Former Ambassador Slams Selection Process Richard Spiers, who served as US Ambassador to The Bahamas during the 1980s, said that to institute such limitations was among the quick and easy – and cost-free – steps Obama might take to begin to strengthen what he called the US’ "woefully under-staffed, under-funded and sometimes demoralized diplomatic arm." Spiers has retired to Vermont, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy. His comments come at a time when many are questioning the fate of sitting US Ambassador Ned Siegel, who was appointed last year by outgoing US president George W. Bush. President-elect Obama is expected to eventually name his own choice to the post. "Political appointment of ambassadors is a practice that has persisted and had a corrosive effect on the quality of [the United States’] Foreign Service, whose best members are often frustrated by watching positions to which they might aspire handed out as in a bazaar to highest bidders," Spiers said. "Today it is not unusual to see 30 to 40 percent of the 200-odd U.S. ambassadorships encumbered by political appointees, many of whom have few or no qualifications for the job — usually in the cushiest posts." "This is not to say that only professionals are qualified to serve as chiefs of diplomatic missions," he stressed. "Academia and think tanks and even those with relevant business or military experience can be good sources of diplomatic talent." In a potentially revealing look at the inner workings of who goes where, Spiers noted that his experience from 1983 to 1989, when he was the chief management officer of the Department of State and, in this capacity, the principal liaison channel with White House personnel officials, was "pretty dispiriting." "Decisions were made crassly on purely political grounds and without regard to any of the requirements of the job, such as language skills or background. The process seemed like a silent auction, but with inattention to any need to match positions and qualifications," he said. "There is something about an ambassadorship that causes salivation among some who are avid for the title," Spiers opined. "I remember one ambassador who served a brief spell at the conclusion of an administration and who from then on sported a vanity license plate "MR AMB" on his limousine. Another always demanded to be addressed this way long after serving in the position…There are classic stories about candidates who did not know the name of the prime minister they were to deal with, what language was spoken in the country they were to represent [the US] in, or anything much of the history and culture that would underlay current issues he would have to deal with." Spiers asserted that as president, Barack Obama could do what former presidential candidate Al Gore said he would do and announce that ambassadorships would no longer be auctioned off to high-rolling contributors and that selection would be made solely on the basis of qualification for the job without regard to political considerations. "Al Gore spoke of setting an upper limit on non-career appointments of, perhaps, 15 percent. If President Obama were to begin with such a policy, cheers would arise from a newly inspired Foreign Service," he said. "It was long ago that most nations abandoned the practice of selling military commissions, one satirized so effectively by Gilbert and Sullivan," Spiers said. "A similar change in policy for diplomacy is overdue; President-elect Obama is certainly less beholden to large contributors than any of his predecessors. He has an opportunity to strike a blow for a rational diplomacy." Ambassador Siegel, a resident of Boca Raton, Florida, is founder and Chairman of The Siegel Group, a real estate investment and management group. He has served the United States as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations for the UN General Assembly and as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. In his testimony before the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, he demonstrated a thorough knowledge of US-Bahamas relations, particularly the relationship between Florida and The Bahamas. "My Embassy team will seek to increase US trade and investment in The Bahamas by linking Bahamian importers to US suppliers, fostering Bahamian business development, and promoting US-Bahamian business connections including through our outstanding National Guard State Partnership Program with the State of Rhode Island," Siegel told the Senators. "We will continue to work with The Bahamas to promote energy diversification and sustainable tourism, fishing and agriculture. The Embassy will continue to promote legal and regulatory changes that will promote sustainable development, an important goal of United States policy." "The Bahamas will continue to be an active partner in our efforts to stem the flow of illegal narcotics, prevent illegal migration, ensure the safety and security of American citizens abroad, combat potential terrorism, and promote prosperity and security in our hemisphere," he testified. "Should I be confirmed, I look forward to building new areas of cooperation with one of our closest neighbors and to deepening one of our closest bilateral partnerships in the hemisphere."
|
| AMERICAN
ACADEMY OF DIPLOMACY |
|