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The Newsletter THE ACADEMY'S AWARDS CEREMONY The Academy's
year end event that annually highlights and symbolizes the priority it
attaches to professionalism and the highest standards of American diplomacy
is its ceremonial awards luncheon. This year it was held on December 11,
with the fullest cooperation and support of the Department of State as
the co-host. Despite threatening winter weather, some 175 guests attended
- the guests of honor being Secretary of State Colin Powell,
receiving the Academy's "Excellence in Diplomacy" award, Jim
Lehrer of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer winning the new media award
and John Boykin of California, author of a book deemed by the Academy
for best writing on the practice of American diplomacy - Cursed is
the Peacemaker; the American Diplomat versus the Israeli General; Beirut,
1982. A special citation was presented to Princeton Lyman,
for his book Partner to History; the US Role in South Africa's Transition
to Democracy. Others attending included Senator Richard Lugar, who introduced the Secretary, Constance Morella, James Leach and Ben Gilman of the House, Arthur Ross and Mrs. Ross of the Arthur Ross Foundation, fifteen ambassadors and others of the Diplomatic Corps, senior officers of the Department, media representatives and about 40 members from the Academy. TV teams from CBS, NBC, FOX and NHK of Japan were there, and C-SPAN recorded the event. Members will have received a full report on the proceedings. We liked all that was said, not least that by the Secretary, but including the following as well: "I commend
the American Academy of Diplomacy for recognizing the distinguished men
and women who make invaluable contributions to foreign policy. These individuals
help define the course of our Nation, promote global understanding, and
reflect the ideals of friendship and goodwill that make our country strong." All photos
courtesy the State Department
"The Foreign
Service was Phil Habib's religion. This building was his
magnetic north…Learning about this one episode in high-stakes crisis
diplomacy…has given me a profound admiration for the work that diplomats
do." And a footnote: A letter from the Executive Director of the Annenberg Foundation, Gail Levin, notes "We wish to commend the continuing high standards of the selection committee; there is no more worthy recipient of the Diplomacy Award in 2002 than Secretary of State Colin Powell." MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN It is time
again to think about the long term, now that our three awards - for excellence
in diplomacy, effective reporting and analysis on diplomacy and foreign
affairs and for a book on the practice of diplomacy - are endowed, hopefully
in perpetuity. It is a special time, because 2003 marks the 20th anniversary
of when a group of venerables led by Alex Johnson, Ellsworth
Bunker and John McCloy founded the Academy to work
to further the highest standards of American diplomacy. The Program Committee
of the Academy is considering how we celebrate this important anniversary,
and we would welcome the views of others. My own view
of the Academy's mission is simple and straight forward; as part of the
process of enhancing public understanding of US foreign and security policy,
it is to further develop the Academy as a respected organization that
recognizes and awards professionalism, integrity and the highest standards
of diplomacy in promoting American national interests and values; in the
Foreign Service, the Civil Service and political appointees. The Academy
publicly and internally should be seen for what it is now and can further
develop as a distinguished group of Americans, respected for their past,
present and future accomplishments. We need to
do more to give special attention to the critical importance of women
in the foreign policy field, as well as that of minorities and younger
officers. Our means of properly identifying and qualitatively evaluating
them needs marked improvement. We
have sought, for these past 20 years, to identify ourselves with quality
purposes and programs. I hope Academy members will take this to heart,
and I would appreciate reactions. Do react. COMPLETION
OF PROJECT WITH ISD AT In a series of working dinners over several months during 2002 at Georgetown University, the Institute of the Study of Diplomacy and the Academy engaged jointly in a study on Coalitions - Building and Maintenance. The report, focusing on the Gulf War, Kosovo, Afghanistan and the war on terrorism, was released in a public conference at Georgetown on November 20, with Sam Lewis among the panelists. The project, involving some 30 participants from across the foreign affairs community and government, was co-chaired by Lee Hamilton and Hans Binnendijk, and the report was written by Andrew Pierre. Copies of the report were mailed to all AAD members and a much wider audience, and additional volumes are available on request. It is a succinct and very readable 100-page document, and as a proud associate in a very timely exercise, we strongly commend it. APPROPRIATIONS FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS It will be
some time before the outlook is clear on the level of appropriations,
for both Fiscal 03 and 04. By the time of its adjournment, the 107th Congress
had completed action on only two of the FY03 bills - those for defense
and military construction. A Continuing Resolution was adopted before
adjournment that funds programs at essentially FY02 levels through January
11. The 02 level enacted was $15.35 billion for the 150 Account; the Administration's
request for FY03 is $16.14 billion. The CJS Account enacted for 02 was
$7.79 billion; the Administration's request for 03 is $8.9 billion. With
the 108th Congress in session, the hope is that it will be able to pass
an omnibus spending bill before the State of the Union address. Stay tuned. The Academy
has written to the chairs and ranking members of the relevant committees,
stressing the need for funding levels needed "to ensure the muscle
needed for our diplomatic arm." On a related matter, the Administration has announced some details concerning the President's announcement earlier this summer of the Millennium Challenge Account that would increase the baseline of foreign assistance by $5 billion over the next three years, beginning with FY04. The Account would be managed by a new, independent federal corporation, with a Board of Directors headed by the Secretary of State. It would have a staff of around a hundred, drawn from across government. It would be designed to reward governments that "make the right choices for their own people" - with countries judged for suitability under criteria divided into three main baskets: "ruling justly, investing in people and providing economic freedom". A total of 116 countries are anticipated as being eligible under one or more of these categories. AMBASSADORIAL NOMINATIONS When the 107th
Congress adjourned, all pending ambassadorial nominations were automatically
withdrawn. As of this writing, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
has received no new nominations. Zalmay Khalilzad
has been named Special Envoy and Ambassador at Large for Free Iraqis.
He remains Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan but is no long Senior
Director for Southwest Asia, Near East and North African Affairs for the
NSC. Maura Harty,
formerly Executive Secretary of the Department, is the new Assistant Secretary
for Consular Affairs at State, succeeding Mary Ryan, who
has retired. Curt Struple,
a career officer, is currently Acting Assistant Secretary for Western
Hemisphere Affairs. Roger Noriega, now ambassador to the OAS, is expected
to be nominated. Otto Reich is now Special Envoy to Latin America at the
NSC. The new Coordinator for Counterterrorism is J. Cofer Black, succeeding Frank Taylor. RECENT AND UPCOMING EVENTS On January
7, at the National Press Club, the Brookings Institution announced the
publication of Urgent Business for America; Revitalizing the Federal Government
for the 21st Century. The publication is the report of The National Commission
on the Public Service, chaired by Paul Volcker - a follow up to the earlier
Volcker Commission Report of 1989, this time based on studies and public
hearings led by a ten member commission including Frank Carlucci,
Donna Shalala, Vin Weber and others; Mike Armacost, Strobe
Talbot and Bruce Laingen served as ex -officio members. The World Affairs
Councils of America (WACA) is holding its annual national conference January
29 - February 1 at the Washington Marriott. Its focus is "The US
and Asia: What Does the Future Hold?" Some 400 representatives from
WACA's more than 80 Councils from around the country will be in attendance.
Academy members wishing to attend should contact WACA at 202/833-4557. The next session
of the Academy's monthly luncheon/seminars will be on Wednesday, January
29. The Ambassador of Korea joined us on January 7, for some very timely
observations on the current crisis with North Korea. Brookings has
announced a new ten-month leadership development program designed "to
build a cadre of master executives who will have the knowledge, wisdom
and skill to transform public policy into compelling results for the American
people". Ambitious; we applaud the intent. For more information,
see www.brookings.edu/execed. The Center
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) includes the Transnational
Threats Initiative that provides monthly news on terrorism, drug trafficking,
organized crime, money laundering and other transnational threats. NEW MEMBERS OF THE BOARD At its meeting
on October 25, 2002, the Academy's Board nominated the following new members
of the Board's Class of 2005: Tom Boyatt, Julia Chang
Bloch, Allen Holmes, Jim Jones, Pat
Lynch, Stape Roy and Warren Zimmerman.
All have since accepted. Those leaving the Board from the Class of 2002, their terms having expired are Pat Byrne, Bill Harrop, Steve Low and Tony Motley. The Academy is grateful for their dedicated service, and we remind them that the Bylaws provide that they are eligible to run again after a one-year period.
Sam
Nunn has written the foreword for Victory on the Potomac; the
Goldwater-Nichols Act Unifies the Pentagon, authored by James R. Locher,
III and published by the Texas A&M University Press. Dust jacket endorsements
come from Jim Schlesinger and Admiral Crowe,
among others. Bob Miller's
Vietnam and Beyond; a Diplomat's Cold War Education is now in bookstores.
It is published by the Texas Tech University Press, another book in the
ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy series. The Academy
is in receipt of a new book Window on a War; an Anthropologist in the
Vietnam Conflict, by Gerald C. Hickey, an anthropologist who worked
for RAND during the Vietnam War. It is also published by the Texas Tech
University Press. Warren
Zimmerman's new book - First Great Triumph; How Five Americans
Made their Country a World Power, published by Farrar Straus, is now
in book stores. Hermann Eilts is working on a book on Americans in Yemen in the 1798-1993 period. NEWS OF MEMBERS Congratulations to Jim Jones, about to assume office as Chair of the Board of the World Affairs Councils of America. He succeeds WACA's distinguished former chairman, Sir Eldon Griffiths of California. Jim is currently co-chair and CEO of Manatt Jones Global Strategies. He also serves currently as chair of the International Business Council of the Greater Washington Board of Trade and chair of the Meridian Center Board. Walt Cutler's recent media appearances on Saudi/Middle East affairs have included speeches at Fort Worth's Lecture Foundation and the Worcester, Massachusetts Committee on Foreign Relations. He also appeared on the Diane Rehm Show, Jim Lehrer's NewsHour, CNN, CNBC and Canadian National Television. Tom Boyatt
was the Laiki Group's Distinguished Lecturer on October 10 in Nicosia,
delivering a talk on "The Cyprus Crisis of 1974." He was also
a Woodrow Wilson Association Fellow in one-week sessions at Wabash College
and Evansville University in late October and November respectively. Tom
had earlier done similar stints for the Woodrow Wilson Association at
more than a dozen colleges and universities around the country. The book Ozone
Diplomacy: New Directions in Safeguarding the Planet, written by Richard
Benedick and published by Harvard University Press, has been selected
by McGraw-Hill for an anthology of 20th century environmental classics,
that also includes John Muir, Rachel Carson and Stephen Jay Gould. Bob Kimmitt
is now Executive Vice President, Global and Strategic Policy, with AOL
Time Warner Inc., at 800 Connecticut Av, NW 20006-2718. Sam Nunn
addressed a capacity crowd at the DC World Affairs Council session at
the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Tysons Corner in Virginia on October 22. He
spoke on "Building a Global Coalition against Catastrophic Terrorism." On November
21, Bruce Laingen was the speaker at a winging ceremony
in Pensacola for new helicopter pilots at HT8. The latter squadron, CO'ed
by Commander Chip Laingen, USN, together with HT18, train all of the helicopter
pilots for the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, as well as a good number
of foreign pilots. Bruce was also the first speaker on November 15 in
the new Rosborough Distinguished Speaker Series, "Challenges of a
New Century," at the Asbury Foundation in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
His topic was "Diplomacy in an Age of Terrorism." Stape
Roy and Strobe Talbot spoke at a one day conference
on US-China Relations at Baylor University on October 23. Dick
Holbrooke is the new chair of the board of the Asia Society in
New York. On November
5, at the Westin Embassy Row Hotel in Washington, Tony Quainton
presided at the National Policy Association's Gold Medal Awards ceremony.
Among the awardees were Jim Baker, following a similar honor to Frank
Carlucci in 2001 and George Shultz in 1991. Tony
is President and CEO of the Association. The November/December
issue of Foreign Affairs carried an article by Strobe Talbot,
"From Prague to Baghdad; NATO at Risk." The annual
writing award given by AFSA to a graduate of the National War College
at Fort McNair has been renamed in honor of George Kennan.
Kennan was the first Deputy Commandant for Foreign Affairs at the College
in 1947. Kennan will be only one year short of 100 on February 19. Brian
Atwood, now Dean at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at
the University of Minnesota, is a Board member of the Academy for Educational
Development. Sol Linowitz is honorary chair of that Board. David
Newsom spoke to the Charlottesville, Virginia Bar Association
on December 19, on "Where Do We Go from Here in the Middle East." Rocky
Suddarth was elected by the Academy's Board at its October 2002
meeting to be the new Secretary of the Board. The Newsletter encourages members keep us informed as to your recent activities. A UNIQUE TV DOCUMENTARY The History
Channel carried a five-hour BBC documentary on January 5 on the history
of the Arab-Israel dispute over the past 5 decades. Members of the Academy were much in evidence, providing historic episodes and assessments. The list of Academy participants was impressive. It included Jim Baker, Sam Berger, Warren Christopher, Walter Cutler, Chas Freeman, Ed Djerejian, Hermann Eilts, Richard Helms, Henry Kissinger, Sam Lewis, Robert McNamara, David Newsom, Richard Parker, Tom Pickering, Dennis Ross, Hal Saunders, Jim Schlesinger, George Shultz, Joe Sisco, Cyrus Vance and Nick Veliotes. We hope the documentary will be rerun. It is worth seeing. IN MEMORIAM The Academy
mourns the passing of three of its members over the past several months. Roy Atherton
died on October 30, of complications following cancer surgery. Roy served
38 very active years in the Foreign Service, retiring in 1985 as a Career
Ambassador. He served as ambassador at large in the Middle East, ambassador
to Egypt, Assistant Secretary for NEA and Director General of the Foreign
Service. After retiring, he spent six years as director of the Harkness
Fellowship program of the Commonwealth Fund of New York and almost a decade
as Director of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation. He also served as chair
of the advisory board of Search for Common Ground, actively involved in
its programs to further the search for peace in the Middle East. During
much of this time, the Academy's staff knew Roy as a very collegial suite-mate
here at 1800 K Street. Roy was memorialized at a service at All Souls
Unitarian Church in Washington. Bill
Gleysteen died unexpectedly on December 6, having served for more
than 30 years in the Foreign Service, including a tour as ambassador to
South Korea during some especially critical years in US relations with
that country during the Carter Administration. After retirement, he was
president of the Japan Society and active in many other ways in promoting
US relations with countries of East Asia. At his memorial service, a message
from Secretary Powell described him as "an example of the highest
ideals of public service." Bill was a recipient of the Academy's
annual prize for the best book on the practice of American diplomacy in
2000 - Massive Entanglement; Marginal Influence; Carter and Korea in
Crisis. Richard Helms died on October 22 at age 89. Dick rose through the ranks of the Central Intelligence Agency to become, in 1966, the first career officer to head the Agency. He served as ambassador to Iran from 1973 to 1977. At his memorial service at Arlington on November 20, among the eulogies was one by Frank Wisner on whose father's staff at the CIA Dick Helms once served. Frank described Helms as "a man of restraint, exactitude and powerful discretion." QUOTABLE QUOTES "Only
when people respect freedom, human rights and the many things that make
them different, only when they realize that democracy is as essential
as bread, air and water - only then has constitutional democracy truly
planted its roots." "Secularism
is the protector of all beliefs and religions." "Can Turkey,
or any Muslim country, create a system like those in most Western Democracies,
where religion is paid due heed but as a matter of values, not governance?" "I haven't
heard from him in two years. If I don't hear from him next year, I will
write him a letter." MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS "In FY
2001, the non-immigrant visa section in Cairo received 202 Congressional
inquiries, an average of nearly 4 each week." - Department
of State employees and their families have experienced 188 post evacuations
since 1988. COMMENTARY; A QUESTION TO MEMBERS January 20,
2003 will be the 22nd anniversary of what was at the time a seminal event
- the release of the hostages in Tehran. An anniversary of little consequence
today, perhaps, including for the hostages themselves, but a reminder
that it is that long and more since there has been any official dialogue
with Tehran. Roughly the length of the gap in relations with Beijing after
WWII; a good deal longer than it took for us and the Soviets to open a
relationship; a long time between two countries of some consequence for
each other in areas as important as the Persian Gulf. Officially,
Iran is a part of the "axis of evil." But publicly, the USG
currently increasingly identifies itself with the people of Iran, especially
its youth, and with their aspirations for greater freedoms, denied to
them by those described as their "unelected leaders". A new
VOA channel termed Farda (tomorrow) now makes that message a major
part of our public diplomacy in the area. In the near
term, dialogue - however much there is to talk about - is highly unlikely.
And further overtures or public statements on our part, given the highly
charged political scene in Tehran, could be counterproductive. The question
arises: are behind the scenes contacts possible? The theocratic
regime in Tehran in time will change; it remains unnatural in terms of
Iran's own national and Shia traditions. But that change can only come
from internal forces, and for now the less said by the USG the better. Meanwhile there
remain many shared interests between Tehran and Washington - Afghanistan
a current one, security arrangements in the Gulf, stable oil markets,
narcotics control and, not least, Iraq - all of special sensitivity in
the immediate months ahead. What we can do is to continue to make
clear we recognize those interests and guide our policies accordingly. The Newsletter
would welcome similar commentaries, as well as comment on the above. THE
NEWSLETTER
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