Ambassadors and ex-FSO's Call For A Public Diplomacy Professional At State

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and former ambassador pulled me aside at a luncheon.  He was, he confided, in despair about the recently announced departure of Tara Sonenshine, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy.

Tara Sonenshine

Sonenshine will be leaving just fifteen months after having arrived.  Her predecessor, Judith McHale, left after only about two years in the job.  James K. Glassman, who served before her, was in the job only seven months.

Between incumbents, there are long gaps.  Since public diplomacy was brought into the State Department in 1999, there have been seven people in the Under Secretary slot, and it has been vacant 30 percent of the time.  This is due to a glacier-like nomination process requiring the United States Senate's advice and consent, but both the Bush and Obama Administrations were slow to pick people and nominate them.

Secretary Kerry

My colleague and I decided to write a letter to the Secretary of State.  We thought it might carry more weight if we sought some additional signers from among our colleagues -- former ambassadors and senior public diplomacy officials, mainly those who headed up a public diplomacy operation field during either the USIA days or since integration into State.

We sent the letter May 24, and immediately we began to hear from others who wanted to indicate their support for the ideas in the letter by signing it too.  So, on May 31, we sent an updated version to Secretary Kerry.

I think the letter speaks for itself pretty well, so I'll post it here.  Maybe I'll add some more thoughts on the subject in coming days.



                                                            May 31, 2013
                                                            (Letter of May 24, 2013, revised with
                                                             additional signatures)


The Honorable John F. Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington DC 20520


Dear Mr. Secretary:


We urge that a career foreign affairs professional be appointed as the next Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Such an appointment would support your efforts fully to integrate public diplomacy into U.S. foreign affairs.


No career professional has served as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Coincidentally or not, today there is a wide consensus that U.S. perspectives are less well understood abroad, and people-to-people exchanges are less robust than they should be. In today’s globalizing but still threatening world, and as our military forces abroad are drawn down, it is more important than ever that America strengthen its “soft power.” For this, public diplomacy is an essential and powerful tool.


A career foreign affairs professional, with years of overseas and Washington experience, is more likely to understand the larger world context and how public diplomacy can help achieve America’s policy goals. And it is challenging to direct and energize public diplomacy if the leadership has brief tours or vacancies are lengthy. Prior to the incumbent Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, leaving after just over a year in office, the previous four served, on average, nearly two years. By comparison, the previous four Under Secretaries for Political Affairs, all career professionals, served, on average, nearly three-and-one-half years. The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy reports that the position of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs has been vacant more than 30% of the time since it was created in 1999. The position of Under Secretary for Political Affairs has been vacant only 5% of that time.


Studies by the Defense Science Board, RAND, and other independent groups have found that America’s engagement with foreign publics succeeds best when led by experienced officials having the authority to establish priorities, assign responsibilities, transfer funds, and concur in senior appointments. Leaders must have direct access to you and the President on critical communication issues as policies are formulated and implemented.


When done well, public diplomacy works. Large numbers of foreign heads of government, legislators, and social, economic, and political leaders -- many of them America’s staunch allies and stalwart friends -- have participated in U.S. public diplomacy programs. The University of Southern California recently reported that of individuals exposed to U.S. public diplomacy, 79 percent have used what they learned to bring about positive change in their own communities by running for political office, organizing a civil society group, doing volunteer work, and starting a new business or other projects. Fully 94 percent say the exposure has increased their understanding of U.S. foreign policy, and America’s people, society, and values.


The President’s and your public engagements are among our country’s greatest diplomatic assets. You have over a thousand skilled, culturally-aware, and language-trained public diplomacy officers ready to leverage advanced technology and person-to-person communications skills in order to change foreign outcomes in America’s favor. All they need is truly professional, experienced leadership.


Respectfully,



Leonard J. Baldyga, former PAO in Poland, Mexico, Italy, and India


Adrian A. Basora, Ambassador (Retired), Director of the Project on Democratic Transitions,


     Foreign Policy Research Institute, and Past President, Eisenhower Fellowships


John R. Beyrle, Director, U.S. Russia Foundation, and former Ambassador to Russia and
     Bulgaria


Barbara K. Bodine, former Ambassador to Yemen


Edward Brynn, former Ambassador to Burkina Faso and Ghana, and Acting Historian of the
    Department of State


Brian Carlson, former Ambassador to Latvia and Public Affairs Officer (PAO) in Spain,
   Norway, and Bulgaria


John Campbell, Ambassador (Retired), Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies,
Council on Foreign Relations

William Courtney, former Ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia

Shaun Donnelly, former Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives

Craig G. Dunkerley, former Special Envoy for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe

Sally Grooms Cowal, former Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, PAO in Mexico, and Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs

Walter L. Cutler, former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Zaire

John Evans, former Ambassador to Armenia

Linda Jewell, former Ambassador to Ecuador

Robert Finn, former Ambassador to Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and Opening Chargé d'affaires
in Azerbaijan

Jacob P. Gillespie, former PAO in Spain and El Salvador

Robert R. Gosende, former Special Envoy for Somalia and PAO in the Russian Federation and
South Africa

Donna J. Hamilton, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs

John R. Hamilton, former Ambassador to Peru and Guatemala

William Harrop, former Ambassador to Israel, Kenya, Zaire, and Guinea, and Inspector General
of the Department of State

Arthur Hartman, Career Ambassador (Retired)

Dennis K. Hays, former Ambassador to Suriname and President of the American Foreign Service
Association

H. Allen Holmes, Ambassador (Retired), former Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-
Military Affairs

Robert E. Hunter, former Ambassador to NATO (non-career) and senior member of the National
Security Council (NSC) Staff

Morris Jacobs, former President of the Public Diplomacy Council

Linda Jewell, former Ambassador to Ecuador and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
Western Hemisphere Affairs

Joe B. Johnson, Public Diplomacy Council and former PAO in Ireland and Panama

Richard D. Kauzlarich, former Ambassador to Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dr. William P. Kiehl, President & CEO, PDWorldwide, and former PAO in Czechoslovakia,
Finland, and Thailand

Melinda Kimble, Senior Fellow, United Nations Foundation, and former Acting Assistant
Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment, and Science

Daniel Kurtzer, former Ambassador to Egypt and Israel.

Bruce Laingen, former Ambassador to Malta and Chargé d'affaires, TehranRichard LeBaron, former Ambassador to Kuwait and Founding Coordinator of the Center for
Strategic Counterterrorism Communications

Melvyn Levitsky, former Ambassador to Bulgaria and Brazil, and Assistant Secretary of State
for International Narcotics Matters

Thomas E. McNamara, Ambassador (Retired), former Assistant Secretary of State for
Political-Military Affairs

Richard Miles, former Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, and Georgia

John O'Keefe, former Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic

Thomas R. Pickering, former Ambassador to Nigeria, Jordan, El Salvador, Israel, the United
Nations, India, and Russia, and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs

Christopher Ross, Personal Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Western Sahara,
and former Special Coordinator for Public Diplomacy and Ambassador to Algeria and
Syria

William A. Rugh, former Ambassador to Yemen and to the United Arab Emirates, and PAO in
Egypt and Saudi Arabia

Harold H. Saunders, former senior member of the NSC Staff, Director of Intelligence and
Research, and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs

Michael Schneider, Senior Executive Service (Retired), U.S. Information Agency

John W. Shirley, former Ambassador to Tanzania, PAO in Warsaw and Rome, and Counselor of
the U.S. Information Agency

Katherine Shirley, former ambassador to Senegal

Pamela Hyde Smith, former Ambassador to Moldova and PAO in the United Kingdom

Patrick Nickolas Theros, former Ambassador to Qatar

Hans N. Tuch, Career Minister (Retired), former PAO in the USSR, Germany, and Brazil, and
Deputy Chief of Mission in Bulgaria and Brazil

Alexander F. Watson, former Ambassador to Peru, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent
Representative at the United Nations, and Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs

Marcelle M. Wahba, former Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and PAO in Egypt,
Jordan, and Cyprus

Philip C. Wilcox, Jr., Ambassador (Retired), former Chief of Mission in Jerusalem and
Ambassador at Large for Counterterrorism

Kenneth Yalowitz, former Ambassador to Belarus and Georgia


Additional Signatures


Robert L Barry, former Ambassador to Bulgaria and Indonesia, and former Deputy Director,
Voice of America

Gene Bigler, former PAO Havana

Robert Callahan, former Ambassador to Nicaragua and PAO in Bolivia, Greece, and Italy

Michael Canning, former President of the Public Diplomacy Alumni Association

Elinor Constable, former Ambassador to Kenya and Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and
International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

Paul Denig, former PAO in Yugoslavia and Director, Washington Foreign Press Center,
Department of State

Vello Ederma, former Deputy Chief, European Division, Voice of America

Harriet L. Elam-Thomas, former Ambassador to Senegal and Counselor, U.S. Information
Agency

Allen C. Hansen, retired USIA FSO and author

J. Michael Houlahan, former PAO in Jamaica

Gerald Huchel, former PAO in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Senegal

Vicki Huddleston, former Ambassador to Madagascar and Mali, and Principal Officer of the
U.S. Interests Section in Havana

Susan Johnson, President, American Foreign Service Association

Kenton W. Keith, former Ambassador to Qatar and PAO in Egypt and Syria

Patricia H Kushlis, President of the Santa Fe World Affairs Forum, and former Foreign Service
Officer, U.S. Information Agency

Robert R. LaGamma, President of the Council for a Community of Democracies, and former
Director, African Affairs, U.S. Information Agency, and PAO South Africa

Robert E. McCarthy, former PAO in Hungary and Russia

Anthony C. E. Quainton, former Ambassador to Central African Empire, Nicaragua, Kuwait, and
Peru, and Director General of the Foreign Service

Morton Smith, former Area Director for East Asia/Pacific, U.S. Information Agency, and Deputy
Director, Voice of America

John H. Trattner, former Spokesman, Department of State

Frederick Vreeland, former Ambassador to Morocco


cc:  National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon