The Embassy

Two days ago I went back to the embassy in order to get some tips on taking the Foreign Service Exam. Natalie, one of the girls on the trip is working for the Foreign Service after she graduates because she got a scholarship. All she has to do is pass the exam. I´ve been thinking about the Foreign Service but I am not sure if I want to do it yet. However, from the time taking the test, assuming I passed, grad school etc...it would be three or four years later in the future. Hopefully, I could make up my mind by then.

We talked about life in the Foreign Service with some of the embassy staff. They´ve been really nice so far. We went earlier in the semester too, with the program, in order to get the US´s view on Chile. This time they discussed the test which seems difficult but not impossible. It tests grammar, US Foreign Policy, geography, US History, culture, government et...I hope after working three years at International Relations I can guess a few answers on the test.

The life seems interesting although I am not sure whether I want to stay out of the states that long. Usually, you don´t get to go home that often.

What was impressive to me though was that the Ambassador stopped by to say hi, talk about the foreign service, and answer a few questions. I think everyone was a little surprised when he came in. The embassy staff shot out of their seats and we were unsure whether to stand. Apparenlty, the Foreign Service is very hierarchecal. The ranks correspond with military ranks. A junior officer is like a private while an Ambassador is like a general. Being hierarchecal, you stand up when the Ambassador walks in the room. However, since I pay taxes and don't work for the Foreign Service I don´t have to stand up.

Ambassador Kelly is a Bush appointee. He´s been a career foreign service officer and he started about 20 years ago. He gave a nice little talk and I thought it was nice of him to answer questions. For someone whose probably really busy he gave us a lot of time. I liked his answers too, you could tell he´s had to talk to the press on occasion. One girl in the room asked whether someone in the foreign service should join if they wanted to radically change US Foreign Policy. His answers was something like ´if your against democracy, economicy prosperity and spreading freedom´then you shouldn´t join the Foreign Service.

Which although that was a politician type answer he´s right. The US Foreign Service implements US foreign policy. Before a policy is choosen they can give their two cents, but once it´s made it´s their decision to carry it out. If you don´t love the United States, don´t have a warm fuzzy feeling when you hear the Star Spangled Banner, and can´t support the US in whatever it does, the Foreign Service isn´t for you.

While at the embassy I asked the Ambassador about how the foreign service works with the other agencies that work in the embassy. I had taken Analysis of US Foriegn Policy the year before and I was kind of interested how the bureacratic decision making model worked in real life. He said that in their embassy which was small, all the agencies work pretty well together. Although he hinted there are occasions when the different bureacracies don´t work so well together. I imagine at larger embassies where it´s harder to keep track of what everyone is up to this becomes a problem.

If I recall my Analysis of US Foreign Policy class properly, the institution in-fighting can be pretty vicious at times. But for the State Department it´s kind of hard to get in a say all of the time because they´re such a small bureau. They only have 11,000 employees, the majority of which are abroad. Thus, the DoD and the Department of Agriculture have a huge domestic constituency which gives them a lot of power to influence the debate back home while State really doesn´t really have many folk pulling for it.