Berlin, there is always something to do. The cityboasts three world-class opera companies, nine sympho-ny orchestras, a host of fine museums, cabarets and excel-lent theaters. Moreover, ticket prices are reasonable.American films are shown regularly in English at a vari-ety of movie theaters around town. Always a fine restau-


Consul Dennis Imwold, right, with daughtersLauren and Lindsey, are ready to explorehorse country at the Muritz National Park,one hour north of Berlin.

oto by Dorothy Imwold.

rant city, Berlin now has scores of sophisticated newcafes, bistros and up-market restaurants in the formerEast Berlin. Interest in a broad variety of cuisine has ledto a superior supply of foodstuffs of all sorts. SmallAsian, Spanish and Italian markets are excellent, andsupermarkets routinely stock goods from the UnitedStates, Latin America and the Middle East. ForThanksgiving, one can find almost everything for a tradi-tional American meal in a local market in the east.

Both the U.S. Embassy and the German governmentshare a sense of purpose and excitement in the energiz-ing atmosphere of Berlin. Now that Germany is theEuropean Union’s largest member nation, the German-American partnership is more vital than ever. Before themove to Berlin, there was some concern that such alarge city would lack the convenient, small-town work-ing atmosphere of Bonn. But the German government,major embassies, journalists, lobbyists and trade organ-izations have all settled within a convenient radius ofthe embassy’s Mitte building. Many offices can bereached on foot, and the excellent public transit systemis always nearby.

This is possible in large part because the city’s centerof gravity is shifting to the east. The eastern part of thecity along graceful Unter den Linden was originally theheart of Berlin. During GDR times, this historic area wasisolated by the Wall and languished under an oppressiveregime. Meanwhile, along the Kürfurstendamm in WestBerlin, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtnis-Kirche and theEuropa Center became the new symbols of a western-oriented city.

Today, all of that is changing. The Kürfurstendamm isstruggling to redefine itself in competition with the east.Berlin’s City Hall has returned to its old home nearAlexanderplatz. Friedrichstrasse is lined with designershops, luxury auto showrooms, marble-floored shoppingmalls and bookstores that stay open late. Potsdamer Platzhas been rebuilt as a futuristic city of shopping arcades,multiplex movie theaters, offices and bistros. Interest inBerlin’s once thriving Jewish life has revived. The restoredsynagogue is now a Jewish cultural center. Nearby onecan sample kosher restaurants and bakeries, attend con-certs of Jewish music and browse at bookstores that spe-cialize in Jewish volumes. The city is increasingly interna-

12 State Magazine

Sir Norman Foster’s new dome at the renovated Reichstag. Photo by Linda Landers.

tional. English is spoken in shops and restaurants and canoften be overheard among groups of young people.

Where all of this will lead is still unclear. The fashion-able new shops lack customers. Vacancy rates in newlycompleted office complexes and luxury apartment build-ings remain high. Berlin continues to lose population tosurrounding areas. Some people in West Berlin stillbemoan the loss of government subsidies, while somepeople from the east succumb to “Ostalgieî,” an exagger-ated nostalgia for an unreal past. But the sense of energyin Berlin is unmistakable, and the city is one of the world’sgreat unfinished works. Berliners are survivors. If anyonecan complete this job, they can. What the next 10 yearswill bring is still unknown, but one thing is unmistakable.Berlin is, quite simply, a fascinating place to be. �

The author and her husband, economic counselor John F .Sammis, lived in East Berlin from 1985 to 1987.


Right, a memorial to wartime bombing in central Berlin, theKaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Below, on the site of the futurechancery, the Boyse family, Eleanore, Matt, Fentress, Nathalieand Derek, with their 1961 MGA.

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By Evelyn Lieberman

The Department of State and the U. S. InformationAgency were integrated just five months ago, but inte-gration already has taken root. Public diplomacy opera-tions are proceeding smoothly—our traditional pro-grams are on track, and in many areas we are breakingnew ground.

The purpose of integration was to make public diplo-macy more central to foreign policy development. Thisprocess is now under way, thanks to the commitment andexpertise of our public affairs and public diplomacy pro-fessionals and our new State colleagues. I know how dif-ficult this complex and far-reaching merger has been formany of our staff, and I am truly grateful for their hardwork and spirit of service.

We’ve made a fast start, but we have much to do.Secretary Albright has charged us with creating a solidoperating structure on which our successors may build.We still have administrative kinks to iron out. There are arange of intricate and challenging transitions yet to bemade at our overseas posts. For these, we rely largely onideas and guidance from our field public affairs officers.In fact, I hope to attend all of our regional PAO confer-ences this year to plan and discuss further restructuring.I have been gratified by the strong support and encour-agement of our ambassadors and of other offices andbureaus within the Department; we continue to needtheir counsel and cooperation as we reshape operationsand strengthen public diplomacy at our embassies.

My office has also launched efforts to expand culturaldiplomacy, focus more strongly on the Department’s useof the Internet and help State’s regional and functionalbureaus use public diplomacy to address unprecedentedissues such as biotechnology. We plan to make progresson all of these fronts as we continue to keep the mechan-ics of integration on a fast track. Our public diplomacyand public affairs team takes pride in this historic mis-sion. We will continue to learn from each other, workmore closely together and look forward to the challeng-ing months that lie ahead.

Thoughts on Public Diplomacy and Integration

Evelyn Lieberman, under secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

On Public

By Howard Cincotta

Is public diplomacy an oxymoron? A generation ago,many foreign policy professionals might haveanswered yes. Diplomacy, at least traditionally, hasbeen an exercise conducted by diplomats in hushed

antechambers with tall ceilings. More recently, publicdiplomacy has been stereotyped as a slightly upscaleterm for public relations—necessary perhaps, but notreally central to the real work of international affairs orstate-to-state relations.

For many students of international affairs, a quintes-sential model of traditional diplomacy is the 1814–1815Congress of Vienna, where the diplomats of Europe—atleast those nations that had defeated Napoleon’s

France—established a European order that survivedessentially intact for almost a century. To suggest thatPrince von Metternich and his colleagues needed to winthe hearts and minds of their people would have beenmet with incredulity.

Now let’s change the rules. Imagine the Congress ofVienna in a 24-hour, seven-day-week world of cable tele-vision and the Internet; global networks of trade,telecommunications and currency flows; thousands ofinternational news and media outlets; and hundreds ofnongovernmental organizations and private enterprisesrepresenting a spectrum of economic, social, ethnic andpolitical interests. However one assesses these develop-ments, it is safe to say that any agreement reached insideVienna’s tall, hushed rooms would have been merely thefirst step in the task of remaking 19th-century Europe.

Demonstration at WTOconference in Seattle,Washington.

Diplomacy

Protesters at the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle.

International affairs is nolonger the preserve of nation-states and multinational organi-zations. In an age characterizedby the dispersal of power, glob-alization and the omnivorousconsumption of information,public diplomacy has come intoits own. Today, public diploma-cy is neither an oxymoron noran afterthought, but an integralcomponent for successfullyconducting U.S. foreign policy.

Moreover, public diplomacyis not simply public relations—a final brushing of clothes andcombing of hair before sendingthe latest policy initiative tod-dling off to the school of hardknocks. It is, instead, a set ofskills and tools for any diplo-mat who must communicatewith the vast and varied foreignpublics that are now players ininternational affairs: governments certainly, but alsonews media, academics, students, youth groups, technol-

ogists, artists, cultural organiza-tions, community and regionalentities, private enterprises and avast array of special interests andnongovernmental organizations.

The basic instruments of pub-lic diplomacy are hardly new.The United States, for example,has conducted educational andcultural exchange programs foralmost 60 years. Cultural diplo-macy is usually an exercise indeferred gratification, since suchexchange programs typicallydon’t offer immediate or obviouspayoffs. Instead, programs suchas the Fulbright educationalexchanges represent a long-term,strategic investment in establish-ing mutual trust and understand-ing. Similarly, the U.S. informa-tion programs overseas have along pedigree: the dailyWashington File (formerly the

Wireless File) began operation in the State Department in1935 after an ambassador complained that the slow dis-tribution of official information was “about as useful as aRoman ruin in a fast-changing world.”

The world of information since has neither slowed norstopped changing. In recent months, the biggest internalchange, of course, has been integration. Public diploma-cy programs, once administered by the U.S. InformationAgency, are now integrated into the Department of Stateunder the first under secretary for Public Diplomacy andPublic Affairs, Evelyn Lieberman (see her comments onpage 14). Moreover, public diplomacy officers serve ineach of the Department’s regional and functional bureausand in public affairs sections of the embassy.

Within the new Department, public diplomacy—per-haps reflecting its fluid nature—sprawls untidily outsideany single organizational box. Under SecretaryLieberman directs two bureaus—Educational andCultural Affairs and Public Affairs—plus the Office ofInternational Information Programs. ECA administersprograms that include the relatively well-knownFulbright and Humphrey exchanges and AmericanStudies programs as well as the lesser-known but vitalwork of the cultural properties staff. They’re chargedwith protecting the threatened artistic and cultural her-itage of peoples throughout the world. Besides produc-ing the Washington File in five regional and five lan-guage editions, IIP administers a worldwide speakerprogram, maintains a large international web site(http://usinfo.state.gov) and conducts an extensivearray of other electronic information services.

With integration, the Bureau of Public Affairs, too, nowhas important responsibilities for public diplomacy aswell. The Foreign Press Centers, with offices in

16 State Magazine

Joyce Meadows, left, escort officer, and Xiao Yan Yao, People’s Republicof China legal adviser, at the Entry-Exit Inspection and QuarantineAdministration, in Port Elizabeth, N.J.

Web site for International Information Programs.

Washington, D.C., NewYork and Los Angeles, facil-itate the work of hundredsof international journalistsworking in the UnitedStates. Interactive Worldnetbroadcasts, which permitofficials to discuss issueswith global audiences viasatellite television, are nowpart of PA’s informationarsenal as well.

If integration is the biginternal change, technologyhas had the greatest externalimpact on public diplomacy.The telecommunicationsrevolution has transformedthe international environ-ment for conducting foreignpolicy. Increasingly, the newdiplomacy is electronic andonline, incorporating digitaltechnologies to organizeand deliver timely, authori-tative policy materials toforeign publics throughoutthe world—whether as websites, direct email, digitalvideo, electronic journals, online information resource cen-ters or reference and bibliographic services.

In this information environment, there can be notrade-off between truth and timeliness. Wrong or contra-dictory information damages a nation’s credibility. Yet a

delay in responding to a critical issue can cede the pub-lic high ground to others. Internet time is immediate andunforgiving: policy information must be right, and itmust be fast.

The advent of public diplomacy by no means replacesthe need for confidential negotiations and the privateexchanges of views. Quite the contrary. Who could imag-

ine a successful Middle East peace,arms control arrangement or bilateraltrade deal taking place in the glare ofinternational publicity? On the otherhand, who can imagine sustainingany diplomatic agreements in thesearenas without a public campaign toexplain and advocate their provi-sions, working actively to win publicsupport? A foreign policy that cannotbe explained to many differentpublics is no policy at all. Moreover,one can hardly imagine beginning tomake the case to support a particularpolicy if the United States has notestablished a minimal foundation oftrust and mutual understanding. �

The author heads the electronic mediaand visual services team in the Office ofInternational Information Programs.


From left, Joe Cartwright, AngelaHagenbach and Steve Rigazzi.

Harriet Mayor Fulbright surrounded by Fulbright Scholars at an enrichment seminar in Washington, D.C.

By Paul Bodnar

“We shape our buildings.Thereafter, they shape us.”

—Winston Churchill

Does a secure building haveto look like a fortress andfeel like a bomb shelter?This is a question all StateDepartment employees aregetting to know well. The

Department’s efforts to protect U.S.employees from an escalating terror-ist threat has led to strengthenedsecurity standards for U.S.Embassies and Consulates. But somehave argued that these new securityrequirements make our posts moreintimidating and less accessible to

U.S. citizens and the foreign public.With this in mind, the Departmentrecently initiated a national conver-sation on the effect of terrorism onthe character of federal buildings.

Under Secretary of State forManagement Bonnie Cohen, in coop-eration with the commissioner of theU.S. Public Buildings Service, RobertPeck, convened a one-day nationalsymposium entitled “BalancingSecurity and Openness in FederalBuildings” on Nov. 30. Held at theRonald Reagan Building andInternational Trade Center inWashington, D.C., this event broughttogether leaders from governmentagencies with security issues, thenation’s leading architects and secu-rity professionals, and others fromthe public and private sectors con-cerned about the physical and sym-bolic integrity of public buildings.

Participants discussedthe tension between theneed to build secure facil-ities on the one hand andthe importance of design-ing government build-ings that proclaimAmerican values on theother. A casual glance atrecent State buildingsshows the effect of theterrorist threat on thedesign process, and manyhave argued that thesymbolic significance ofthe nation’s public archi-tecture has been dimin-ished. As a result, someperceive a strugglebetween architects, who

allegedly care only about openness,and security professionals, who arewilling to build fortresses to seeksafety. Conference participants of allbackgrounds tried to dispel thismyth. As Under Secretary Cohenstated in her opening address: “Wecannot see security and openness asa trade-off, with an advance in onemeaning a compromise in the other.We must have a physical presenceboth here and abroad that proclaimsour best hopes, not our worst fears,yet ensures the security of peopleworking in and visiting embassies.”

Ms. Cohen and Mr. Peck remind-ed the audience that governmentarchitecture was not always regard-ed as functional and dull. Theyurged a revival of the image of fed-eral buildings as sources of civicpride and the symbolic centers oftheir communities.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, for-mer U.S. Ambassador to India andthe United Nations, who deliveredthe keynote address, recalled an agebefore the country’s domestic andoverseas buildings became sur-rounded by walls, bollards and secu-rity guards. Moynihan pointedlyquestioned whether architects or ter-rorists could claim more credit forthe design of our embassies. “We’vebegun to look as if we’re afraid.”

U.S. Supreme Court JusticeStephen Breyer joined Sen.Moynihan in challenging the audi-ence to design buildings that are bet-ter ambassadors of our society’s val-ues and aspirations. Justice Breyer,who became well acquainted withbuilding security issues when he

18 State Magazine

Balancing Securityand Openness:State Sponsors Forum to Begin Dialogue on Terrorism, Public Buildings

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

oversaw the design of the newBoston Courthouse, urged designerstrying to balance openness and secu-rity to choose openness in “the closeand difficult cases.”

David Carpenter, assistant secre-tary of State for Diplomatic Security,acknowledged the need for open-ness and expressed his commitmentto achieving it. But he also empha-sized that the United States faces atransformed environment of globalthreat. Instead of terrorist states,America is now confronting indi-viduals and organizations with thefinancing, training, motivation andmeans to strike at U.S. interests any-where in the world.

The methods of attack vary fromassassinations to truck bombs andcould include weapons of massdestruction. And while the networkof Usama bin Laden is wellfinanced, many other terroristgroups are discovering that theycan carry out missions with modestfunds, minimal organization, cheapinformation and easily accessibleweaponry. America’s prominence, ifnot pre-eminence, in the world hasmade it a primary target for terror-ists with many causes, Mr.Carpenter said.

Despite a concerted effort byAmerican foreign affairs and lawenforcement authorities to eradicatethe terrorist threat posed by binLaden and others, the possibility ofattacks remains. To control the riskby making U.S. facilities as secure aspossible, the Department has spentalmost $1 billion on physical securi-ty upgrades in the last year. TheEmergency Security Supplementalfunded new building construction,physical and technical securityupgrades at existing installationsand the hiring of additional securitypersonnel.

The Department has been heavilyfocused on the security side of theequation, and with good reason, Mr.Carpenter said, but many foreignservice employees, as well as outsidecritics, complain that the highperimeter walls, barbed wire andlarge setbacks intended to discouragewould-be attackers make embassieslook like fortified bunkers.

Gavin de Becker, security expertand author of the New York Timesbest-seller The Gift of Fear, spoke wit-tily and well of our intimidatingphysical security posture. “All ofthis was triggered by the deeds offewer than 10 dangerous men who

got our attention by frightening us.What other quorum in Americanhistory, save those who wrote ourconstitution, could claim as muchimpact on our day-to-day lives?”

Barbara Cummings of the Bureau ofConsular Affairs reminded the audi-ence that embassies are concerned notonly about Americans but also aboutthe citizens of foreign countries forwhom U.S. posts can be their first con-tact with the United States. Ms.Cummings, who was part of the teamthat reopened the U.S. Embassy inTirana in 1991, made a presentationthat highlighted the importance ofdesigning efficient, welcoming andsafe consular sections even in the mosttrying of circumstances.

Extending Cummings’ point,Under Secretary Cohen remindedthe audience that local citizens andtheir governments see embassies asa physical symbol of our attitudetoward the host nation. While weput a premium on security, function-ality and cost-effectiveness, we mustalso consider and respect the localcultural context of new buildings.Our newer embassies, such as thosein Muscat, Lima and Ottawa, refer-ence regional building styles andthereby use architecture to build an


Symposium on “Balancing Security and Openness in Federal Buildings” in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

additional bridge to the host coun-try. In addition, the Office of ForeignBuildings Operations has begun toengage local architects as partners inall U.S. building projects.

The Department’s newer projectsare proving that a successful bal-ance of security, openness and sen-sitivity to local tradition is possible.An example close to home can befound in Ottawa (January’s Post ofthe Month), where a new embassyopened to critical acclaim lastSeptember. Chief architect David M.Childs and U.S. Ambassador toCanada Gordon Giffin attended thesymposium to discuss how innova-tive security measures were used togive the building an open andmajestic appearance appropriate forits site.

Mr. Childs also moderated a panelof leading architects designing secu-

rity-sensitive feder-al buildings. Theywere all optimisticabout the possibili-ty of finding designsolutions to pro-mote opennesswithout sacrificingsecurity. But alongwith the examplesof good design,symposium partici-pants also dis-cussed the manyexamples of baddesign that prompt-ed the debate in thefirst place.

For example, U.S.Ambassador to Yemen BarbaraBodine discussed the day-to-daychallenges of working at the U.S.Embassy in Sanaa, which was builtto meet all embassy security criteriabut as a consequence lies in a walledcompound in a remote area of thecity. Pointing to a slide of her resi-dence inside the compound, shesaid, “I can assure you that with ahouse like that, I’m not troubled bypeople dropping by for coffee.” Badsecurity retrofitting has also marredmany of the historic properties in theDepartment’s custody, particularlyin Western Europe.

Buildings like the U.S. Embassy inOttawa show that the StateDepartment is moving in the rightdirection for achieving both securityand openness, participants agreed,but noted room for improvement. Atthe conclusion of the conference,

both government and private sectorrepresentatives pledged action tomake both openness and securityintegral goals of federal buildingdesign and to continue the “nationalconversation.”

Public Buildings ServiceCommissioner Peck, who is respon-sible for the design and managementof more than 1,800 General ServicesAdministration buildings nation-wide, challenged the design commu-nity to innovate, but also promisedto make it easier by changing thegovernment’s design standards toencourage imaginative, “out-of-the-box” thinking.

Mr. Peck and Ms. Cohen pledgedto replace inflexible security designcriteria that tell architects exactlyhow to build with performance-based standards that give themgreater freedom to develop theirown solutions while achieving secu-rity objectives. Under SecretaryCohen also announced a pilot pro-gram that will focus attention onachieving openness in two upcom-ing embassy design projects.

By refocusing attention on whatthe appearance of our buildingssays about political values, the sym-posium set the stage for a new eraof federal architecture. For thosewho design U.S. Embassies andConsulates, this means keepingState employees safe while creatingbuildings that America can beproud of. �

The author is a special assistant to theunder secretary for Management.

20 State Magazine

Department Sponsors Design CompetitionTo celebrate the new millennium and encourage young Americans’ creativity, the Department is sponsoring a project for

student architects. The competition, “U.S. Embassy for the New Millennium,” invites students to design an embassy on oneof four unique sites around the world and balance such dual challenges as safety and security. The student architects mustalso address architectural design that accurately represents the United States and the challenges that go along with respond-ing to local climate and architectural respect for the host government’s culture.

The successful designer’s work will be displayed at four yet-to-be-determined venues in 2001. The contest is intended tochallenge the best and the brightest young designers.

For more information on the competition, check the web site of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture athttp://www.acsa-arch.org/activities, or contact Beth Young at (202) 785-2324; fax: (202) 628-0448; email: young-acsa-arch.org.

Assistant Secretary forDiplomatic SecurityDavid Carpenter.


By Greg Engle

In the post-apartheidyears, U.S. Mission–sponsored obser-vances of BlackHistory Month have

attracted much interest inSouth Africa, a countrywhose own history isnow being rewritten to

address the contributions and the suffering of its majorityblack population.

The U.S. Consulate in Johannesburg used the pur-chase of a permanent collection of photographs from thebest-selling book Songs of My People to launch last year’scelebration.

The 14 photographs were acquired for the waiting areaof the new consulate general office building as a fittingvenue for works by and about African Americans. Thearea receives more South African visitors on adaily basis than any other location in the U.S.Mission—often as many as 200 a day. The photo-graphs also complement other artwork—eitherAfrican or by African-American artists—providedby Foreign Buildings Operations.

The reception attracted a lively and enthusiasticcrowd. The mayors of Greater Johannesburg andSoweto attended along with members of the art andmedia communities, including two renowned anti-apartheid photojournalists, Alf Kumalo and SamNzima. Mr. Nzima is widely known for his photo ofa dying Hector Pieterson being carried by a fellowstudent during the Soweto uprising of 1976.

Describing the photographs as “a self-portrait ofa people who saw their dignity denied and theirdreams deferred, but who refused to be defeated,”Ambassador James A. Joseph said “they couldhave just as easily been taken in Johannesburg,

Durban or Cape Town” or in many other places in SouthAfrica and on the African continent.

Michael Cheers, editor of Ebony, South Africa, fromwhom the consulate procured its collection, described theevolution of Songs of My People from concept to reality.Mr. Cheers’ photographs are among those featured in thebook. He dedicated one from the consulate’s collection tothe memory of his personal friend, the late Julian BartleySr., and his son, Jay, who died in the Aug. 7, 1998, bomb-ing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

Summarizing the message of Black History Month,Ambassador Joseph quoted African-American theolo-gian, mystic and poet Howard Thurman: “I want to beme without making it difficult for you to be you.” �

The author was principal officer at the U.S. ConsulateGeneral in Johannesburg. He is now director of the servicecenter for the International Cooperative AdministrativeSupport Services, featured in our January issue.

JohannesburgJohannesburgObserves Black History Month

The mayor of Soweto, Nandi Mayathula Khoza, and her husband admirea photograph from the consulate’s new collection.

By Cari L. Eggspuehler

Cyberterrorism threatens U.S. interests athome and abroad, and the State Departmentis joining forces with the private sector tocombat this 21st-century threat.

Computer security experts from the public, private andacademic sectors converged at State last November todiscuss the threat in an unclassified forum, with the newsmedia present and a member of the media moderating.

David Carpenter, assistant secretary of State forDiplomatic Security, noted that while the traditionalsecurity role of protecting personnel and diplomatic mis-sions has remained constant, the nature of securitythreats has evolved.

Unlike the threat posed by common computer viruses,cyberterrorism is a new threat, Mr. Carpenter said, thatdeliberately exploits computer system vulnerabilities tocommit acts of sabotage against American personnel andfacilities. In response, the Department has developed acomprehensive Computer Security Awareness Program.This includes increased monitoring of State’s global net-works, augmenting staffs of computer security specialistsand enhancing incident response and forensic capabili-ties. The summit, he said, provided a forum for intera-gency and private sector dialogue on the seriousness ofthe cyberterrorist threat.

Information DependencyKeynote speaker Richard A. Clarke, the President’s

national coordinator for security, infrastructure protec-

22 State Magazine

State Forges Alliance on Cyberterrorism

tion and counterterrorism, said America has embracedand endorsed information technology like no other coun-try in the world. By doing so, the country has becomedependent upon information technology without alwaysincorporating security. Americans have made themselvesvulnerable to information warfare attack, the securityexpert said.

Threats range from teenage hackers and industrialespionage to international organized crime and foreignintelligence services. Foreign governments have createdoffensive information warfare units, Mr. Clarke said, andthey are targeting the United States.

“This may be the first time in U.S. history,” the expertsaid, “when there was a warfare threat against the UnitedStates and we couldn’t turn to our military to defend usagainst it.”

Mitigating the Threat—Y2K and BeyondSo how does the United States combat the threat of

cyberterrorism if it cannot turn to the military? Open dis-cussion and debate is one way, participants agreed. Thesummit, for example, surfaced the prevailing perceptionthat cyberterrorism is merely a Y2K-related phenomenon.

Harris Miller, president of the Information TechnologyAssociation of America, said that as a society we are atthe “educational and sociological stage of informationsecurity where we were about five years ago with Y2K.”The fundamental question, according to Mr. Miller, is“How do we educate and socialize people into believingthat information security is fundamental?”

If cyberattacks are impossible to quantify and mitigate,how can they be prevented or deterred? Mark


Taking Note of RisksSecurity risks to

the nation’s vitalcomputer net-works are growingso rapidly thatPresident Clintonhas proposed $91million in new fed-eral spending tocreate a FederalCyber Service to enlist computer-savvy college stu-dents in the effort through scholarships. AttorneyGeneral Janet Reno, meanwhile, has issued a call fora national anti-cybercrime network that would oper-ate around the clock.

The Computer Security Awareness Program encour-ages all Department personnel and contractors to safe-guard information processed or stored on the agency’sautomated information systems. This program usesmultiple media, such as targeted briefings, quarterlycomputer security newsletters and an informationalweb site on the Department’s intranet, as well as hold-ing Department-wide computer security events like thesummit to convey its message. For more information onthe Computer Security Awareness Program, please con-tact the Diplomatic Security Computer SecurityCustomer Support Branch at (202)-663-2008 or visit itsintranet web site at http://199.77.218.201/acd.

Montgomery, who deals with transnational threats at theNational Security Council, said, “The reality is that wewill not be able to block 100 percent of cyberattacks. Oneof the advantages of being dominant in information tech-nology is that we have the best ability to conduct recon-stitution if we put our minds to it.”

The ultimate deterrent is our ability to reconstitutequickly, observed Frank Cilluffo, deputy director forglobal organized crime at the Center for StrategicInternational Studies.

Moderator Steve Young of CNN asked if a “digitalThree Mile Island” could be perpetrated. Responded IraWinkler, president of the Internet Security Advisorsgroup, “Whether you’re a high-level national securitythreat or an average teenager, you accomplish yourattacks in basically the same way, by exposing knowncommon vulnerabilities.”

Jeffery Hunker, senior director for transnational threatsat the National Security Council, described the summit asa “conversation” between the public and private sectorsabout redefining national security. �

The author is a computer security specialist with the Bureauof Diplomatic Security.

Richard A. Clarke, the President’snational coordinator for security,infrastructure protection andcounterterrorism.

By Donna Miles

An estimated one in 10 mem-bers of the Foreign Service hasserved in the Peace Corps—where many of today’s foreign policy leaders learned “diplomacy at the grassroots.”

Frank Almaguer was fresh out of college with a bach-elor of arts degree and an interest in everythingaround him—especially international issues. Unableto settle on a specific career path and caught up inthe excitement about the newly established Peace

Corps that swept college campuses during the 1960s, heenthusiastically signed up.

That decision, one he admits he jumped into withoutmuch thought, ended up shaping the rest of his life.

Mr. Almaguer served as a Peace Corps volunteer, thenassociate Peace Corps director in Belize and later as PeaceCorps country director in Honduras. Today he is buildingon his Peace Corps experiences in Central America as theU.S. Ambassador to Honduras.

24 State Magazine

The Peace Corps–Foreign ServiceConnection

Below, Ambassador Frank Almaguer, right, as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1968, greeting Prime Minister of British Honduras (later Belize) George Price.Right, Ambassador to Honduras Frank Almaguer presents his credentials.

Throughout its 38-year history, the Peace Corps hasbeen a fertile training ground for the Foreign Service—the foundation on which many members of today’sForeign Service have based their careers.

Ambassador Charles Baquet III, a 31-year ForeignService officer detailed as the Peace Corps’ deputy directorsince 1994, estimates that 10 percent of the Foreign Servicehas served as Peace Corps volunteers. “There’s a very nat-ural connection between the Peace Corps and the ForeignService,” he said. “Both offer the opportunity to live over-seas and an awakening to other cultures.”

As a young man in New Orleans,Ambassador Baquet used to stay up into theearly morning hours enthralled by stories of hiscousin’s time as a Peace Corps volunteer inEthiopia. “I realized that the experience hadchanged him,” the ambassador reflected. “Hewas focused and had a set of goals that he wasmoving toward.”

Ambassador Baquet said he wanted thatsame sense of direction in his life, so he tookthe Peace Corps test and spent two years as aPeace Corps volunteer in Somalia. During theassignment, he traveled throughout Africa andgained a strong appreciation for its cultureswhile carrying out what he calls “diplomacy atthe grassroots.”

The Peace Corps, he explained, is an inten-sive cross-cultural experience, allowing volun-teers to “get into the culture actively, not pas-sively.” Peace Corps volunteers work to betterthe lives of disadvantaged people, helping


them improve their educational, business, environmen-tal, agricultural, health, nutrition and community devel-opment programs.

Kenneth Shivers in the Bureau of Personnel’s Office ofRecruitment, Examination and Employment spent twoyears as a Peace Corps volunteer in South India helpingto teach local farmers how to increase corn, rice and mil-let production. Bill Weinhold, a policy officer for the for-mer U.S. Information Agency, worked as a technician for

Ambassador Charles Baquet III,left, deputy director of the PeaceCorps, chats with a Peace Corpsvolunteer in Kyrgyzstan.

Below, Kenneth Shivers, left, as a Peace Corpsvolunteer in South India, and today, third fromleft, as a consular officer with the Office ofRecruitment, Examination and Employment.

a local radio station during his Peace Corps experience inMalaysia. He also coached softball at a local school andhelped a women’s organization compile a handbook onhow to build traditional toys.

Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Gelbard served twoyears as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia, where hehelped promote a national com-munity development program. Hesaid the experience, plus the inspi-ration of then-Ambassador toBolivia Douglas Henderson,sparked what was to become a life-time interest in foreign affairs.Ambassador Gelbard took theForeign Service entrance examswhile serving in the Peace Corpsand entered the Foreign Serviceafter returning from Bolivia. A yearlater, he became associate PeaceCorps director in the Philippines.

In 1988, Ambassador Gelbardbecame the first former PeaceCorps volunteer to return to hiscountry of assignment as itsambassador. His greatest source ofsatisfaction, he said, was helping aproject he’d worked with theBolivians to launch during the1960s—a cobblestone road through

rural Colca Pirhua—become a reality. The road wasnamed in honor of Ambassador Gelbard.

Ambassador Gelbard said the Peace Corps’ programsare built on the same ideology that drives U.S. foreignpolicy—that it’s better to help people help themselvesthan to simply do for or give to them.

“We tell our volunteers that we’resending them out with no resources,just what’s in their head and in theirheart,” said Ambassador Baquet.“And we remind them that whileworking in the field, they serve asambassadors for the United States,helping to counterbalance some ofthe perceptions many people havegained from TV and the movies.They help clear up a lot of the falseperceptions out there through theway they articulate, carry them-selves and express compassion.”

Like many of his fellow PeaceCorps volunteers, AmbassadorBaquet said he returned to theUnited States from Somalia achanged man, committed to a pro-fession that would expose him tonew cultures, languages and valuesystems. He joined the ForeignService, launching a career that

26 State Magazine

Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Gelbardgot his introduction to the Foreign Serviceas a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia.

Above, Bill Weinhold, right, as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kuala Lumpur in 1962, and more recently, right, during a public diplomacy workshop in Dakar.

took him to Europe, Asia and the Middle East beforeenabling him to return to Africa as consul general inCape Town, then as U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti.

“I think I was a better Foreign Service officer and gotmore out of my career because of my Peace Corps expe-rience,” he said.

Ambassador Baquet isn’t alone. The latest list of ambas-sadorial appointments, for example, reads like a virtual“Who’s Who” of former Peace Corps volunteers and staffmembers. Ambassador to Kenya Johnnie Carson beganhis long professional association with the African conti-nent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. Ambassadorto Cambodia Kent Wiedemann was a Peace Corps volun-teer in Micronesia before joining the Foreign Service.

And U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations RichardHolbrooke served in the early 1970s as a Peace Corpsdirector in Morocco. It’s an assignment he admits takingagainst the advice of his former boss and mentor, PhilipHabib, who later served as under secretary for PoliticalAffairs and in a variety of special negotiating assign-ments. Mr. Habib expressed concern that the Peace Corpsassignment would be a diversion from the young ForeignService officer’s career development.

But Mr. Holbrooke disagreed—and still does. “I con-sidered it then, and would consider it today, excellentpreparation for other, more ‘traditional’ Foreign Serviceassignments,” he said. “It provided management experi-ence and supervisory experience at a young age, as wellas interaction with a range of people that would normal-ly not be a part of a Foreign Service officer’s career.”

Ambassador Almaguer, too, said his experience as aPeace Corps volunteer taught him many of the principlesthat have guided his Foreign Service career. “I came toappreciate that even across cultural divides and geo-graphic settings, people have more in common than we

assume,” he said. “I also came to understand that whilewe, as individuals, may not be able to change the world,we can make a difference—but only if we respect eachother as individuals.”

The Peace Corps, he said, taught him more about eco-nomics, sociology and area studies than had any of hisacademic training. It also fueled his love of foreignaffairs and development issues, which he built on as thePeace Corps country director in Honduras as U.S.Agency for International Development director inEcuador, Eastern Europe and Bolivia; and, most recently,as ambassador to Honduras.

“While each new assignment has required that I learnthe nuances of that country, I have felt that the PeaceCorps experience has given me a running start in copingwith new settings,” he said. “I feel that I always had a legup on those who did not have this opportunity to experi-ence the struggles and joys of a small-town society in theThird World.”

Ambassador Almaguer said the Peace Corps pro-foundly affected his personal life, too. “To add to the rich-ness of my Peace Corps volunteer experience, I met andsubsequently married a fellow Peace Corps volunteer,Antoinette, over 29 years ago—and still going!” he said.

He said he’s never regretted either decision. “I wouldnot have guessed it way back when I took off for PeaceCorps volunteer training in Puerto Rico 32 years ago,” hesaid. “But everything I have done since—both personaland professional—stems from the ill-formed but, in hind-sight, right decision for me to join the Peace Corps.” �

The author is the former deputy editor of State Magazine.Shannon Jones, a former student intern at State and a graduatestudent at the University of Georgia, contributed to this article.


Web Site Offers Career Information

State employees seeking the most out oftheir career and retirement have a valu-able source of information and assistanceon the Internet.

The Career Development Resource Centeroffers a wide range of career informationat http://199.77.200.231/cdrc/index.html.The center, located in Washington, D.C.,at Columbia Plaza, may be reached byphone at (202) 663-3042.

By Donna Miles

They are the men and women who have reachedthe highest echelons of their diplomatic profession.

They’re the crème de la crème of the ForeignService—what George Patton was to military oper-ations, Lee Iacocca to the automobile industry and

Michael Jordan to basketball.During the 75-year history of the modern Foreign

Service, just 38 men and women have been named“career ambassadors,” an honorary title that signifies adiplomat’s rise to the pinnacle of the profession.

Today, only three current members of the ForeignService are career ambassadors: Under Secretary for

Political Affairs Thomas Pickering, Assistant Secretaryfor Intelligence and Research J. Stapleton Roy andAssistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Mary Ryan.

Congress established the personal rank of careerambassador in 1955 to recognize career members of theSenior Foreign Service who had “rendered exceptionallydistinguished service to the government” over a longperiod through a wide range of challenging assignments.The enabling legislation specified that a Foreign Serviceofficer must serve at least 15 years with the federal gov-ernment, including at least three years as a career minis-ter, to be considered. Until 1980, appointments weremade solely at the discretion of the President.

When the first four career ambassadors—JamesClement Dunn, H. Freeman Matthews, Robert Murphyand Loy Henderson—were selected in 1956, the ForeignService Journal dubbed them “our five-star professionalambassadors.” At the time of their appointment, the fourhad amassed a collective total of 140 years’ experience—

28 State Magazine

Assistant Secretary Mary Ryan is the most recently appointed career ambassador and the second woman to achieve the rank.

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an average of 35 years each. Each had been a career min-ister for a full 10 years before his appointment.

Ambassador Henderson was known during his 40-plus-year career and continues to be referred to by manyas “Mr. Foreign Service.” It’s a nickname he earned asambassador to India and Iran and minister counselor toIran and Nepal, both for his professional talents and forhis love of the Foreign Service.

In a booklet he wrote in 1958 to attract new ForeignService members, then–Deputy Under Secretary forAdministration Henderson said he was grateful for everyyear he’d served—37 at the time. “It is a gratification tome,” he said, “that my efforts in life have been devotednot to increasing my wealth and prestige, but to helpingmy country and the ideals for which my country standsand upon which our civilization rests.

“If you join the Foreign Service,” he promised, “youcan have that splendid feeling, too.”

But not every career ambassador entered the ForeignService with a lifelong dream of becoming a diplomat.Alfred “Roy” Atherton Jr., who became a career ambas-sador in 1981, was working on his master’s degree atHarvard University when he noticed an ad for upcomingForeign Service examinations posted on a bulletin board.“That was when the bulb went on,” he said. “Literally itwas only then that I suddenly said, ‘That’s what I want todo with my life!’”

The Foreign Service entry exams didn’t come easily forthe man who went on to become assistant secretary forNear Eastern Affairs, ambassador to Egypt and directorgeneral of the Foreign Service. He said he failed the eco-nomics portion of the written test, salvaging his score only

with his mastery of history andGerman, and “squeaked through” hisoral assessment.

Yet Ambassador Atherton went onto an especially distinguished ForeignService career, and he and two otherForeign Service legends, ArthurHummel Jr. and Walter Stoessel Jr.,became career ambassadors on thesame date.

Their appointments came a full 12years after the last Foreign Serviceofficers had received such distinction.Not since 1969, when the rank waspresented to Walworth Barbour,Winthrop Brown, C. Burke Elbrickand Edwin Martin, had a member ofthe Foreign Service been named acareer ambassador.

Ambassadors Atherton, Hummeland Stoessel’s appointments were thefirst after the 1980 Foreign Service Actestablished the rank of career ambassa-dor under the Foreign Service promo-

tion system. That transition made career ambassadorialappointments less political and more performance based,as are Foreign Service promotions.

But the career ambassador designations are not promo-tions, at least in the standard sense, explained DirectorGeneral of the Foreign Service Edward W. “Skip” GnehmJr. “It’s not a promotion, but rather a designation for theSecretary to acknowledge unusually long and distin-guished Foreign Service careers,” he said. The honor, heexplained, rewards people who have demonstratedthrough a wide variety of assignments that they have whatit takes to tackle the toughest foreign affairs challenges.

“It recognizes the people who, throughout theircareers, have enhanced and built the profession of careerservice,” he said.

The appointment comes with no pay raise and no spe-cial benefits. Career ambassadors receive only a certifi-cate acknowledging their status and a white lapel pinwith a gold star.

Ambassador Terence Todman, who was named acareer ambassador in 1989, said he doesn’t expect bigperks to come with the title, but believes that theDepartment could do more. He wonders, for example,why, since retiring in 1993, he has to sign in just as a vis-itor would every time he visits the Department—some-times to serve on a career minister board called on tonominate new career ambassadors!

The boards are convened by the director general at therequest of the Secretary, who determines how many, ifany, appointments will be granted during a given pro-motion cycle.

Boards consist of four career ambassadors, includingone currently in the Foreign Service who serves as thechair, and a public member. Under Secretary Pickering


Under Secretary Thomas Pickering holds the distinction of being thelongest-serving career ambassador.

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chaired the most recent board, which nominatedAssistant Secretary Ryan for career ambassador.

Board members review the files of all eligible careerministers to determine which to nominate as careerambassadors. Under guidelines from the PersonnelBureau’s Office of Performance Evaluation, members arereminded to seek out candidates with a record that shows“clear evidence of potential and availability for contin-ued service in the most important positions in theDepartment and abroad.” Boards are also encouraged to“give particular consideration to the variety of careerexperience, domestic and abroad, geographic and func-tional, and to the range and importance of substantiveand managerial achievements.”

When he was named a career ambassador,Ambassador Todman had served seven ambassadorships—to Denmark, Chad, Guinea, Costa Rica, Spain andArgentina and as assistant secretary for Inter-AmericanAffairs. “I had covered the world geographically and hadserved at the United Nations, so I guess I had demon-strated that I had the ability to deal with the major issuesconcerning the United States.”

Career minister board proceedings are closely guard-ed, and findings and recommendations are submitted tothe Secretary for nomination to the President.Nominations require confirmation by the Senate andmust be attested by the President.

To most career ambassadors, news of their appointmentscomes as a surprise. Assistant Secretary Ryan, the mostrecent Foreign Service officer and only the second woman

to become a career ambassador, said she was “thunder-struck, absolutely astounded” when Secretary MadeleineAlbright told her in 1998 of her nomination. “I don’t knowwhat I’ve done to deserve it,” admitted the self-effacingassistant secretary. “But I’m honored beyond words.”

Assistant Secretary Ryan, who took over the reins atthe Bureau of Consular Affairs in 1993, had served asambassador to Swaziland, director of the Kuwait TaskForce following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, first direc-tor of operations for the U.N. Special Commission on theElimination of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction anddeputy assistant secretary for European Affairs.

Throughout her career, she said she has always lookedup to the career ambassadors as the “giants of the ForeignService” who were “extremely talented at the business ofdiplomacy but also have personal qualities that you wantto emulate.” After being named to their ranks, she said, “Iknew I wasn’t in their class, but I sure was proud to be intheir company.”

The list of career ambassadors includes two ForeignService officers whom Assistant Secretary Ryan refers to asher “heroes”—Ronald Spires, for whom she worked whenhe was under secretary for Management, and George Vest,former director general of the Foreign Service.

“They were my role models,” she said. “They both hada real decency and a love of this organization and thepeople in it. And they had a commitment to serve to thebest of their ability.”

Under Secretary Pickering, too, said his appointmentas a career ambassador came as “quite a surprise.” Hewas serving as ambassador to El Salvador when helearned of his nomination in 1984 but admitted, “I had noinkling that I was going to get it.”

But to those who knew and worked withAmbassador Pickering, his nomination was nosurprise. The New York Times ran an article abouthim in 1984 noting that former Secretary of the AirForce Harold Brown had once called him “justabout the brightest young fellow I’ve ever seen.”Jordan’s King Hussein had called him “the bestAmerican ambassador I’ve ever dealt with,” andformer Under Secretary for Management Spiershad referred to him as “one of the Department’s 10best, on anybody’s list.”

Under Secretary Pickering retired from theForeign Service in November 1996 after service asU.S. Ambassador to Russia, India, the UnitedNations, Israel, Nigeria, El Salvador and theHashemite Kingdom of Jordan—only to be nomi-nated by the President three months later asunder secretary for Political Affairs. Now, hepointed out, he holds the distinction of being thelongest-serving career ambassador. “It’s a veryrare honor,” he said.

He served on the 1994 Foreign Service selectionboard that recommended that Ambassador FrankWisner be named a career ambassador. While onthat board, Ambassador Pickering proposed

30 State Magazine

Career Ambassador Lawrence Eagleburger is the only Foreign Serviceofficer to have served as Secretary of State.

restoring the former requirement that career ambassa-dors have experience at the assistant secretary or equiva-lent level. “I felt it was important that candidates shouldhave experience in policy and a wide breadth of experi-ence,” he said.

J. Stapleton Roy, who was nominated for career ambas-sador by the 1995 board, exemplifies the ability to functionwell under the most difficult circumstances. Knownthroughout the Department as an expert in both Asian andRussian affairs, he served as ambassador to China duringthe tense years following the military crackdown on thepro-democracy movement of 1989, and most recently asambassador to Indonesia as the crisis in East Timor raged.Earlier in his career, he was ambassador to Singapore,executive secretary of the Department and deputy assis-tant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Not every career ambassador has fit easily into thestereotypical “diplomat” mold. Ambassador LawrenceEagleburger, for example, was referred to by The NewYork Times as a “paunchy, somewhat rumpled chainsmoker” who “sometimes seems the antithesis of thecareer diplomat.” Yet few of his colleagues have matchedAmbassador Eagleburger’s personal and professionalreputation within the Foreign Service. A teaching assis-tant before entering the Foreign Service in 1957, he wasknown as a 14-hour-a-day workaholic who loved to ban-

ter with his colleagues and had a unique ability to quick-ly grasp both the minute details and broad matters of for-eign policy. He became a career ambassador in 1984 andremains the only career Foreign Service officer to haveserved as Secretary of State, from early December 1992through mid-January 1993. Ambassador Eagleburgerwas honored for his lifetime contributions to the ForeignService during the 1998 Foreign Service Day activities.

The demographics of the career ambassador corpschanged dramatically in 1962 when Frances ElizabethWillis, the Department’s third woman Foreign Serviceofficer, became its first woman career ambassador.During her 37-year career, she served as ambassador toSwitzerland, Norway and Ceylon and provided a strongrole model for other women in the Foreign Service.Wherever she was posted, Ambassador Willis demon-strated what she called her personal formula for successas a diplomat: “adjustability, intelligence and stability.”She said she believed that “the basis for diplomacy is tobe tactful and sincere at the same time.”

Ambassador Todman said he was “very proud” whenhe became the first—and, so far, only—black career ambas-sador in 1989. He said he looks forward to seeing otherminorities and women follow in his footsteps. But heinsists that the way to accomplish that isn’t to push formore promotion opportunities for minorities; it’s to recruitmore minorities and women into the Foreign Service andto allow them to develop their potential and excel. “If peo-ple are given that opportunity, the most capable amongthem will rise to the top,” he said.

Ambassador Todman attributes his own success in theForeign Service to the fact that his goal “was never tobecome something in particular or reach a particularrank, but to simply do the best I could in whatever job Ihad at the time.”

He remains committed to the Foreign Service andreceived the Director General’s Cup in 1997 for “a life-time of dedicated service, leadership and vision.” Mostrecently, he served on the Accountability Review Boardsfollowing the East Africa embassy bombings in 1998.“You can take the officer out of the Department,”Ambassador Todman said when accepting the DirectorGeneral’s Cup, “but you can’t take the Department outof the officer.”

Since the naming of the first career ambassadors 44years ago, the 38 men and women who have held thecoveted title have served as role models for the next gen-eration of young Foreign Service members.

Their careers have spanned every region and special-ty, and yet, according to Assistant Secretary Ryan, allhave shared a common bond. “They worked hard, wereaccessible and gave themselves to the institution,” shesaid. “They also believed in public service and the pub-lic trust—concepts that may sound old-fashioned butstill mean something very important in the ForeignService.” �

The author is the former deputy editor of State Magazine.


Ambassador Terence Todman, holding the 1997 Director General’s Cupfor his lifetime commitment to the Foreign Service, is the only blackcareer ambassador.

DiplomaticCouriers

On the Road,From Rangoon to Russia andBack!

By Donna Miles

We’ve all seen the familiar movie plot. A strik-ingly handsome courier with a briefcasechained to his wrist foils repeated attempts tointercept the documents he’s been entrustedwith. The camera action sweeps to dramatic

chase scenes through airport terminals and down high-ways as the hero applies a combination of skill and savvyto outwit the bad guys. Finally, just before the credit linesroll down the screen, the courier safely delivers the doc-uments to the intended recipient.

The 97 men and women who make up the U.S.Diplomatic Courier Service may not quite fit theHollywood stereotype—nor, thankfully, does their typi-cal workday. But what does ring true is their commitmentto getting their diplomatic pouches delivered safely andsecurely to U.S. government posts around the world.

Diplomatic couriers transport some 10 tons of classi-fied and sensitive material for State and other U.S. gov-ernment agencies every day, most of it in bright, tanger-ine-colored pouches emblazoned with “Department ofState USA.”

As a policy, couriers do not know the content of theirshipments, although many of their pouches contain doc-uments and items critical to the U.S. government and itsrelations with other countries. John Durbin, a longtimecourier who took over the reins as director of the U.S.Diplomatic Courier Service last summer, recalls that afterthe Iraqi invasion of Kuwaitin 1990, he hand-carried sixvideotapes to the MiddleEast to broadcast over Iraqitelevision. The tapesshowed then-PresidentBush addressing the Iraqipeople, urging them to sup-port a diplomatic solution tothe crisis.

A courier’s job is to per-sonally accompany a ship-ment to its destination andto ensure that it is notopened or tampered withwhile en route. The ViennaConvention prohibits hostgovernments from inter-cepting diplomatic pouches.

If there’s one constant inthe life of a diplomaticcourier, it’s change—chang-ing cities, countries, offi-cials, languages, cultures,weather and geography.

Couriers are based atregional courier offices inFrankfurt, Bangkok andFort Lauderdale, Fla., and

courier hub offices in Helsinki, Manama, Abidjan,Pretoria and Seoul. But they spend most of their time onthe road, accompanying pouch loads on trips that rangefrom one-day shuttles to a single post to week-and-a-half-long treks during which a courier never spends threeconsecutive nights on the same continent.

John Smith, chief of the Regional Diplomatic CourierHub in Pretoria, thinks of diplomatic couriers as modern-day Daniel Boones, venturing from post to post andexchanging diplomatic pouches with U.S. Embassy staffs.

Unlike in the movies, couriers generally don’t hand-carry their pouches onto aircraft. Although in rare cases adiplomatic pouch load may contain a single envelope, it’smore typically 25 to 30 bags—and sometimes even anentire planeload.

Transporting these loads requires couriers to workclosely with airport managers, airline cargo and baggagehandlers, pilots and crew members, and a wide range ofsecurity officials.

When other passengers are boarding an aircraft for aflight, the diplomatic courier remains on the tarmac withthe shipment until the plane’s cargo hold is closed andthe pouches are secured. After landing, the courier is thefirst passenger off the plane, positioned to watch as thebaggage handlers open the cargo hold and unload thepouches. The courier retrieves the pouches, delivers themto the appropriate U.S. Embassy official—usually a dutyofficer—and accepts any outgoing pouches.

It was during these pouch exchanges that PatrickConnelly, now a regional diplomatic courier officer at the

Miami Regional DiplomaticCourier Division, got his firstintroduction to the diplomaticcourier corps in 1977. As ayoung Foreign Service com-municator posted in Bamako,Mr. Connelly regularly metarriving couriers at the airportand enjoyed listening to theirstories as he waited with themin airport transit lounges orparked on airport tarmacswaiting for onward flights.

Their jobs sounded like “aninteresting, adventurous wayto make a living,” he said, sohe joined them in 1981. Morethan 18 years later, Mr.Connelly still calls theDiplomatic Courier Service“an opportunity not to bemissed”—an opportunity, hesaid, “to visit the great citiesof the world, experiencingthe beauty of numerousworld capitals, while enjoy-ing the different cultures oneencounters.”


Diplomatic couriers Ivan Montesand Susan Harris in Miami, Fla.

Mr. Connelly isn’t alone in beingintrigued with the DiplomaticCourier Service. Back in 1997, Stateran a one-day “help wanted” ad infour major newspapers to solicitcandidates for the job. More than2,700 responses poured in, alongwith so many telephone inquiriesthat the office’s telephone systemoverloaded.

“I get phone calls every day frompeople who want to be couriers,”said Brad Lynch, deputy director ofthe Diplomatic Courier Service. “Itwould be easy for us to fill theranks to 500 based on the numberof calls we get.”

State hired 32 new diplomaticcouriers last year, most with mas-ter’s degrees, language skills and adesire to go out and see the world. Many had a long his-tory of success in other professional fields and, accordingto Mr. Lynch, “are now ready to have a fun career.”

But as exciting and diverse as the job can be, Mr. Smithsaid it’s definitely not for everyone. Diplomatic couriers,he said, need an adventurous spirit to cope with the rig-ors of the road or air or boat or train—or whatever cir-cumstances they might have to face to get the job done.And sometimes, agreed Mr. Connelly, the work can be“an exhausting, boring, laborious task.”

“There is little excitement or joy involved,” he said,“when one is trundling across Northern Russia or motor-ing through the countryside of former Eastern Europe, rid-ing shotgun for days on end in the cab of a semi-trailer witha driver who speaks little English and smokes incessantly.”

Diplomatic couriers face the same headaches shared byall travelers—delayed and canceled flights, security con-

34 State Magazine

cerns, mechanical problems and even bad airline food—but multiplied many times over.

Once Mr. Connelly was unable to offload his materialin Karachi, as scheduled, because the aircraft’s cargo holddoor was jammed. He had no choice but to stay aboardthe plane during its follow-on flight, arriving in Paris inthe middle of January with 1,000 kilograms of diplomat-ic pouch material destined for Karachi and Islamabad—and no jacket!

Once, when mechanical problems left Mr. Smith’s air-craft grounded in Ankara, he learned that a local officialwas threatening to seize his diplomatic pouches. So hedashed through the airport to catch the only remainingflight scheduled out of the city that night—to Zurich. Butthat flight, too, was ill-fated, forced by weather problemsto divert to Istanbul. When Mr. Smith finally made it toZurich, the airport was shutting down for the night, leav-ing him alone with a mountain of diplomatic pouches

and no outbound flight to Frankfurt until thenext morning.

He demonstrated the resourcefulness that hasbecome a hallmark of State’s diplomatic couriersby locating an empty room in the airport termi-nal and dragging the pouches inside. “I lockedthe door and found the most comfortable pouch-es to use as a bed, set my travel alarm and wentto sleep,” Mr. Smith said. Six hours later, he andthe pouches were airborne for their final destina-tion, Frankfurt. “I was very tired, but it was agreat time,” he said.

Only occasionally do diplomatic couriersexperience the type of adrenaline-pumping sit-uations that find their way into Hollywoodscreenplays.

Once Mr. Connelly was accompanying hispouches on an embassy bus in Cairo when itmade a wrong turn late at night near a militaryairfield—only to be surrounded by Egyptian

John Smith, diplomaticcourier on a support trip.

Diplomatic couriers enjoy“luxury” accommodationsin the desert.

army soldiers with their weapons leveled. On anothertrip, while traveling on a truck convoy throughMoldova, he was stopped repeatedly by members of therebel military who questioned his mission and asked ifhe was bringing weapons into Chisinau. On still anothermission, his Cyprus Air plane was struck by lightningwhile en route to Athens; the strike damaged the aircrafttail and caused some anxious moments aboard.

But even more dramatic is the story of Tom Taylor,another longtime diplomatic courier who retired in 1991and died of cancer in December 1998 in Lakeview, Texas.Mr. Taylor, nicknamed “The Miracle Man” by the SouthAfrican press, was one of just five survivors in a 1968crash in Windhoek that claimed123 lives.

When rescuers approached himto offer help, Mr. Taylor—in thetrue diplomatic courier form—asked them to help the other pas-sengers, then started searching forhis missing pouch. He was evacu-ated from the scene to be treatedfor a cracked rib, an injured leg andthumb, a broken front tooth andnumerous cuts and bruises. Butjust as in the movies, his pouchwas located by the South Africanpolice and safely turned over to theconsulate general in Cape Town.

Despite the occasional inconven-iences, headaches and risks of the

job, State’s diplomatic couriers agree that they’re a fairtrade off for regularly experiencing what other peoplemight consider once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

Mr. Connelly, for example, admits that he’s one of thefew people he knows who has experienced food poison-ing in Tunisia, Mali, South Africa and Morocco.

On the other hand, he once got to take over the controlsof a C-140 aircraft flying high over the French Alps duringa military support flight. And during the well-deserveddowntime between incoming and outgoing flights, he’smanaged to play golf in Australia, Fiji, the Philippines,Pakistan, Thailand, Germany, Kenya and Mauritius, and tobet on horses in Vienna, Sydney, Nairobi and Hong Kong.

“Few jobs anywhere offer thediversity and adventure experi-enced on a day-to-day basis bydiplomatic couriers,” Mr. Durbinsaid.

“But what’s also important toemphasize is that it’s demandingwork that requires an exceptionallevel of dedication and profession-alism from every single member ofthe U.S. Diplomatic CourierService,” he observed. “They pro-vide an invaluable service to theU.S. government, building a diplo-matic courier service that, without adoubt, is the best in the world.” �

The author is the former deputy editorof State Magazine.


Diplomatic courier SusanHarris in Miami, Fla.

Pat Connelly, left, with BillPolley, courier of the year.

By Rick Marshall

“From its founding, the United States has been ded-icated to the right of all people to worship freely inaccordance with their conscience and beliefs,”Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told an EmoryUniversity audience in Atlanta, Ga., in October 1998.

This commitment to religious tolerance, firstexpressed nationally in the Bill of Rights, encouragednumerous religious communities to seek shelter in ourcountry. As a consequence, the United States is proba-bly the most religiously diverse country in the world.

Where others might see this as a weakness, the UnitedStates sees it as a strength. For the nation has seen theterrible price of hatred and intolerance, the countlessmillions who have died in this century‘s ethnic and reli-gious wars. And Americans have seen the benefits of tol-erance in their country’s growth, stability and wealth.

The U.S. Commissionon International

Religious FreedomReligious freedomis one of the fundamentalbuilding blocksupon which thiscountry’s well-being rests.

Secretary Albright, center, meets with Commission members, from left, Nina Shea; Firuz Kazemzadeh; JusticeCharles Z. Smith; Michael Young, vice chair; the Most Rev. Rheodore McCarrick; Elliott Abrams; AmbassadorRobert A. Seiple, Rabbi David Saperstein, chair; and Dr. Laila Al-Marayati; Not shown: John Bolton.


World War II convinced the United States of the needto extend human rights, including religious freedom,beyond its borders. From this effort came the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UnitedNations in December 1948. A central tenet of this docu-ment is the importance of religious freedom and theright of every individual to “freedom of thought, con-science and religion.”

But declarations of principle have not always beenenough, as events in this decade have clearly shown.

Recognizing this, the Clinton administration “integrat-ed the American commitment to religious liberty into ourbilateral relationships,” Secretary Albright told herAtlanta audience, citing U.S. efforts to help secure peacein Northern Ireland, the Middle East and the Balkans.

“We do all this because religious liberty is fundamentalto our own identity,” she said of the administration’sfocus on religious issues, “because its denial can causeconflict or generate large flows of refugees and becauseintolerance, when not confronted in one area, can growand spread until it becomes a wilderness of hate.”

In the summer of 1998, the State Department createdthe Office of International Religious Freedom, headed byRobert A. Seiple, who became the country’s first ambas-sador-at-large for international religious freedom the fol-lowing May. In September 1999, the office issued its firstannual report on religious freedom in 194 countries. Thereport can be found at www.state.gov.

Against this background, Congress passed theInternational Religious Freedom Act in the fall of 1998.One of its key provisions was the creation of the U.S.Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The Commission’s charge, according to SecretaryAlbright, is “to act as an independent body in reviewingthe status of religious freedom worldwide; in makingpolicy recommendations on religious freedom to thePresident, Secretary of State and Congress; and in issuingits own annual report.”

The Commission has 10 members, appointed by thePresident and the Republican and Democratic leadershipof the Senate and House of Representatives. The 10 metfor the first time on June 21, 1999, and elected RabbiDavid Saperstein as chair. The vice chair is MichaelYoung, dean of the George Washington University Schoolof Law.

Other Commission members are Elliott Abrams, for-mer assistant secretary of State and president of theEthics and Public Policy Center; Laila Al-Marayati, aphysician and past president of the Muslim Women’sLeague; John Bolton, former assistant secretary of Stateand senior vice president of the American EnterpriseInstitute; Firuz Kazemzadeh, secretary of external affairsof the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of theUnited States; Theodore McCarrick, Roman CatholicArchbishop of Newark, N.J.; Nina Shea, director of theCenter for Religious Freedom, Freedom House; andCharles Z. Smith, justice of the Washington State

Supreme Court. Ambassador Seiple is an ex officio mem-ber of the Commission as well.

Free to determine its own approach, the Commissiondecided to focus on “countries evidencing severe andongoing problems of religious persecution, includingChina and Sudan,” as well as “countries which evidencedownward trends in protections of religious freedom,including Russia, India and Pakistan,” according to aCommission statement of June 23.

A further recommendation was that the Commissionreview “ways of strengthening training of U.S. ForeignService officers in recognizing and addressing religiousdiscrimination and persecution as serious human rightsviolations as well as in developing greater awareness ofreligious freedom issues.”

The passage of the International Religious FreedomAct means that the United States will be formally report-ing on international religious freedom issues at leastthree times a year: in the annual country reports onhuman rights in late January, in the report theCommission issues in May and in the State Department’sOffice of International Religious Freedom report inSeptember.

“We are extraordinarily pleased” with the process setup by Congress, Chairman Saperstein said in a Novemberinterview, reflecting on the State Department’s first reporton international religious freedom.

“Religious freedom is a fundamental right inAmerica.” That the United States should seek to affirmthis right on an international basis lives up to our historyand our highest ideals, he added. That the United Statesshould be the first to speak out on behalf of those who arevictims of persecution, imprisonment, torture, harass-ment and discrimination simply because of their reli-gious beliefs shows that we live up to our highest reli-gious ideals.

“It is a sad statement that we have yet to find a singlereligion whose followers are not persecuted somewhere.”

At the same time, Saperstein said that he has been“greatly encouraged by the unanimous consensus of theCommission across religious lines and the fact that eachmember is committed to the universal application of theprinciples involved.”

For her part, Dr. Al-Marayati sees the Commission as away to help American Muslims articulate their concernsat the same time they reach out to defend the universalprinciple of religious freedom. “We are all workingtoward the same goals.”

How will the Commission measure its success? Theanswer, according to Vice Chairman Young, will comeover time “by observing whether there are any improve-ments in these countries” and by the degree to whichissues of religious freedom enter more deeply into “theminds and actions of everyone making foreign policy.” �

The author is a senior writer in the Office of InternationalInformation Programs.

(We received the following article from our healthunit in Kinshasa on preparing food and personalhygiene. The recommendations reported can pre-vent diarrhea not only overseas but in the UnitedStates as well.—Dr. Cedric Dumont)

By Susan Kalma

Would you release your kitchen staff for two hours sothey could learn how to keep you healthier?

That is just what U.S. Embassy officials in Kinshasa didrecently when Christine Deigni, regional medical technol-ogist, offered a seminar during her visit to the post in theDemocratic Republic of Congo. Every embassy depart-ment participated—setting up meeting space, buying veg-gies for the demonstration, printing attendance certifi-cates, arranging transportation or sending attendees.

As full of succinct and memorable bytes as BenFranklin’s word processor, Ms. Deigni shared suchgems as:

• Make sure your fish has nice bright eyes,• Check to be sure there are no insects in the corn-

flakes, and • Cut the cabbage in half before soaking it. Max Kalule Milonga, medical technologist, served as

interpreter and master of ceremonies. He translated Ms.Deigni’s French offerings deftly into Lingala, transformingthe audience into a score of Marcel Marceau–like mimes onthe personal hygiene command: “Now start washing—20

seconds—all the way up to the elbows—keep washing.”And finally, “OK, 20 seconds are up, you can stop now.”

The kitchen environment includes such perils as chem-icals and exposed lightbulbs. Keep the chemicals awayfrom foods, she advised, and make sure lightbulbs arecovered. Like the Grand Canyon, your refrigeratorshould show strata: cooked foods on the top shelves,fresh foods lower down and defrosting things at the verybottom. (This way, any leakage from the latter will notcontaminate other foods.)

What made the presentation especially memorable washer frequent use of humor. “Would you use the dishclothto wipe spills off the floor?” Ms. Deigni asked. Embassystaff roared at such a preposterous idea. “Can you tastethe stew with your finger?” she suggested. “Never” wasthe response. A volunteer demonstrated ladling stewonto a plate, then sticking his finger into it and finallyputting the finger in his mouth. Staff laughed, because hecould have used the spoon directly for one taste. When avideo of a fancy stateside restaurant depicted a server’sthumb half buried in the carrot salad on some haplessdiner’s plate, the audience howled again.

On some topics, everyone had an opinion and everyoneexpressed it. Staffs’ favorite ways to defrost a large roastwere expounded and defended as if they were debating thebest way to raise children. The question period brought fortha chorus of comments on employers. “How can we tell themwe can’t reheat the chicken stew more than once?” “What ifmy boss insists on having the eyes left in his pineapplechunks? They’re full of germs.” “We should be able to show-er before and after work, with soap, towels and deodorantprovided, and we should all have uniforms and caps.”

Did the course make a difference? Here are some com-ments from employers:

“Pierre turned the kitchen inside out. He movedall the chemicals away from the food and scrubbedout all the cupboards.“

“Marie said she can’t refrigerate leftovers in thebig cooking pot. She explained they cool better in ashallow pan.”

“I realize now how much I was taking it forgranted that my cook was protecting me. Now I amsure he really knows how.”

The cooks themselves also commented:“I learned a lot, and Christine really answered

my questions.”“My boss leaves soap and a towel for me now so

I can be as clean as I need to be.”“Monsieur is getting me a frame for my certificate.”“We’re professionals, too.” �

The author is a Foreign Service health practitioner atthe U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa.

38 State Magazine

Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives

Christine Deigni, right, Foreign Service medical technician,with household staff.


People Like YouPeople Like You

Happy TrailsForeign Service officer Eva Weigold has followed her lifelong interest in horseback riding both overseas and in the

Washington, D.C., area, which offers a wide range of equestrian opportunities. In Kingston, Jamaica, in between visa inter-views, she learned polo and competed in jumping competitions. During a political tour in Frankfurt, she rode at a stablein a 13th-century village. Here in Washington, she boards her horse Pretzel in Centreville, Va., where they enjoy trail rideswith fellow Foreign Service officer Sarah Drew and her horse Jazz—Pretzel’s pasture buddy. While the Foreign Serviceoften links fellow horse lovers around the world, its transient nature affects humans and critters alike. Ms. Weigold andPretzel will have to say goodbye to their friends when Ms. Drew transfers next summer to Copenhagen. She, too, has man-aged to pursue her hobby during previous assignments in Turkey, the Central African Republic and Charleston, S.C.

Sweating It Out With the MarinesThe Marines only need a few good men—and women—to work

out with. And they work out regardless of the weather or facility.And at a hardship post like Port-au-Prince, they’re fortunate to haveSuzann E. Reynolds, a Foreign Service secretary. Ms. Reynolds, whostands 5 feet tall and weighs 112 pounds, has been “pumping iron”with Marines here and at other hardship posts, including Niamey,Beijing and Riyadh. In Niamey, she worked with the guys in a con-verted garage with an “old swamp cooler” to endure the 120-degreetemperatures. In Port-au-Prince, the gym is even more primitive,with no air conditioning and little equipment or space. The “guys inblue” make do with very little, says the “hard core” office manage-ment specialist who joined the Department in 1992. Like ArnoldSchwarzenegger, she says it’s not how much but how you lift. “I geta good burn, lift to my maximum,” said the Redding, Calif., native.“My goal is to build muscle, not tone.”

Foreign Service officers SarahDrew, left, and Eva Weigold.

Foreign Service secretarySuzann E. Reynolds.

Photo by Carl Goodman

40 State Magazine

Roving AmbassadorTakes WHA’s Show on the RoadBy Elaine M. McDevitt

Outside the entrance to JebStuart High School inFalls Church, Va., a largebanner welcomes the visit

of Ambassador Peter F. Romero, theday’s guest teacher for the honorsgovernment class.

A former teacher and currentlyacting assistant secretary of State forWestern Hemisphere Affairs, Mr.Romero was demonstrating theDepartment’s commitment to work-ing with public schools and explain-ing to young audiences the impor-tance of U.S. engagement globallyand in the Western Hemisphere.

Since Jeb Stuart High School ranksas one of the most culturally diverseschools in the United States, with stu-dents from 67 countries who speak 32languages, it was an ideal location todiscuss the increasing interdepend-

ence of nations and the need for U.S.leadership in meeting internationalchallenges. As Mr. Romero is the high-est-ranking Hispanic official at State,his visit resonated with Jeb Stuart’sheavily Hispanic student body.

A week later the setting was verydifferent. The “roving ambassador”was in California for meetings on pre-venting juvenile crime at the East LosAngeles sheriff’s office and with com-munity leaders from throughout theLos Angeles area. The groupexplored the hemispheric dimensionsof the gang phenomenon and ways todeal with it adequately. Though theLos Angeles meetings were held atnontraditional venues for a seniorState Department official, they high-lighted the direct impact that so-called “international” issues such ascrime and migration can have ondomestic communities. The discus-sions also offered the Department anopportunity to explain to grassroots

citizens’ organizations whyrobust foreign affairs spend-ing is so necessary and howit promotes “Main Street”U.S. interests.

Ambassador Romero’stravels are just one part ofthe Bureau of WesternHemisphere Affairs’ strate-gy to take its message to abroader, less traditionalaudience and to developnew tools to keep pace withtoday’s communicationstechnology. WHA’s alreadyextensive speakers’ programwill soon be expanded toinclude more U.S. appear-ances by ambassadors serv-ing in the region.

Last November, thebureau launched its newCuba home page, which canbe accessed through the

State Department’s web site,www.state.gov. Similar web siteswere developed to mark the historicPanama Canal turnover and theone-year anniversary of U.S. recon-struction efforts in Central Americain the wake of Hurricane Mitch.WHA’s web site is designed to pro-vide Americans with a one-stoplocation for information on U.S. pol-icy in the hemisphere.

To increase interest among a newgeneration of potential candidates forState Department and Foreign Servicecareers, the bureau has also produceda 30-minute videotape about the workof diplomats in the region. The videovividly demonstrates the relevance ofState and other foreign affairs agen-cies to everyday American lives. Thetape is being distributed to local for-eign affairs councils, educationalinstitutions, think tanks and Hispanicorganizations throughout the country.

WHA believes that the securityand well-being of the United Statesare more closely tied to the nationsof the Western Hemisphere than tothose of any other region.Geography, trade, travel, migrationand technology have combined tocreate an unprecedented level ofinterdependence between theUnited States and its neighbors. TheBureau of Western HemisphereAffairs has a natural constituencyacross the United States for all itsactivities—from promoting tradeand consular services to preventingthe flow of narcotics into the nation’scommunities. With theDepartment’s Bureau of PublicAffairs, WHA is working to ensurethat this message reaches as manyAmericans as possible. �

The author is a public affairs specialist inthe Office of Public Diplomacy andPublic Affairs.

Ambassador Romero in class.

Helen M. Hennessy, a retired State Department employ-ee, died Nov. 5 in Madison, Wis. She began her ForeignService career in 1950 and served in Thailand, Colombiaand The Hague. She later converted to the Civil Serviceand served in the Bureaus of Public Affairs; Near EasternAffairs; South Asian Affairs; and Economic, Business andAgricultural Affairs. Ms. Henessy retired in 1978.

Robert L. Kinney, 82, a retiredForeign Service officer, died of con-gestive heart failure Oct. 26 inMelbourne, Fla. During hisForeign Service career, he servedas labor attaché and political offi-cer at posts in the Philippines;Indonesia; Washington, D.C.; theUnited Nations in New York;Nigeria; and Malaysia. Mr. Kinneyretired in 1973.

James H. Lewis, a retired ForeignService officer, died of pneumoniaDec. 9 in Chevy Chase, Md. Mr.Lewis began his Foreign Servicecareer in 1936. He served inLondon during World War II andthen as a delegate to the ParisPeace Conference. Other assign-ments included Denmark,Switzerland and Finland. Heretired in 1973.

Daniel F. Margolies, 89, a retiredForeign Service officer, died ofpneumonia Nov. 6 in Denver, Colo.Mr. Margolies joined the StateDepartment in 1957 and later theForeign Service. He was posted inLondon and Leopoldville. InWashington, D.C., he served inLatin American Affairs and then asforeign policy adviser to thePresident’s Science Advisory

Committee, helping establish the Korea Institute ofScience and Technology. Mr. Margolies served in the U.S.Army during World War II and as a prosecuting attorneyof war criminals during the Nuremberg trials.

David Morgan Baehler, 53, a retired State Departmenthistorian, died Nov. 28 in Alexandria, Va., after a 20-yearbattle against multiple sclerosis. Mr. Baehler joined theOffice of the Historian in 1975 as an editor of theDepartment’s documentary publication, The ForeignRelations of the United States, on Central Europe andVietnam. He also served as a staff assistant to the assis-tant secretary of State for Public Affairs from 1977 to 1978.Mr. Baehler retired in 1995.

Richard T. Black, 82, a retired Civil Service employee,died of pneumonia Oct. 10 in Hyannis, Mass. Mr. Blackbegan his State Department career in 1949 as an intern inthe Bureau of Economics. He then transferred to theOffice of Telecommunication Policy, where he served forthe remainder of his career.

Joseph F. Donelan, Jr. 88, a retiredForeign Service officer, died of can-cer May 27 at his home inBethesda, Md. Mr. Donelan’s lasttour was as assistant secretary ofState for Administration until hisretirement in 1973. Mr. Donelonserved in France, Japan, India,Belgium and Washington, D.C.

Ann E. Endrizzi, 79, wife of retiredForeign Service officer Marino S.Endrizzi, died of leukemia Oct. 28in northern Virginia. She accompa-nied her husband on ForeignService assignments in Syria,Ethiopia, Spain and Morocco.

John J. Ewing, 84, a retired Foreign Service officer, diedof heart failure Oct. 12 in Eugene, Ore. Mr. Erving wasfirst a grantee under the State Department, where heserved as a director of American Binational CulturalCenters in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and the DominicanRepublic. He later served as a Foreign Service officer inBrazil, Burma, Australia, Indonesia and Venezuela. Heretired in 1975.

O B I T U A R I E S


L.M. Perry Monchilov, 54, died of cancer Dec. 1 in FortSmith, Ark. Mr. Monchilov joined the State Departmentin 1988 as a special agent with Diplomatic Security. Heserved in Algeria and in field offices in Los Angeles andWashington, D.C. In 1995, he volunteered to serve on aprotection detail in Karachi after the murder of three U.S.Consulate employees. A U.S. Army veteran, he receivedthe Bronze Star Medal for service in Vietnam.

Kathleen B. “Kathy” Parrott, 55, aretired State Department personnelmanagement specialist, died Nov.16 in Alexandria, Va. She began hercareer in 1964 in the Bureau ofPersonnel before transferring to theBureau of Administration in 1979.In 1991, Ms. Parrott joined theBureau of Political-Military Affairs,where she served until her retire-ment in 1994.

David Hall Stauffer, 77, a retired State Departmentdiplomatic historian, died of pancreatic cancer July 26 athis home in Bethesda, Md. He began his StateDepartment career in 1956. He helped prepare theDepartment’s documentary publication, The ForeignRelations of the United States. Mr. Stauffer joined the PeaceCorps in 1962 and served for four years as director of thefirst Peace Corps project in Belize and later in the PeaceCorps planning office. He then returned to State’s Officeof the Historian, where he remained until his retirementin 1980. During World War II, Mr. Stauffer served as a B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber pilot with the 8th Air Forcein England.

42 State Magazine

Foreign Service RetirementsAbels, Max Earl, Rio de JaneiroAbington Jr., Edward Gordon, Intelligence and

ResearchAdams, Judith K., AdministrationAustrian, Sheila West, Strategic CommunicationsBenedict, Lawrence Neal, In TransitBerry, Ann R., PretoriaBresler, Ralph Edwin, Economic Policy StaffBrynn, Jane Cooke, ParisBuechel, Janet G., Administrative TrainingCasey, Mary Ann, Diplomats in ResidenceCastor, Margaret Ann, PanamaChaplin, Stephen M., Miscellaneous AssignmentsClarke, Henry Lee, Assistant SecretaryCockerill, Glenn A., ManilaCourtney, William Harrison, Humanitarian Assistance Davis, James G., State/Defense Exchange OfficersDobbins Jr., James F., Special Representative

for BosniaDougherty Jr., Bernard J., Field Office ManagementFisher, Richard V., Northern Europe and Regional

Affairs DivisionGilstrap, Lewis G., San SalvadorGrovdahl, Roger M., VientianeHopper, Dianne W., South Central European AffairsHorsey, Sarah R., Assignments to Nongovernmental

OrganizationsHoward, Carl D., Citizen Exchanges

Hughes, Patricia Dawson, Mid-Level DivisionHughs, Mary G., BernJohnson, Joyce L., Executive DirectorKey, Andrew F., Miscellaneous AssignmentsKing, K. Kimberly, Miscellaneous AssignmentsKlemp, Stephen H., State/Defense Exchange OfficersKozak, Gertraude T., KievKozak, Larry Joseph, KievLampkins, Kenneth J., YaoundéLange, Mary J., Information Resource ManagementLedger, Charles Thomas, Africa BureauMakhdoom, Rashid A., BrusselsMcElhiney, Gary P., San JoséOrdal, Steven Rolf, MontevideoOtto, Olaf North, ReykjavikPipal, Suella, CopenhagenPollock, James C., Miscellaneous AssignmentsPrice, Donald A., Technical Services BranchRase, Glen R., Bandar Seri BegawanRogus, David Francis, Brazilian and Southern

Cone AffairsSaltzgiver, James A., Special Communications BranchWeingarten, William A., Public AffairsWhite Jr., Robert W., Messaging Systems OfficeWilliams Jr., Langdon P., Regional Analysis and

Eastern Republics Division

Civil Service RetirementsAbdo, Habib E., Near East, South Asia DivisionBash, Thomas A., Audio-Visual FacilityBennett, Robert W., Regional Logistics CentersDelawter, Jerry W., Cost Engineering BranchDragunsky, Vladimir I., Asian, Slavic ArabicLittlefield Iii, Rudolph N., Boston Passport AgencyMacdonald, M. Milton, AuditsNorris, Doris, Foreign Service InstitutePayne, John C., Immediate Office of Inspector GeneralRobinson, Linda B., Information Resource Management Romero, Ramon V., Compliance Follow-Up TeamSklar, Sandra Rae, Houston Passport AgencyTaylor, Elaine, Miami Passport AgencyTaylor, Virginia L., Management TrainingThompson, Guy B., Main State Messaging Center

DivisionUngaro, Ronald A., Geographic LiaisonWestern, E. Linda, Public DiplomacyYang, Linda Tsao, ManilaYoung, Frances R., Financial Management Division

PERSONNEL ACTIONS

To report deaths of Foreign Service and Civil Serviceretirees, contact the Office of Retirement at (202) 261-8960 (voice) or (202) 261-8988 (fax). Obituary informa-tion, including photos, may be submitted by the familyor their representative directly to State Magazine, U.S.Department of State, Bureau of Personnel, Office ofEmployee Relations, Room H-236, SA-1, 2201 C St. NW,Washington, D.C. 20522-0102. Fax: (202) 663-1769.

Assistant Secretary of State forEducational and Cultural Affairs.William B. Bader is the first assis-tant secretary of State forEducational and Cultural Affairs.Prior to integration, Mr. Baderserved as the associate director forEducational and Cultural Affairs atthe former United StatesInformation Agency. He is a for-

mer staff director of the U.S. Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee and was senior adviser at the Center forStrategic and International Studies. He also served asassistant deputy under secretary of Defense. He and hiswife have four children.

U.S. Ambassador to the DominicanRepublic. Charles T. Manatt ofIllinois was recently confirmed bythe Senate as the new U.S.Ambassador to the DominicanRepublic. Mr. Manatt began his ownlaw practice in 1964, specializing inthe field of banking. He chaired theDemocratic National Committeefrom 1981 to 1985 and co-chaired the

Clinton/Gore presidential campaign in 1992.

U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdomof Swaziland. Gregory LeeJohnson of Washington state, acareer Foreign Service officer since1968, is the new U.S. Ambassadorto the Kingdom of Swaziland. Mr.Johnson previously served inVietnam, Japan, Somalia, Brazil,Russia, Sweden, Canada andWashington, D.C. Mr. Johnson

attended the U.S. Army War College and theDepartment’s Senior Seminar. He and his wife, the for-mer Lyla J. Charles, have two children.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel. MartinIndyk is reassuming his position asU.S. Ambassador to Israel, wherehe served from 1995 to 1997. Mr.Indyk served as assistant secretaryof State for Near Eastern Affairsfrom 1997 to 1999. Prior to hisassignment as ambassador toIsrael in 1995, Mr. Indyk served asspecial assistant to the President

and senior director for Near East and South Asian Affairsat the National Security Council. He was a senior mem-ber of Secretary Warren Christopher’s Middle East Peaceteam. He and his wife, Jill Indyk, have two children.

Assistant Secretary of State forNear Eastern Affairs. Edward S.Walker Jr. is the new assistant sec-retary of State for Near EasternAffairs. Ambassador Walker beganhis Foreign Service career in 1967and served as ambassador to Israelfrom 1997 to 1999, ambassador toEgypt from 1994 to 1997, deputypermanent representative to the

United Nations with ambassadorial rank from 1993 to1994, and as U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emiratesfrom 1989 to 1992. In 1988, he was appointed deputy assis-tant secretary of State in the Near East Bureau.

Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans andInternational Environmental and Scientific Affairs. DavidB. Sandalow of Michigan is the new assistant secretary ofState for Oceans and International Environmental andScientific Affairs. Mr. Sandalow was previously associatedirector for the Global Environment for the White HouseCouncil on Environment Quality and senior director forEnvironmental Affairs at the National Security Council.Prior to his work at the White House, Mr. Sandalow waswith the Office of the General Counsel at the EnvironmentalProtection Agency and in private law practice.

Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence andResearch. J. Stapleton Roy of Pennsylvania is the newassistant secretary of State for Intelligence and Research.Mr. Roy entered the Foreign Service in 1956, and he hasserved in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Moscow andWashington, D.C. He served as deputy chief of missionwhen the United States established diplomatic relationswith the People’s Republic of China in 1979, then asdeputy chief of mission in Bangkok. Mr. Roy wasappointed ambassador to Singapore in 1984 and returnedto Washington, D.C., in 1986 to become deputy assistantsecretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He nextserved two years as executive secretary of theDepartment and special assistant to the Secretary of State.He served as ambassador to the People’s Republic ofChina from 1991 to 1995 and later as ambassador toIndonesia from 1996 to 1999.


A P P O I N T M E N T S

U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland. Richard Fredericksis the new U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland. Mr.Fredericks has worked in the brokerage industry special-izing in investment research analysis and investmentbanking with special focus in the field of commercialbanking. He was a senior consultant to Banc of AmericaSecurities and is a past president of the Bank andFinancial Analysts Society.

U.S. Consul General, Hong Kong. Michael Klosson ofWashington, D.C., a career Foreign Service officer, is thenew U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong. During his 24-year Foreign Service career, Mr. Klosson has served asdirector of the secretariat staff and as deputy chief of mis-sion and chargé d’affaires in Sweden and the Netherlands.His most recent assignment was as principal deputy assis-tant secretary of State for Legislative Affairs from 1996 to1999. He and his wife, Boni Klosson, have two children.

Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. JosephW. Prueher of Tennessee is the new U.S. Ambassador tothe People’s Republic of China. Mr. Prueher is a retiredNavy admiral and former commander-in-chief of the U.S.Pacific Command. For more than three years, Mr. Prueherserved as the senior U.S. military commander in thePacific and Indian Oceans and their littoral areas. Heretired from the Navy in 1999 after 35 years of service andthen served as a consulting professor and senior adviserfor the Stanford-Harvard Preventive Defense Project.

Assistant Secretary of State forNonproliferation. Robert J.Einhorn is the new assistant secre-tary of State for Nonproliferation.Mr. Einhorn began his career in theformer U.S. Arms Control andDisarmament Agency, where heserved in a variety, of Washington,D.C.–based and delegation assign-ments. He then served as senior

adviser in policy planning for arms control, nonprolifera-tion and other security issues from 1986 to 1992. Mr.Einhorn then became the deputy assistant secretary forNonproliferation in the Bureau of Political-MilitaryAffairs, where he served until 1999. He most recentlyserved in early 1999 as the senior adviser to the under sec-retary for Arms Control and International Security.

U.S. Ambassador to the Republicof Botswana. John E. Lange ofWisconsin, a career Senior ForeignService officer, is the new U.S.Ambassador to the Republic ofBotswana. Mr. Lange will alsoserve as the special representativeof the Secretary of State to theSouthern African DevelopmentCommunity, headquartered in

Gaborone. He joined the Foreign Service in 1981 and hasserved in Switzerland, Togo, France, Mexico andWashington, D.C. His most recent post was Dar esSalaam, Tanzania, where he served as deputy chief ofmission and chargé d’ affaires. He received theDistinguished Honor Award for skilled leadership andextraordinary courage in the aftermath of the Aug. 7,1998, bombing. He and his wife, Alejandra M. Lange,have one child.

U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso.Jimmy J. Kolker of Missouri, acareer member of the SeniorForeign Service in the class ofcounselor, is the new U.S.Ambassador to Burkina Faso.During his 22-year Foreign Servicecareer, Mr. Kolker has served inGaborone, London, Stockholm,Harare, Maputo and Washington,

D.C. He served as senior adviser to the under secretaryfor Management. In his most recent assignment, heserved as deputy chief of mission in Copenhagen. He andhis wife, Britt-Marie Forslund, have two children.

U.S. Ambassador to Senegal.Harriet L. Elam-Thomas of Mas-sachusetts, a career member of theSenior Foreign Service in the class ofminister counselor, is the new U.S.Ambassador to Senegal. Ms. Elam-Thomas last served as counselor ofthe United States InformationAgency in Washington, D.C. Hercareer in the Foreign Service

includes assignments in Belgium, Greece, France, Senegal,Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Turkey.

U.S. Ambassador to Mali. MichaelE. Ranneberger, a Senior ForeignService officer with the rank ofminister counselor, is the new U.S.Ambassador to Mali. He served asdeputy chief of mission in Maputofrom 1986 to 1989 and as deputychief of mission in Asunción from1989 to 1992. In 1994, Mr.Ranneberger served as deputy

chief of mission in Mogadishu, then became deputy prin-cipal officer of the reconstituted Somalia Liaison Office inNairobi. In 1995, he spent six months establishing andrunning an interagency task force on justice and security-related issues in Haiti, then assumed his most recentposition as coordinator for Cuban Affairs in Washington,D.C. He and his wife have two children.

Compiled by Nicole Deaner.

44 State Magazine

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