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

October 2000

StateStateM a g a z i n e

ChinaChinaReaching Beyond the Wall

In our next issue:Keeping the Record

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Deadlines: Oct. 15 for December issue.Nov. 15 for January issue.

StateStateMagazine

Carl GoodmanEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Paul KoscakWRITER/EDITOR

Dave KreckeWRITER/EDITOR

Kathleen GoldyniaART DIRECTOR

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Frank CoulterCHAIRMAN

Sally LightEXECUTIVE SECRETARY

Janice BurkeRosalie Dangelo

Cheryl HessPat Hayes

Doug RyanHarry Thomas

State Historian William Z. (Bill) Slanycompletes four decades of chroniclingforeign affairs.

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

October 2000No. 439

C O L U M N S

2 From the Secretary

D E P A R T M E N T S

3 Letters to the Editor

4 In the News

20 Medical Report

37 People Like You

38 Appointments

39 Personnel Actions

40 Obituaries

On the CoverChina’s Great Wall is more than2,000 miles long. Completed in204 B.C., the enormous structurecan actually be seen from space.

14

22

6 Mission of the Month: ChinaThe U.S. diplomatic establishment in China is engaged.

10 The “China Hands”50 years later, the “China Hands” are clean.

12 Bouquets and Bricks in BeijingA young officer experiences violence and jubilation.

14 What the World Needs NowA Foreign Service National couple in Chad adopts 13 children.

16 To Catch a VirusThe Department combats cyberterrorism in the 21st century.

18 Alternative Dispute ResolutionThe process resolves office conflict through mediation.

20 Preparing for DisasterMedical Services prepares teams for disasters overseas.

22 War and PeaceThe State-National Defense University alliance pays.

26 New Consular CenterKentucky center houses immigrant visa lottery program.

27 On the RoadThe Frankfurt Consulate takes its show on the road.

28 A Diplomat and a ScholarAmbassador leaves legacy of service at Texas university.

30 Arlington HallRestorations are preserving its past and future.

33 Mission Quite PossibleState develops an information technology strategy.

Judith Baroody takes inthe Jim Thorpe Games atthe Army War College.

Ambassador David Halsted, right,presents a meritorious serviceaward to FSN Nigel Whitehouse.

FROM THE SECRETARYSECRETARY MADELEINE ALBRIGHT

2 State Magazine

A Decade of AmericanLeadership

Through the miraculous working of our democra-cy, America will soon have a new President, whowill be faced with the challenge of leading ournation through the first decade of the new cen-

tury. It is a good time to pause and take stock of where weare headed and how far we have come since this new erabegan with the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I want to highlight briefly some examples of Americanleadership during the past 10 years.

When the superpower confrontation ended, we had toreevaluate our entire approach to national security inlight of the political and technological revolutions thatwere transforming our world.

Our challenge was to make the most of the opportuni-ties opened up by the possibility of east-west coopera-tion, while coping with the short-term disruptions andpreparing to meet emerging threats.

At the same time, we had to fight the temptation ofsome Americans to declare victory and retreat from inter-national affairs, while resisting the desire of others toinvolve our country in every crisis and conflict.

During President Bush’s final two years, Americabegan nuclear reductions with Russia, led in rolling backIraqi aggression, revived the Middle East peace processand initiated a humanitarian intervention in Somalia.

During President Clinton’s two terms, we have worked toconsolidate post–Cold War gains by approving the ChemicalWeapons Convention, extending the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, signing the Comprehensive NuclearTest Ban and striving to ensure that no nukes would become“loose nukes” within the former Soviet Union.

We have proven the NATO pessimists wrong byexpanding our alliance, updating its doctrine and devel-oping strong partnerships with Europe’s other democra-cies, including Russia and Ukraine.

We have helped lay the foundation for a new era of stabil-ity and increased tolerance in Southeast Europe by endingthe war in Bosnia and reversing ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

In East Asia, we have modernized our alliance with Japan,engaged China with firmness and principle and contributedto improved prospects for stability on the Korean peninsula.

President Clinton has made ground-breaking trips toSouth Asia, Africa and Latin America, reflecting ournation’s global reach and promoting our people’s demo-cratic values.

Around the world, America has led for peace, helping toend a generation’s violence in Northern Ireland, aiding aborder settlement between Ecuador and Peru, talking senseto all sides in the various conflicts in Africa and leaving nostone unturned in pursuing a settlement in the Middle East.

We have also led for human rights and democracy, cul-minating last June in the landmark Community ofDemocracies conference, hosted by Poland, attended byrepresentatives from more than 100 countries.

Closer to home, we have carried out a historic restruc-turing of our foreign policy institutions, bringing publicdiplomacy, nonproliferation and arms control into thedecisionmaking process and creating new linkages withthe U.S. Agency for International Development.

We have also blazed new trails of global cooperationon what I refer to as “people” challenges, such as terror,drugs, the environment, disease and trafficking in humanbeings. And we have made issues affecting the status ofwomen part of the mainstream of our foreign policy.

Reinforcing all of this has been the fact that, as a resultof sound policy decisions both domestically and overseas,America has moved from record deficits and sluggishgrowth to a position of international economic leadership.

On the surface, this may appear to be a very disparatelist. But in our era, democracy, prosperity and securityare intimately related. The connecting thread is our goalof encouraging nations everywhere to come togetheraround basic principles of political freedom, open mar-kets and the rule of law.

In this process, there are no final victories. ButAmerica’s interests are served with every successfuldemocratic transition, every conflict resolved withoutviolence, every expansion in the world system of tradeand every increase in respect for basic human rights.

The United States, and especially the Department ofState, can take enormous pride in these and many otheraccomplishments of the past 10 years. Althoughresources remain far short of what we would like,America is embracing its responsibilities, acting in abipartisan manner and influencing events for the betterin every corner of the globe.

Of course, these achievements do not tell the whole story.There are also disappointments, a good deal of unfinishedbusiness and some interesting new opportunities. �

October 2000 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

‘Voyage to America’Thank you for the photograph of

the troopship Henry Gibbins, whichappeared in your May issue (“TheClass of 1950.”) More than 50 yearsago my mother, a British war bride,sailed aboard the ship when she firstcame to this country from NorthernIreland. She was very pleased to seethe photograph. It brought backmemories of her voyage to America.

Joan VanderlykeL/DL

A Bad Copy Day?Your July-August issue ran a letter

from my old friend Bruce Laingenabout “Kreus” resident officers fea-tured in your May issue (“The Classof 1950”). Either Bruce or your copyeditor must have had a bad day. First,I believe it is Kreis, not Kreus. Second,Bruce noted that he was among thoseserving in the consulate general inHamburg issuing visas under theDisplaced Persons Program “in a for-mer German military camp atWentorf outside Tehran.”

Now I know that Bruce spentmore time than he would have likedin Tehran under very trying circum-stances and that Wentorf was no pic-nic either, but Wentorf is (or was)outside Hamburg, not Tehran.

Paul K. StahnkeMinster-Counselor, Ret.McLean, Va.

We stand corrected on both counts.—Editor

‘The Tides That Embrace’Thank you for the article “Life in

the Slow Lane,” in your July-Augustissue, about thecharming city ofCharleston, S.C.,the Ashley Riverand the Paineswho live andwork there. Ir e g u l a r l yspent part ofmy homeleave at

my brother’son the nearby Isle of

Palms during my 30-yearcareer with State. During those years,I developed an intimate knowledgeof historic Charleston, a city myDanish-born wife loves as much as Ido. Despite the great distance thatnow separates us, our deep affection

From the EditorRather than focus on a particular post, we look this month at our mission

in the People’s Republic of China, where our diplomatic corps has grownfrom 14 people in 1973 to more than 300 at the U.S. Embassy and four con-sulates general. Today more than 15,000 Americans live in China and another700,000 visit annually. With economic ties expanding, American diplomats areactively engaged in opening China’s markets to U.S. goods and services.Trade last year between the two countries reached a record $94 billion.

In a separate story related to China, we remember the so-called “ChinaHands,” those four Foreign Service officers who bore the brunt of Sen.Joseph McCarthy’s relentless search in the late 1940s and early 1950s forcommunists, especially in the State Department. Their hands, according todocuments recently unclassified, are clean.

Historic Arlington Hall, at the entrance to the National Foreign AffairsTraining Center in Arlington, Va., is undergoing a facelift that will restorethe landmark to its former splendor. At the same time, the restoration is pre-serving a chapter in our nation’s history.

Yuri Kim’s fascination with the Foreign Service, explored in an article byour first journalism intern Jenny Clark, is a testament to the dedication andservice of hundreds of junior officers like her. Not even the violent protest-ers outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, where she was serving when NATObombs struck the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, could quell her enthusiasm.

Ms. Clark also describes the Department’s alliance with the NationalDefense University as one forged by war and peace and a venue for Stateemployees to learn more about their colleagues in the military.

By Carl Goodman

Two Charleston Passport Center

employees from New England

have adjusted well to their new

southern home in the lowlands

of South Carolina. Instead of buying a

house, they brought theirs with them.

Lester and Maryann Paine make

their home aboard the “Champagne

Lady,” a 72-ft. inboard engine-pow-

ered boat moored at a marina on the

Ashley River about two miles from

the naval base where they work.

Known among their

colleagues as “the

boat people,” the

Paines shipped their

“house” by truck to

Charleston in Feb-

ruary after accepting

jobs at the new

Charleston Passport

Center. Former con-

tract employees at the

National Passport

Center in Portsmouth,

N.H., they examine

passport applications

for possible fraud.

Before relocating to

Charleston, the couple

lived in a marina near

Portsmouth on the Maine side of the Salmon Falls River.

They’ve owned other smaller boats—some too small to live

on but large enough to enjoy their weekends in.

Married for 39 years, the couple, who used to own an

H&R Block tax franchise outside Dover, N.H., grew up

near Boston, married shortly after finishing high school,

began their family and love affair w

ith water. They have

two grown children and three grandchildren—all water

enthusiasts, too.

“We love being on the water,” Maryann Paine said. “It

lowers your blood pressure—listening to the sea

gulls and watching the dolphins.” The Paines are among

an estimated 50,000 Americans who live on boats.

While they can catch young crabs right off the boat

without leaving the marina, they go out fishing for

trout and tuna and plan to try shrimping. Meanwhile,

it’s not unusual for

neighbors to share

their catches.

“The people here

are as friendly and

helpful as they can

be,” Lester Paine

said, referring to his

neighbors at the

marina and to col-

leagues at the passport center who have offered them

refuge in their own homes in the event of a hurricane. And

the Charleston area has had several devastating hurricanes

in the last decade.

There are other drawbacks besides turbulent weather

to living on a boat, the couple admitted, including limit-

ed storage and constant maintenance. “It really forces

you to cut down on clutter and to put things back in

place,” Maryann said.

The Paines have had to make at least one major adjust-

ment since moving from New England to the South.

Their boat now has central air-conditioning. ■

The author is editor of State Magazine.

14State M

agazine

Life in the Slow Lane

Lester and Maryann Paine

relax on their boat, Champagne

Lady, on the Ashley River near

Charleston, S.C.

Photo by Carl Goodman

Cour

tesy

pho

to

for Charleston and the surroundinglow country is like the tides thatembrace her—always pulling.

Bob CummingInformation Management (Ret.)Cedar Crest, N.M.

Letters to the EditorLetters should not exceed 250 words andshould include the writer’s name, addressand daytime phone number. Letters willbe edited for length and clarity. Onlysigned letters will be considered. Namesmay be withheld upon request. You canreach us at: statemagazine@state.gov.

The last name of U.S. SenatorErnest F. Hollings of South Carolinawas misspelled in our July–Augustarticle about the opening of the newpassport center in Charleston.

In the same issue, in our coverageof Department awards, Stuart C.“Stu” Toleman was identified as adeputy assistant secretary for oper-ations in the Bureau of Administra-tion. He is a senior policy analystin the bureau’s Office of the Pro

curement Executive. —We regretthe errors.

Corrections

4 State Magazine

I N T H E N E W S

Second Anniversary of theEast Africa Bombings

Security guards loweredthe American flag at the C Street entrance to the StateDepartment to half-staff onthe second anniversary ofthe East Africa bombings.The Department observed aworldwide minute of silenceAug. 7 at 10:38 a.m. to honorthe 36 State employees, con-tractors and family mem-bers and 17 members ofother U.S. governmentagencies who lost their livesin the tragedy.

Transit Benefit UpdateMetrocheck applications

are now available. Stateemployees can pick up appli-cations in room H-236, SA-1,or download them from theOffice of EmployeeRelations’ Intranet site:

https://hrweb.hr.state.gov/er/index.html. Employees are encouraged to read

all the new transit benefit policy information, which canalso be accessed from that site, to understand theirresponsibilities under the benefit program.

Exhibit Features American ArtU.S. Embassies around the world will soon display works of

art from the Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies’“Gift to the Nation.” But first, the collection of American worksof art, including paintings, sculptures, photographs and deco-rative objects, will be exhibited in State’s C Street lobby.

The art collection is a lasting legacy of donations and FAPEpurchases. The exhibit at State includes such works as“Hockenheim,” a mixed media work by Frank Stella, and“Stars and Bars,” a Civil War–era quilt. “The Stars and Stripesat the Speed of Light,” a lithograph by James Rosenquist, right,was donated by the artist to FAPE’s original print collectionand will be included in the exhibition.

Health Insurance The Federal Employment Health Benefits Program

conducts its annual open season this November. Fordomestic employees, open season will be from Nov. 13 toDec. 11. For all employees currently living overseas, openseason ends 31 days after the materials arrive at post.

The Annual Health Fair will be held Nov. 8 and willinclude such health screenings as fitness, skin damage,cholesterol and breast cancer. There will also be a miniHealth Fair on Nov. 7 at the Foreign Service Institute.

The conversion of the federal employees health bene-fits premium to a pre-tax deduction is effective Oct. 1.Employees enrolled in the program will automaticallyhave their premiums deducted from their pay beforetaxes are calculated and withheld. There will be nochanges to employees’ elected coverage or the premiumspaid biweekly.

Bureau of AdministrationWins Perkins Award

The Department of State’s Bureau of Administrationwas the only federal government entity this year to winthe Small Business Administration’s Frances PerkinsVanguard Award, recognizing the agency that hasdemonstrated the greatest commitment to small, women-owned businesses. The efforts of the various offices in thebureau helped the Department exceed its goal of award-ing 5 percent of all contracts to such firms. In fiscal year1999, the Department awarded 8.31 percent of its con-tracts to women-owned businesses.

October 2000 5

Story and photo by Paul Koscak

For many, it’s old news.For others, it’s something new.For everyone, it’s required.

Every employee of the State Department must knowhow to handle classified information and equipment,says Mr. Jim Trommatter, the Department’s diplo-matic security trainer—and sometime enforcer.

Telling employees—more than 7,000 so far—what theyneed to know to stay out of trouble is the core of Mr.Trommatter’s briefing.

The presentation, which is highlighted with practicalworkplace anecdotes on properly handling classifiedmaterial, better defines some of the security termsemployees need to understand.

An infraction means that classified material was mis-handled but the information wasn’t read—or, in security-speak, compromised—by an unauthorized person, some-one without the proper clearance. A violation happenswhen classified material is compromised or there’s eventhe possibility of compromise, Mr. Trommatter explained.

Forgetting to secure a computer before leaving yourdesk is one example of an infraction. As for a violation,State’s Trommatter offers an easy oversight: “Let’s sayyou forget a classified document in a taxi.”

Compromising information can be as simple as dis-cussing classified information on a cellular telephone.Today, listening devices can automatically lock-on to keywords used in ordinary conversation. The security spe-cialist said it’s easy to listen in on wireless conversations.

“If your neighbors can monitor you just for giggles,imagine what the pros can do,” he said. “If it’s in the airor unencrypted, someone’s listening!”

Frequently, it’s not the nosy stranger or the obtrusiveneighbor who gets a kick out of listening to cell phoneconversations that spells trouble for employees in theeveryday workplace—it’s a lack of awareness or evencommon sense, the security trainer says.

Computers offer new challenges and demand moreawareness from those handling classified information elec-tronically. Mr. Trommatter said it’s essential, particularlyfor those who use two computer systems, to never move adisk that has been in the classified machine to an unclassi-fied system. Also, classified e-mail cannot be sent withoutthe proper classification markings, known as headers.

Among the most common oversights:

• Reading classified information in the cafeteria: “Youcould have foreign dignitaries, the press or otheruncleared individuals there,” Mr. Tommatter cautions.

• Mixing classified material with other paperwork inrecycling boxes: “Our cleaning people don’t have clear-ances or a need-to-know and they could get a hold of thisinformation,” he warns.

• Not removing classified documents from photocopiers.• Forgetting to lock safes: “Lock the safe, spin the dial

and then come back and check it again,” he says. Overall, safeguarding classified material goes far

beyond maintaining the integrity of the workplace oreven preventing the State Department from lookingincompetent or foolish.

“Please don’t lose sight that you’re hurting the countrywhen you compromise national security information,”Trommatter adds.

Those attending the briefing were impressed.“It’s a refresher, but a lot of common sense,” Manuel

Micallen, who works in the Operations Center, observes.“Good briefing,” says Robert Nealy, of the equal

employment opportunity and civil rights office. “I’ll beable to apply this.”

“I’m now more aware that security needs to be a com-munity effort,” says Pricilla Linn, who works at the his-torian’s office and is involved with establishing the newdiplomacy center. “If everyone is helpful to everyoneelse, there will be fewer security violations.”

Mr. Trommetter’s refresher security briefing has beendistributed on videotape for overseas employees.

The author is a writer-editor for State Magazine.

Briefing Underscores Awareness, Common Sense

Robert Short, of Diplomatic Security,signs in attendees at the Department’smandatory security briefing.

6 State Magazine

America’sofficial presence inChina has grown dra-matically over the pastthree decades—from theestablishment of a liaisonoffice in Beijing in 1973 to thestart of a new embassy-buildingprogram this past year. In 1973, just14 people served at the U.S. Liaison Office,the diplomatic nomenclature used to describethe official U.S. presence before relations were normal-ized in 1979.

Today, there are 323 Americans stationed in China andtwice that number of local employees at the U.S. Embassyin Beijing and at four consulates general in Chengdu,Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang. The Departmenthas encouraged the creation of a “China corps”—officerswho speak Chinese and have a broad knowledge ofChinese history and politics. State is also planning toreplace outdated facilities, broaden diplomatic contactsand international communications and raise the qualityof life for officers and their families.

The growth in the U.S. diplomatic establishment inChina has allowed the United States to maintain anacross-the-board comprehensive engagement withChina, supported by six presidents, in good times andbad. Clearly, the choices made by China—an emerginginternational power with a fast-growing economy—affect core U.S. interests, from maintaining peace and sta-bility in Asia and fostering a more open global tradingregime to preventing the spread of weapons of massdestruction and combating global climate change.

Mission of the Month:

��

China

Whatever the issue, officers at China posts find eageraudiences for their work in the “Middle Kingdom.”

A few statistics help illustrate the growth of U.S.-Chinarelations. First, from the perspective of people, in 1975 theLiaison Office issued only 655 nonimmigrant visas toChinese nationals. In 1979, the first year for which thereare records, the same office issued 51 immigrant visas. Lastyear, U.S. consular officers in China issued 213,453 nonim-migrant visas and 24,197 immigrant visas. Today, nearly50,000 Chinese students are studying in the United States.

Looking at the presence of U.S. citizens in China, theLiaison Office issued just eight passports to U.S. citizensand registered only 38 resident Americans in 1975. In 1999,China posts issued 1,745 U.S. passports and registered3,610 resident Americans. Twenty years ago, fewer than

By Robert Goldbergand Jonathan Fritz

� Chengdu

� Guangzhou

� Shenyang

� Shanghai

� Beijing

2,000 Americans lived and worked in China.Today that number is more than 15,000, withanother 700,000 Americans visiting each year.

Even more dramatic has been the growth ofthe U.S. economic relationship. Eight percentannual economic growth in the 1990s andBeijing’s continuing commitment to reformhave made China extremely attractive toAmerican businesses. U.S. exports to Chinahave surged from about $3.8 billion in 1985 tomore than $18 billion last year; two-way tradehas gone from less than $5 billion in 1980 tomore than $94 billion in 1999. Growth in U.S.investment, though less dramatic, has beenstrong, rising from a few million dollars in1980, around the time of China’s first jointventure legislation, to nearly $5 billion in1998. With economic ties expanding,American diplomats at China posts havebeen in the forefront of helping to openChina’s markets to U.S. goods and services,an effort that led last November to the signingof a bilateral agreement on China’s accessionto the World Trade Organization.

Since U.S.-China business ties have grown,posts have seen more visitors. As it has been

October 2000 7

From left, Chuck Bennett, nonimmigrant visachief; Joe Young, economic officer; Wu XiaoChun, language instructor; Ann Kambara,political officer; Jim Zumwalt, economic offi-cer; and Ju Li, language instructor at SilverLeaf Mount, near Beijing.

China’s Forbidden City, with its reception halls,pavilions and offices of state, still radiates all itsimperial glory. The walled enclosure was onceclosed to the public.

8 State Magazine

since the 1970s, China today is a magnet for Washingtonofficials, state and local representatives, academics, busi-nesspeople and others interested in under-standing a dynamic country in the midst of anepic transition. Former Ambassador JamesSasser was fond of noting that more than aquarter of the Congress visited China duringhis tenure (February 1996–July 1999).Ambassador Joseph Prueher (who has beenin China since last December) has alreadyhosted nearly half of the U.S. Cabinet as thebilateral relationship picked up steam thisyear after a downturn following last May’stragic accidental bombing of China’s embassyin Belgrade. In the past three years, the mis-sion has helped prepare Washington for thevisits of President Jiang Zemin to the UnitedStates in 1997 and Premier Zhu Rongji in1999. It welcomed President Clinton on hisnine-day trip to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai andGuilin in 1998. Nearly every CabinetSecretary has visited China. The Secretary ofState, who has made four visits to China dur-ing her time in office, traveled there mostrecently in June.

Each China post has a distinct focus. In Beijing, where the consular district

stretches all the way from the Pacific coast tothe Kazakh border, the embassy engages in

The main chancery, “San Ban,” at the U.S. Embassy, Beijing. Below, BaiXiao Wen, a supervisory accounting technician, works in the financialmanagement office.

October 2000 9

a broad range of national-leveldiplomatic work, including econom-ics and trade, culture, science andtechnology, the environment andpublic diplomacy. The city itselfboasts familiar cultural landmarks,including Tiananmen Square, theForbidden City and the Temple ofHeaven. Not far outside Beijing arethe most popularly visited sectionsof the Great Wall.

Shanghai, the former “Pearl of theOrient” and the center of the fast-growing Yangtze Delta region, is theforerunner, countrywide, of neweconomic and commercial trends.

Guangzhou, Canton of old and theconsular district where former leaderDeng Xiaoping proclaimed that “toget rich is glorious,” has served asChina’s premier export region andhas attracted investors, includingmany from the United States, to itsprocessing industries.

In addition, Guangzhou, which has China-wideresponsibility for processing immigrant visas, has been afavored destination for Americans adopting Chinesebabies, uniting an average of 5,000 orphans and aban-doned children each year with caring American parents.

Chengdu, situated in Sichuan, the political and eco-nomic center of China’s southwest and the placewhere China’s late 1970s agrarian revolution gotunder way, serves as America’s jumping-off point forunderstanding Tibet and monitors developments inChina’s interior.

Finally, Shenyang, the former capital of Manchuria,is responsible for tracking developments in China’sstate-owned enterprises and for keeping an eye onevents in neighboring North Korea.

Obviously, China is a dynam-ic country going through an epictransition. �

Robert Goldberg is deputy directorfor economic affairs and JonathanFritz is an economic officer on theChina desk in the Bureau of EastAsian and Pacific Affairs.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijinghas produced a 27-minutevideo, “The Two Faces ofChina.” Individuals who wouldlike to receive the tape shouldcontact Human ResourcesOfficer Patricia Quinn by e-mail at quinnps@state.govor visit the executive office of the East Asia Bureau in the Department.

New parents with theirrecently adopted babiesin the consular section atGuangzhou.

Doug Kelly, Chengdu’s consular officer, with two Tibetans at Litang inWestern Sichuan Province.

during the Truman presidency culminated after the elec-tion of Gen. Eisenhower. Secretary of State John FosterDulles pushed to a frequently cruel conclusion the secu-rity reviews that forced able officers out of the ForeignService or crippled their promising careers.

Four distinguished officers bore the brunt of the loyal-ty campaign aimed at the State Department: OliverEdmund Clubb, John Paton Davies, John Stewart Serviceand John Carter Vincent.

Oliver Edmund Clubb, whose distinguished careerstretched back to the early 1930s in Manchuria, was thelast U.S. Consul General in Beijing before the UnitedStates severed relations with the new Communist regime.He was the Department’s top China expert when theKorean War broke out, and he warned against theChinese communist intrusion into North Korea in 1950.Mr. Clubb was suspended in January 1951 on accusationsof pro-communist sympathies and connections. His StateDepartment loyalty hearings in 1951, accompanied byblustery interrogations by House Un-American AffairsCommittee members and staff, convinced the LoyaltyBoard of his loyalty. The Foreign Service officer wasjudged a security risk. He decided in February 1952, atage 51 and after 26 years of service, to retire rather thanaccept a dead-end, non-supervisory job in theDepartment’s division of historical research.

Born of missionary parents in China, John Paton Daviesserved there from 1931 to 1945. State Department LoyaltyBoards convened during the Truman presidency clearedMr. Davies on several occasions. But he was smeared by

10 State Magazine

By William Z. Slany

More than half a century ago, Joseph McCarthy, aRepublican senator from Wisconsin, launched hiscrusade condemning the State Department and its

alleged policies of protecting, favoring and assistinginternational communism.

During a speech in Wheeling, W.Va., in February 1950,Sen. McCarthy claimed that he knew of 205 communistsin the Department. In the following days and months,that number dwindled and the characterizations of theaccused changed, but the senator continued to pursue hisanti-communist crusade—in Congress and out. In thecourse of what has come to be called the McCarthy era,several hundred State Department and Foreign Serviceofficers abandoned their careers or were dismissed fromthe Foreign Service after being accused or suspected ofvarious degrees of disloyalty or pro-communist activitythat undermined American foreign policy.

The attack on the State Department centered on ahandful of mostly younger Foreign Service officers whowere specialists in Chinese affairs and language experts.These so-called “China Hands” were accused of beingcommunist sympathizers, or agents, who had steeredAmerican policy to support communist victory in China.The accusations came from members of Congress, partic-ularly Sen. McCarthy, during State Department LoyaltyBoard hearings and investigations and in the press. Thepainful, some thought disgraceful, process that began

50 Years Later, the ‘China Hands’ Are Clean

Foreign Service officers whose careers were cut short after being accused by flamboyant Sen. Joseph McCarthy of collaboratingwith communists include, from left, Oliver Edmund Clubb, John Paton Davies, John Stewart Service and John Carter Vincent.

AP/Wide World Photos

zealots on the House Un-American Affairs Committeestaff who accused him of perjury because Mr. Daviesrefused to disclose sensitive information about an abortedcovert operation aimed at Communist China. His refusalto submit to the committee’s intimidation was seen as anattempt to hide an effort to plant communist agents in theU.S. government.

Responding to Sen. McCarthy’s continued condemna-tions of Mr. Davies, Secretary Dulles convened a new loy-alty panel, whose hearings included rancorous testimonyby Generals Hurley and Wedemeyer, ultra-conservativespecial envoys to China during and immediately after thewar, who focused on the officer’s dissent from their rabidpro-Chiang Kai-shek policy recommendations in the laststages of the Chinese civil war. The special panel found nodisloyalty but recommended that Mr. Davies be firedbecause of “demonstrated lack of judgment, discretion andreliability.” Secretary Dulles wasted little time and fired thediplomat in November 1952.

John Stewart Service, born of missionary parents inChina, served there from 1935 to 1945. His apparently inno-cent association with individu-als convicted of pro-communistactivities in the Amerasia case in1945 hopelessly crippled hispromising career. After sevenState Department loyalty hear-ings and a bruising appearancebefore the Senate committeehearings Mr. Service was inter-rogated an eighth time. ADepartment Loyalty ReviewBoard ultimately concluded inDecember 1951 that Mr. Servicewas neither disloyal nor a mem-ber of or sympathetic to theCommunist Party after all. Theboard did conclude, however,that Mr. Service had intentional-ly and without authority disclosed information to personsin circumstances that could indicate disloyalty to theUnited States. Within hours of the board’s decision,Secretary of State Dean Acheson ordered Mr. Service’s dis-missal. The Supreme Court reinstated him in 1957 becauseof the flawed Department loyalty procedures, and he final-ly retired in 1962.

John Carter Vincent served in China before and duringWorld War II and was the most senior of the “ChinaHands” to fall victim to the McCarthy anti-communismscare. In December 1952 a special State DepartmentLoyalty Panel recommended by a 3-2 vote that Mr.Vincent be “terminated” because of his “studied praiseof Chinese Communists and equally studied criticism ofthe Chiang Kai-shek government throughout a periodwhen it was the declared and established policy of thegovernment of the United States to support the ChiangKai-shek government.” The board made this recommen-dation while neither accepting nor rejecting congression-

al committee accusations that the senior diplomat was acommunist and under communist discipline, that heacted to bring pro-communist influences into the U.S.government and that he tried to bring about a change inU.S. foreign policy to favor the Chinese Communists.Incoming Secretary of State John Foster Dulles declinedto allow a further special loyalty hearing for Mr. Vincentthat was proposed by outgoing Secretary Acheson.Instead, while absolving the officer of disloyalty or beinga security risk, Secretary Dulles persuaded him to resignrather than be fired.

The careers of other “China Hands” were affected byMcCarthy’s efforts to purge those young officers whomright wing fanatics blamed for the “loss” of China to thecommunists. After the victory of the Chinese Communistsin the civil war and the end of nearly 20 years of Americandiplomatic relations with Beijing, many of the “ChinaHands” easily refuted the charges of pro-communism alltoo often cravenly pursued by the State Department. Stillthey found their careers ending prematurely after reas-signment to other areas of the world.

In the 1990s, the McCarthyera, including the accusationshurled at the State Depart-ment, has been the subject ofa fresh wave of historicalscholarship based on newinformation from the long-secret files of the Americanand former Soviet govern-ments. These studies havebeen fueled significantly bythe long-delayed declassifica-tion of intercepted wartimecommunications (the VenonaPapers) between Soviet spy-masters in the United Statesand their leaders in Moscow(for more about Venona,

see “Preserving the Past and Future at Arlington Hall,”page 30).

The new research concludes that the Soviet Union con-ducted a substantial espionage assault against the U.S.government and that Sen. McCarthy’s charges wereimportant in bringing the issue to the fore, even thoughhis methods might have been deplorable.

The recently disclosed documents also confirm theidentities of several hundred U.S. government employeeswho were actively spying for the Soviet Union or werewitting or unwitting sources of information for commu-nist spies.

A few State Department employees dismissed orincriminated at the time appear to have had their disloy-alty confirmed or strongly suggested. None of thoseidentified, however, was a “China Hand.” �

The author was the Department’s historian until his retirementin September.

October 2000 11

Sen. Joseph McCarthy.AP/Wide World Photos

By Jenny Clark

Diplomatic life is not all glamour. Just ask Yuri Kim. She has already experienced both

violence and jubilation in her short career as a ForeignService officer.

Her first assignment in 1996 in Beijing was typical of arookie Foreign Service officer’s experience. She workedwith four other junior officers in the consular section,processing hundreds of nonimmigrant visa applicationseach day. With only a few minutes to decide, Ms. Kimand her colleagues determined whether a person couldenter the United States to visit or study. The work wasstressful and tedious, but she took pride in knowing shehad been trusted to make judgments that would impactpeople’s lives.

Rotating out of the consular section, Ms. Kim, 29, spentthe remainder of her Beijing assignment in the political

section’s external unit, focusing on China’s relationshipswith the rest of the world. It was a remarkable time to bein Beijing. She was there for the bouquets when PresidentClinton visited in 1997, and she was there for the brickswhen demonstrators outside the U.S. Embassy protestedNATO’s bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

After the accidental bombing, the U.S. Embassy inBeijing and consulates throughout China witnessed vio-lent, government-orchestrated demonstrations againstNATO and the United States. While the ambassador andmost officers were trapped in the embassy, Ms. Kim andother Asian-American officers organized a 24-hour watch.Mixing inconspicuously with the crowd outside theembassy, they reported on street activities. Although dan-gerous for the officers, the work was critical to the UnitedStates in the turbulent aftermath of the bombing.

“Few countries are so diverse that they can take theirown people into a foreign country and have them mixwith the locals,” Ms. Kim said with pride.

12 State Magazine

Bouquets and Bricks in Beijing:Experiencing the Foreign Service

Yuri Kim, a Foreign Service officer thenassigned to the political section of the U.S.Embassy in Beijing, engages a Chinese publicsecurity officer after the accidental bombing ofthe Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

Born in Korea, Ms. Kim immigrated with her parents tothe U.S. territory of Guam in 1974. Growing up, she wasaware of how fortunate she was to be in the United Stateswhere opportunities were plentiful. After becoming anAmerican citizen, she vowed to give something back to thecountry that had given her and the Kim family so much.

While attending the University of Pennsylvania, sheread a Department of State brochure about the ForeignService. She realized such a career would be one way ofrepaying her adopted country. The work sounded excit-ing—living in foreign countries and learning new lan-guages—and it seemed meaningful at the same time.

After completing her undergraduate studies and earninga master’s degree from Cambridge University in England,Ms. Kim began what became a two-year-long applicationprocess for the Foreign Service. In those two years, she tookthe written and oral examinations and underwent securityand medical clearances.

Finally, Ms. Kim received an invitation to join the ForeignService. She entered the 80th A-100 orientation class in 1996.As she got to know her classmates, her reasons for joiningthe Foreign Service became clearer. She was amazed by thecross section of people she met at the State Department. HerA-100 class included people from all walks of life: a formerski instructor, a nuclear engineer and a musician; amongothers. They were a constant source of support and encour-agement to each other during their training.

“Meeting people with such a solid commitment to pub-lic service and strong sense of duty was refreshing,” Ms.Kim said. “I found these qualities at all levels, from myclassmates to people like Assistant Secretary Mary Ryan,who found time to encourage and help me in many ways.”

Commitment to service and a sense of duty involvestolerating the day-to-day drudgery of consular work, afar cry from an outsider’s perception of the glamour ofdiplomacy. After she joined the Foreign Service, a trip

with her father to her native Korea helped Ms. Kimunderstand the significance of her long hours and hardwork adjudicating visas. During the trip, Ms. Kim andher father went to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul to visit oneof her Foreign Service colleagues.

“As we stood waiting for an elevator, my father turnedto me and noted that the last time he had come to thisU.S. Embassy, he was applying for his own immigrantvisa,” she said. Seeing the pride and wonder in his smile,she suddenly understood, in a personal way, the value ofher work.

Ms. Kim’s experience in Beijing also hit home in otherways. She saw how everyone at the embassy was deeplyaffected by the Chinese mistrust and anger over theembassy bombing, and Americans were concerned aboutthe government-sanctioned demonstrations that followed.It was her first encounter with the danger of living and

working overseas. She realized that Foreign Serviceofficers were facing dangerous situations elsewhere.A third of her A-100 class experienced political vio-lence, evacuations or both on their first tours. Shelearned that two close friends had been evacuatedfrom Belgrade. The world’s problems become morepersonal when friends are stationed in a hot spot.Ms. Kim respects Foreign Service employees whovoluntarily put their lives on the line.

“Not everyone is out there trying to be a hero. Onthe other hand, these people are heroes for the thingsthey do for their country every day,” Ms. Kim said.

Being a hero is the furthest thing from Ms. Kim’smind. The most important thing for her is: “Knowingthat what I have accomplished in a day’s work mat-ters to real people.”�

The author, a senior majoring in journalism at theUniversity of Missouri, Columbia, was a summerintern for State Magazine.

October 2000 13

Yuri Kim, center, celebrates graduation and the start of a new career with80th A-100 classmates in November 1996. From left, Cheryl Steele, Cairo;Robert Gabor, Kathmandu; Will Avery and wife, Carla, New Delhi.

Yuri Kim learnsJapanese at FSI.

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By Dan Tompkins

The story begins with two Canadian Baha’i leavingtheir family farm at mile zero of the AlaskaHighway in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, andmoving to Chad in 1976. Since then, there have been

13 adoptions, three schools founded, a farm started inChad, repeated embassy closings and civil wars.

Nigel and Lynn Whitehouse are Foreign ServiceNational employees at the U.S. Embassy in N’djamena,Chad. Nigel started as a generalservices specialist but has workedas the embassy’s system adminis-trator since returning fromYaounde, Cameroon, in 1981. Lynnis the embassy’s budget analyst.

Two strands have tied their livesin Chad together over the past 24years. The first is turmoil, the strifeof war and the disruptions theybring to anyone caught in theirwake. The second is Nigel andLynn’s compassion and selfless-ness, qualities that have broughtstability and love into the lives oftheir 15 children and to hundredsmore through their schools.

In 1978, a Chadian soldier and hisbrother-in-law walked into theWhitehouse home with a requestthat would turn a five-year tour of

Baha’i service into something much more powerful. Thesoldier was leaving soon for the north, called by the civilwar. His wife had died, shortly after giving birth. Wouldthe Whitehouses adopt his infant son, Dounia? TheCanadian couple agreed to make Dounia part of their fam-ily. In February 1979, civil war broke out, turningN’djamena into a war zone. Nigel accepted a job at the U.S.Embassy in Yaounde and the whole family—their two nat-ural children, Kelly and Elizabeth, and newly adoptedDounia—moved to Cameroon for almost two years.

In December 1981, the State Department asked Nigel toreturn to Chad and prepare for theembassy’s reopening in the ambas-sador’s former residence.

Little of the country’s educationalsystem remained in the war’s after-math, so Lynn arranged for a tutor toteach Dounia at home. When theylearned of this arrangement, Nigel’sFSN colleagues asked if they couldsend their children to study withDounia. By the end of the spring, 30students were crowding into thelaundry room of the Whitehouse res-idence for their daily lessons.

Nigel and Lynn persuaded theCatholic bishop to let them use anold convent as a school, opening LesEtoiles Brillantes with an enrollmentof 120 students. In the mid-’80s, theWhitehouses invested in land andmaterials to build another school.

14 State Magazine

What theWorldNeeds Now

FSN CoupleAdopts 13Children in Chad

Nomad women bringbabies to a free clinicat the Whitehouse farm.

The U.S. Embassy donated chairs and desks. Currently,the schools have an enrollment of 450 students, many of whom continue their studies at universities abroadafter graduation.

Three children, jobs at the embassy and managing aschool should have been enough to keep one couple busy.But it wasn’t long before another child found his way intothe Whitehouse home. An acquaintance told Lynn therewas a boy at an orphanage who the staff thought was aller-gic to milk. There was no medical problem with milk.Nigel feels Justin Habib was “only allergic to institutions.”

Two years later, Trawala, Kande and Andje, the chil-dren of an FSN who had died of hepatitis, arrived. Aftereight years of peace, civil war erupted once more, sepa-rating this nine-member family. The children were sent toCanada to live with several members of Nigel’s family.The embassy remained open, and Nigel and Lynnremained in N’djamena.

With no children, things were quiet at the Whitehousehome. But not for long. A gentleman visitor came to seeLynn. His 15-year-old daughter had given birth and couldnot care for the child. After four months of bottle-feedingand mothering, Lynn said, “Rosie is ours to keep.”

In 1998 when a col-league at the embassybecame ill, he askedNigel to look after hischildren should any-thing happen to him.When he died, Ndakda,Patbol, Belsou, Inmy,Yaza, Agoussoum andTchiouna completed theWhitehouse family with15 children.

The school, work atthe embassy and sevenchildren still at homekeep Nigel and Lynnbusy. But not so busythat they can’t tend totheir farm outsideN’djamena that serves asa base for Lynn’s eques-

trian instruction, yields amodest amount of foodfor the large Whitehousefamily and gives the kidsa retreat from the city.

Several of the youngerchildren are still livingwith Nigel and Lynn.Ndakda lives at home andis working as a sales repre-sentative for Air France.Rosie, Patbol, Inmy,Agoussoum and Tchiounaare all still at home and inschool. Justin is hoping tomove to Kelowna, BritishColumbia, to finish highschool and live with hisolder brother Andje, whoworks for a hardware firm.

Trawala is married andliving in Victoria, whereher sister Kande is a hairstylist. Dounia is attending col-lege in the United States. Yaza attends a Baha’i school inZambia and Belsou lives with family friends and attendshigh school in Tucson.

Kelly is a real estate agent near Vancouver with two chil-dren of his own. His sister Elizabeth has settled in Chadwith her husband and four children. She makes it clear toher parents that “four [children] are enough for our family!”

How do Nigel and Lynn handle all of those jobs andkeep track of their far-flung family? Nigel credits Lynnwith the organizational skills.

The Whitehouse family is an amazing accomplish-ment. Many have served in remote areas of the worldbecause of a personal calling. Many have devoted time,energy, talent and resources to improving educationaround the world. The Whitehouses have done it all. �

The author, a graduate student attending SyracuseUniversity, served as an intern at the Financial ServiceCenter at the U.S. Embassy in Paris last spring. He learnedof this story when Nigel visited FSC Paris on consultation.

October 2000 15

The Whitehouse gang, from left, Andje, Kande, Dounia, Trawala, Rosie, Ndakda, Justin on a camel, Belsou, Agoussoum, Tchiouna, Yaza, Belsou, Patboland Inmy.

Lynn Whitehouse relaxes with oneof her favorite horses.

Nigel Whitehouse takes in thebig sky while riding the range.

By Teddy R. Payne

In the cyberworld of the 21st century, many com-puter users fear that a malicious-code virus willinfect their computers, destroying vital informationand attacking their machine’s operating system. Acomputer virus is a software program designed to

damage a computer without the knowledge or permis-sion of the operator.

Since Robert T. Morris, a Cornell University graduatestudent, released the first computer worm in November1988, the threat to data processed on the Department ofState’s automated information systems has become amajor concern. It’s a concern shared by the federal gov-ernment, private industry and personal computer usersalike. The earliest viruses were more nuisances than realthreats. They caused little damage to computer systemsand networks. In the intervening years, however, devel-opers of malicious code have changed their ways. Viruseshave transformed from relatively benign nuisances tomore malignant threats.

Malicious-code viruses normally have a specific triggerdate for activating their destructive payloads. Whilewaiting for that trigger to fire, many viruses attempt toreplicate themselves as other programs at every availableopportunity. A malicious code program may have thecapability to

• alter software programs to inhibit normal operationor functionality;

• cause corrupt data to be written to a data documentor directory folder;

• delete data files or erase entire hard disk drives;• deny service;• display humorous messages;• delete important files and software, causing systems

to function erratically.State’s automated information systems vary in size,

dimension and connectivity. The massive network ofcomputer resources consists of local area networks, main-frame computers and stand-alone computer systems.Most of these resources are vulnerable to malicious-codeinfection or hackers. As new viruses were discovered,five per day, the Department launched the first-ever anti-virus program by negotiating a corporate license agree-ment in September 1995 for the Norton Anti-Virus prod-ucts and for Trend Micro in June 1998. The Bureau ofInformation Resources Management manages theDepartment’s anti-virus program to protect critical auto-mated information systems against the threat of virusattack by using countermeasures throughout theagency’s computer network.

The effectiveness of these security countermeasureswas seriously tested during major virus outbreaks:Melissa in March 1999, ExploreZip in June 1999 and therecent Love Bug virus attack in May 2000. The Melissa andExploreZip malicious codes had a significant impact oncomputer systems worldwide, but they paled in compar-ison to the Love Bug in overall infection and damage. LoveBug infected millions of computers, substantially damag-ing government and industry computer networks, dis-abling e-mail systems on Capitol Hill and the BritishParliament and causing an estimated $10 billion in dam-age and lost revenue.

In a story, “U.S. State Department Nips Love Bug inBud,” Reuters reported that the Department “caught theLove Bug computer virus, which had shut down electronicmail systems around the world, before it could do any

16 State Magazine

To Catch a Virus:Cyberterrorism in the 21st Century

damage to the hub of foreign policy.” The StateDepartment spokesman explained that the first Love Bug,commonly detectable using anti-virus software, carried ane-mail subject line of ILOVEYOU with an attachment ofLOVE-LETTER-FORYOU.TXT.vbs. Because of its invitingmessage, many curious recipients opened the accompany-ing attachment.

During the May outbreak, more than 100,000 e-mailattachments containing the LoveBug virus were detectedand deleted. Department Spokesman Richard Bouchersummed up the impact of the Love Bug virus at State: “Wefound it in time to block ourselves off and then we got thevirus fix. Now we are going through and eradicating it.None of the dangerous attachments carried on an e-mailmessage marked ILOVEYOU in the subject line actuallygot into the classified system.”

After the initial release of the LoveBug virus, 29 newvariants were discovered. These new bugs were as lethal,but with different subject lines: Fwd: Joke, Mothers DayOrder Confirmed, Dangerous Virus Warning, Virus Alert andImportant! Read Carefully. The later versions of the LoveBug were defeated by the Department’s computer emer-gency response team, the virus incident response teamand network control center. These teams kept seniormanagement informed of the problem while they updat-ed the Department’s network of computer systems withthe latest virus detection software. This incident rein-forced the Department’s take-charge posture regardingmalicious-code viruses and Trojan Horse or hacker attackson the Department’s main computers.

The Department continues to update anti-virus softwareand encourages employees to take these issues seriously.These measures continue with the deployment ofadvanced software that can detect and destroy hostileviruses at all critical locations throughout the Department.

Fallout from Love Bug has spawned federal and state leg-islation to crack down on computer attacks. PennsylvaniaGovernor Tom Ridge, for example, signed legislation mak-ing it a crime to spread computer viruses in the KeystoneState. “This month the world witnessed the crippling effectof a computer virus,” Gov. Ridge said, “But today we cre-ated a new vaccine—severe criminal penalties for hackers.”

As information technology flourishes at an astoundingrate, the diplomatic community at domestic and foreignlocations must become more aware of the damagingeffects of computer-borne viruses. Department computerprofessionals remain alert for new variations of this mali-cious code.

To minimize the threat of future viruses, there are sev-eral simple rules to follow:

• If you don’t know the person who sent you an e-mailmessage with an attachment, don’t open the attachment.

• Highlight the entry and press SHIFT and DELETE.This will completely delete the entry from the Outlookinbox and deleted items locations.

• Contact your systems manager for assistance if yousee anything suspicious on your e-mail system.

The threat of virus attacks is not going to fade away. Itwill take a concentrated effort by all State Departmentsystems managers and administrators to keep theinstalled versions of anti-virus software, virus signaturefiles, virus pattern and other safeguards updated. Thisapproach is being supplemented by an anti-virus soft-ware giveaway for home use. Since June 1997, more than35,000 copies of anti-virus software have been providedto State employees. �

The author is the Department’s anti-virus program managerassigned to the systems integrity division.

October 2000 17

Department employees line up for anti-virus software.

Even the best-run office and the best-intentionedindividuals experience conflicts or disputes at onetime or another. While conflict may be slightly moreavoidable than death and taxes, it often causes asmuch grief and disruption as those twin scourges.

Disagreements or miscommunication can divide an officeand reduce its productivity.

It stands to reason that an organization interested inkeeping productivity high would try to find a confiden-tial, fast and satisfying way of resolving disputes beforethey fester and infect the morale of the entire office.

But how?

18 State Magazine

Alternative DisputeResolutionResolving Office Conflict Through Mediation

Craig Shaw, financial managementofficer, Bahrain, consults with ADRspecialist Jody Lee.

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A supervisor has become so frustrated with a recalcitrant employee that she has been reduced to shouting.

The animosity between two staff membershas reached the point where they fail towork together, leaving many tasks to fallthrough the cracks.

An office director wants support from hiswhole team on a vision statement.

A deputy chief of mission is spending an increasing amount of time counselingofficers on recurring interpersonal or behavioral problems.

The State Department’s alternative dispute resolutionprogram was started as a pilot program in 1995 and reac-tivated in its current form in 1997. Federal law (theAdministrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996) and pres-idential directives commit the federal government to sup-porting alternative dispute resolution through mediation,facilitation and arbitration. These confidential, informal,non-adversarial processes can often resolve disputes inthe early, informal stages, sometimes in hours instead ofthe weeks or months formal administrative proceduresmight take. A valuable management tool, ADR, in thehands of an experienced mediator, can reduce or elimi-nate the conflicts and miscommunication that poisonmorale and efficiency.

Jody Lee, the Department’s dispute resolution special-ist, is a leader in the field of federal ADR. She has a mas-ter’s degree in conflict resolution and cross-cultural com-munication and years of experience as a mediator, trainerand facilitator. She was recently elected chair of theSteering Committee of the Attorney General’s Inter-Agency ADR Working Group.

The Department’s ADR program focuses primarily onthe early resolution of conflicts, before they need formaladministrative procedures. Mediation has successfullyresolved issues at the Department relating to communica-tion, performance, conduct, personality clashes and more.During a mediation session, the parties to a conflict meetwith a neutral third party (the mediator) who helps themresolve their problem. Because the parties actively resolvethe problem themselves instead of having a solutionimposed upon them, solutions are generally more creativeand resolve the problem more completely. And becausethe parties have a stake in the process, they are far morelikely to adhere to the proposed solution.

The program is available to employees in the field aswell as in Washington. Recently, the U.S. Embassy inSarajevo asked Ms. Lee to mediate a dispute for an inter-national organization in Bosnia. While she was in Sarajevo,

the embassy also requested her help to resolve a grievancefiled by a Foreign Service National employee.

Remarkably, the parties mediated a solution within twohours. By having the dispute mediated instead of conven-ing an FSN grievance panel, the embassy saved the panel’stime and energy and reaped the benefits of the improvedrelationship between the parties. Overseas posts, withtheir close-knit communities, are particularly well suitedfor a mediator’s confidential and neutral services.

Domestic field offices are also eligible to use theDepartment’s ADR program. Ms. Lee traveled recently toa field office in Chicago to mediate with two employeesinvolved in a conflict affecting the work of the entireoffice. This case, which had been festering for months,was mediated successfully with a signed agreementwithin hours.

While at a field office or embassy, Ms. Lee also consultson dispute system design, conflict management, trainingor group facilitation.

Any State employee, supervisor or bureau inWashington, around the United States or overseas canlearn more about the ADR program by contacting JodyLee in the Office of Employee Relations, Bureau ofHuman Resources. Embassies or field offices shouldphone or e-mail Ms. Lee to discover whether their con-flict is appropriate for mediation or other ADR methods.If the contacting office and the dispute resolution special-ist decide that the conflict is appropriate for ADR, thenthe requesting office will pay travel and costs for themediator’s trip.

Savings in time, energy and improved relations morethan make up for the expense. And, while Ms. Lee maynot be prepared to mediate where death and taxes areconcerned, she has had a high degree of success in medi-ating office disputes and conflicts.

Jody Lee can be contacted at 202-261-8179, onDepartment e-mail at leejb@state.gov or at jodyleeadr@aol.com. �

October 2000 19

Beyond Workplace DisputesBesides providing workplace problem-solving services such as mediation to Department

employees, Jody Lee can help offices with other dispute resolution needs. For example, she recently worked with the International Visitors Program in the Bureau of

Educational and Cultural Affairs to facilitate groups and assess programs involving visitorsfrom the Near East in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles.

“Working with international visitors was a great experience,” she said. “It was a chance forme to branch out, and the IV office was pleased to have someone familiar with their programgoals who could give their international visitors as much time as they needed to help makethis important program a success.”

By Dr. Gretchen A. McCoy

For the past 20 months the Office of MedicalServices and other offices in the Department havebeen exploring ways to combat and respond tonatural or man-made disasters overseas.

Since any disaster or crisis response will begin withthe Foreign Service officers already there, it’s criticalthat they have the skills and tools necessary to survivethe disaster themselves. All emergency-action plan-ners should assume that they will be on their own forhours—even days—until outside help arrives.Employees face an array of threats, both man-madeand natural: chemical spills, radiation exposure, ter-rorist attacks, assaults by chemical or biologicalweapons, typhoons, hurricanes and earthquakes.

Medical Services has trained its health profession-als to practice medical care and site managementwhere there is no health unit, hospital or building of anykind and only meager medical equipment and supplies.They have been training and practicing these skills fornearly a year and have learned how to respond touncommon attacks, set up decontamination sites, treatinjuries and counter the symptoms of chemical or bio-logical agents. They have also learned how to establishon-site recovery and treatment centers.

None of these good efforts can be accomplished with-out assistance. Disaster response teams must first rescuethose who can be rescued without causing further injury.This requires skilled and trained embassy employees.

Whether they’re the targets of those opposed to U.S.government policies or in harm’s way from natural dis-asters, employees must realize that they are not helpless.There are actions they can take to save their own and oth-ers’ lives without exposing rescuers to further danger.

Training State’s medical staff in first-response proce-dures has been part of continuing medical education forthe past two years. This includes training in chemical and

biological warfare, advanced trauma life support andmore recently in community emergency response teamtraining, or CERT. It will provide State’s medical staffwith the skills to assist in training overseas missionemployees and family members to prepare for andrespond to disasters.

This fall’s training is based on the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency’s domestic training model. Formore than 10 years, CERT has taught nonprofessionalswhat to do in a disaster before local emergency servicesarrive. Fire departments in Los Angeles and severalsoutheastern U.S. cities have trained laypersons in earth-quake and hurricane-prone areas how to take care ofthemselves when 911 doesn’t work or when emergencyservices can’t get to damaged areas. This program hasbeen very successful.

Extending this training to overseas communities willprepare them to help effectively during a disaster. CERTdoes not replace the Emergency Action Plan, the Security

20 State Magazine

PreparingforDisaster

Dr. Charles Wright practices intubatingwith heavy, chemical-biological protectivegloves during a course conducted in Cairo.

Photo by Gary Alexander

Overseas Seminar or Safehaven train-ing. CERT’s basic strength is that it istransportable and everyone (medicaland nonmedical professionals alike)can learn it. The course focuses onevaluating and considering potentialthreats and disaster risks. Theresources discussed—medical, securi-ty, safety and support facilities—arespecific to the post and the region.The goal is to give employees abroadthe basic facts so they can take thecorrect first steps.

Medical officers have been asked toexpand their local medical services toinclude information on emergencymedical resources. With this informa-tion, Medical Services in Washingtonand regional medical resources willprovide better support to missions inthe event of a disaster. Such assess-

ments are part of every comprehensive medical emer-gency response plan in the United States. TheDepartment is using these assessments for its overseasemergency action plans.

Medical Services is exploring the possibility of posi-tioning caches of backup emergency medical supplies incenters around the world where they could be quicklytransported to a disaster site.

In the response arena, the office is engaged in ongoingplanning and discussions with the Office of EmergencyPreparedness in the Departments of Health and HumanServices and Defense to care for overseas casualties.

Psychological support and counseling following a dis-aster are central to recovery. Medical Services is workingto supplement Foreign Service mental health providers,should the need exceed the Department’s capabilities,with a team of civilian mental health workers experiencedand trained in providing services to disaster survivors.Recovering emotionally from a crisis or disaster takestime, just as any physical injury requires time to heal.

Clearly, emergency preparedness is a broad issue requir-ing effort and action by all elements of an organization. TheDepartment understands that employees are capable ofassisting and supporting each other in the wake of disastersabroad. �

The author is a physician and Foreign Service medical officerin the Office of Medical Services.

October 2000 21

Foreign Service medical staff practices identifying chemical and biological agents during a preparedness course in Cairo.

Todd Schneider and Angie Chin assign anevacuation priority to earthquake “victim”Kathleen Lively during a first-responder drillin Tokyo.

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Story by Jenny ClarkPhotos by Kathleen Goldynia

As her military colleagues shouted “Wassupp” ateach other across the table at a National WarCollege social gathering, a fellow StateDepartment officer leaned over to JudithBaroody and whispered, “Now this is a subcul-ture that needs to be studied.”

As Ms. Baroody and her State colleague discovered,being in a predominately military environment is anunusual experience for most civilians. But despite theirdifferences, the armed forces and the U.S. Department ofState share a common goal.

For more than half a century, the National War Collegeand the Industrial College of the Armed Forces have beenbringing together some of the nation’s brightest militaryand civilian minds. Together and alongside the otherentities of the university, they offer State employees the

22 State Magazine

War and Peace:War and Peace:

unique opportunity to learn more about their militarycounterparts and their role in diplomacy.

Employees of both institutions dedicate their careersand their lives to keeping the United States safe and pros-perous at home as well as abroad. The two bodies are soparallel that it makes sense to bring them together beforethey meet each other in war zones and disaster areas. TheNational Defense University proves that this relationshipis crucial and produces advantageous results.

As senior institutions, the War and Industrial collegesare the two largest entities at NDU. Each college offers aone-year academic program with courses covering abroad range of relevant topics such as national security,strategy, history, political science, economics and leader-ship. Together the colleges enroll about 500 studentseach year. Successful graduates of the program receivemaster’s degrees in national security strategy from theWar College or in national resource strategy from theIndustrial College.

The State-National DefenseUniversity Alliance

Entrance to Fort McNair,home of the NationalDefense University.

“The programs offer an education that isvaluable to any students who want to broadentheir minds, hone their skills and learn to thinkstrategically,” said Sidney Reeves, deputy direc-tor of the Regional Support Center in Frankfurt,Germany, and an alumnus of the IndustrialCollege. “It also provides students with a clear-er understanding of the need for inter-agencycooperation.”

Inter-agency cooperation, or “jointness,” is aparticularly important part of the NDU experi-ence and is present at several levels. On onelevel, the university offers an arena for all thearms of the military to work together in aclassroom setting. This relationship is criticalto helping cut down on the rivalry and compe-tition among branches of the armed forces,which is too often a barrier, said AmbassadorDaniel Simpson, vice president at NDU.

Beyond inter-military jointness is the concept ofcooperation between the military and civilians.Both State and mili-tary students bringunique experiencesand interesting per-spectives to the table.Military officers sharetheir experiences liv-ing and working indanger zones. Theyknow how to handlesecurity and how todeal with war and nat-ural disasters.

“War is a continuation of politics by other means,” saidMs. Baroody, deputy director of the public diplomacyoffice in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and a recentgraduate of the War College. “Understanding ournation’s arsenal is as important as understanding politics,economics and history.”

The military also has much to gain from the alliance. Stateemployees, particularly Foreign Service officers, know whatit’s like to live and work in foreign countries. The militarycan benefit from State’s experience in dealing with the localpeople on a day-to-day basis and in their language.

The great cross section of students also proves valuablein the amount of networking it encourages. State employ-ees get to know the military officers and internationalstudents in their classes. They learn to appreciate eachother’s capabilities and eventually form relationships,both professional and personal, with people who maysomeday be working beside in a crisis.

October 2000 23

NDU Vice President Daniel Simpson.

Judith Baroody with fellowNWC students during a fieldtrip to northern Thailand.

“We all had something in com-mon,” Mr. Reeves said. “Wewere fighting the same battles:inadequate budgets, lack of per-sonnel, too few training oppor-tunities for our people.”

Relationships that Stateemployees forge with the interna-tional students at NDU are alsoextremely important. Foreign stu-dents who attend the universityare among the brightest in theirnative countries. NDU encouragesnetworking between U.S. studentsand the international scholarsbecause they provide yet anotherunique point of view on many ofthe subjects discussed in class.State and military officers mayone day discover that their inter-national colleagues are leaders intheir own countries. The connec-tions and understandings gainedfrom NDU would be beneficial to all parties involved.

The chance to participate in NDU programs is partic-ularly valuable for State employees because it givesthem time to be students, said Ambassador JimWilliams, international affairs adviser at the War Collegeand faculty member from State. State employees arebusy people and have little occasion to take time off fromtheir demanding schedules. A year at NDU exposesthem to new technology and ideas.

“At NDU State employees are able to do reading,thinking and learning that they otherwise would neverhave time for,” Ambassador Williams said.

Students are not the only ones who benefit from a yearat NDU. The school’s faculty, a combination of high-ranking military and State officers, find their exchangeswith their hand-picked students equally rewarding.

“It’s challenging for thefaculty,” said State’sAmbassador Jane Becker,the international affairsadviser at the IndustrialCollege. “Students haveunique experiences andoffer new perspectives onthe subjects we discuss.”

Even before the cre-ation of the university,the War College and theIndustrial College en-joyed much prestige fortraining the nation’smost promising leaders.The War College beganin 1943 as the Army-Navy Staff College to

train the Army and Navy in the same environment. Thetrials of World War II demonstrated the need for a closerrelationship among not only the different militarybranches but also between the military and the diplomat-ic community. The War College was established to extendthis joint training to include the entire armed forces aswell as civilian leaders from State and, later, other feder-al agencies. Today, 75 percent of the student body is com-posed of military officers and the remaining 25 percentcivilian leaders from State and other federal agencies andinternational fellows.

World War II also prompted the birth of the IndustrialCollege, the successor to the Army Industrial College,which trained military officers in modern war strategyand the military-technology relationship. In 1946, itbecame the Industrial College of the Armed Forces toreflect the inclusion of each branch of the armed forces.

Today, most of its stu-dents come from the mil-itary; followed by State,other federal agencies,international militaryand the private sector.

The National DefenseUniversity brought theWar College and theIndustrial College underits umbrella in 1976 tohelp streamline adminis-tration and shareresources. Both collegeswere teaching nationalsecurity and strategy andit made sense that theywork together. TheArmed Forces Staff

24 State Magazine

Ambassadors Jim Williamsand Jane Becker take a breakfrom the day’s events.

What armed forces buildingwould be complete withoutthe requisite old cannon?

College, the Information Resources Management Collegeand the Institute for National Strategic Studies later joinedNDU. The most recent addition to NDU is the Center forHemispheric Defense Studies.

Although NDU has a campus in Norfolk, Va., the maincampus is at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C.Built in 1794, Fort McNair is the third-oldest workingArmy base in the United States, after West Point andCarlisle Barracks, Pa. It also houses the clinic whereMajor Walter Reed discovered the cause of yellow feverand the grounds on which the Lincoln conspirators weretried and executed. Perhaps the only thing more impres-

sive than the grounds of Fort McNair are the people whopass through its historic buildings.

It is an honor to be selected for the university becausethe selection process is meticulous and the competitionstiff. State employees must be of the class FS-1 or GS-14and be up for their next assignment. Qualified candidatesare reviewed and graded by a committee and are thenplaced on a list. The candidates at the top of the list areinvited to attend NDU.

State employees know how prestigious these programsare, and most jump at the chance to spend a year at theuniversity. Many graduates of the program go on to high

positions in their respective organizations. “On a personal level, the Industrial College was a

feather in my cap,” Mr. Reeves said. “It was anhonor to attend this prestigious college and to knowthat, in offering me this opportunity, my superiorsat State have confidence in my abilities and leader-ship qualities.”

Among the complex relationships between war,peace and globalization, the State-NDU traditiongrows increasingly important. In working together,both institutions gain insight into the minds of theircounterparts and learn how to work together moreefficiently.

“Today, military and civilian leadership overlapmore and more,” Ambassador Simpson said. “If wecan prepare the military and civilians to think andwork together we are doing something that is going tobenefit everyone.” �

The author, a senior majoring in journalism at theUniversity of Missouri, Columbia, was a summer internfor State Magazine.

October 2000 25

The staid structure of theIndustrial College of theArmed Forces.

The NDU campus also housesthe historic Walter Reed Clinic.

26 State Magazine

By Nyda Budig

To increase its capacity for processing immi-grant visa applications domestically, theBureau of Consular Affairs is relocating itsDiversity Immigrant Visa Lottery programfrom the National Visa Center inPortsmouth, N.H., to Kentucky.

The new facility, known as the Kentucky ConsularCenter, opened Oct. 1 in Goldbug, Ky., in time to beginprocessing applications for the next Diversity Visa lottery(DV-2002) for visas to be issued in fiscal year 2002.

Last April, U.S. Representative Hal Rogers (R-Ky.)joined Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Mary A.Ryan in announcing plans for opening the new center atthe former Lion Apparel manufacturing facility nearWilliamsburg.

Diversity visa is a congressionally mandated programthat allows up to 55,000 persons from nations historicallyunderrepresented in migration to the United States toqualify each year for immigrant visas. The program is alsoknown as the “visa lottery” because visa recipients areselected through a random drawing from among the 10 to12 million people who enter each year. DV programsalready under way (DV-2000 and 2001) will continue to behandled by the National Visa Center.

In her remarks, Ambassador Ryan said the move is inline with State Department efforts to reduce administra-tive presence overseas when possible. “The State

Department has a policy to provide administrative sup-port for our overseas operations from domestic locationswherever feasible and cost-effective,” she said.“Domestic locations are less expensive to staff and oper-ate than most overseas missions; they are easier to protectfrom foreign-based threats of terrorism and fraud; theycan coordinate more effectively with other governmentagencies involved in the immigration process; and theyprovide jobs in the United States.”

The expansion to Kentucky supports this policy,Ambassador Ryan said. John Coe, a Foreign Service offi-cer who has played a key role in planning for the center,will direct the new facility. Day-to-day operations will bemanaged by Statistica, Inc., which expects to employbetween 25 and 70 people, depending on the time of year.Statistica is also the prime contractor at the NewHampshire center. Gene Schneider, Statistica’s projectmanager at the Portsmouth facility, expects a smoothtransition of the DV program to Kentucky. “We anticipatethere may be some minimal relocation of existingStatistica staff to Kentucky, but most of the staff at thenew facility will be hired locally in SoutheasternKentucky,” Schneider said.

Meanwhile, the National Visa Center is expected toincrease its workload significantly over the next two to threeyears as it assumes additional responsibilities connectedwith processing applications for immigrant visas. �

The author is a public affairs specialist in the Bureau ofConsular Affairs.

Opens in Kentucky

New Consular Center New Consular Center Breaking ground at the site ofthe future home of the KentuckyConsular Center in Goldbug, Ky.

Opens in Kentucky

New Consular Center New Consular Center Breaking ground at the site ofthe future home of the KentuckyConsular Center in Goldbug, Ky.

October 2000 27

By Liz Montagne and Cindy Foster

The U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt has launched anew “outreach” program for American citizensin Germany, visiting eight military bases in thespring and four last fall. The program was creat-

ed to encourage more use of the consulate’s militarycourier system and to publicize services offered by theImmigration and Naturalization Service and the FederalBenefits Unit.

Outreach is a ”best practice” policy that foreign affairsagencies are employing abroad as limited resources dic-tate that they find new ways to educate the Americanpublic about their services and to eliminate crowded wait-ing rooms. The consulate also wanted to strengthen itsnetwork of contacts and meet face to face with the mili-tary and civilian officers who work with the consulate andthe military public it serves. Further, outreach is a reward-ing way for consulate employees to get out of their officesfor a day and learn more about the consular district.

The road team included a passport chief, a vice consul,an INS officer, an FBU representative, three ForeignService National employees and a driver. Twice a week inthe spring, they packed up their passport supplies—sealsand passport applications—in a big van and visited eightdistant military bases in the consular district. The baseshave names familiar to any member of the AmericanArmed Forces who has served in Germany since WorldWar II: Ramstein, Ansbach, Stuttgart, Heidelberg,

Schweinfurt, Kaiserslautern, Rhein Main andSpangdahelm.

Spangdahelm, a typical base community, is located inthe beautiful rolling hills not far from the Mosel River andthe Luxembourg border. Navigating the curvy byways ofGerman wine country, the driver almost always kept theteam from getting lost. But even the best-laid plans can goastray. No one is quite sure how the van ended up inRothenburg, the year-round Christmas town in Bavaria,when the destination was nearby Ansbach. Or how theteam got completely lost in Heidelberg, only to be rescuedby an off-duty American soldier who personally led themin her car to the right building on the right base.

With such a large military clientele, the Frankfurt con-sulate issues more than 26,000 passports and approxi-mately 6,500 birth reports annually—more than anyother post abroad. Some 14,000 of those passports areissued to the U.S. military community stationed at 35bases throughout Germany. The consulate’s militarycourier system continues to be the most rapid and effi-cient way to handle the tremendous numbers of pass-ports for the military community in Germany. Militarycouriers carry the paperwork and passports between theconsulate and the bases on a regular schedule.

As the Frankfurt team toured the region, its work sitesran the gamut from elegant, ballroom-like spaces torudimentary basements. The teams smoothly processeda high volume of passport applications at each base.

The Frankfurt ConsulateHits the Road

Continued on page 29

Frankfurt consulateemployees pack it in.

By Larry Hufford

It’s not often you can be adiplomat and a scholar.

Ambassador Eugene Scassaarrived at St. Mary’sUniversity in San Antonio,Texas, in 1994 as a

Diplomat-in-Residence. After retiringfrom the Foreign Service in 1997, hetaught at St. Mary’s until he retiredfrom the school’s faculty last May.

Founded in 1852 by the Society ofMary, St. Mary’s University enrolls4,700 students, 65 percent of whomare of Hispanic origin. The schoolexcels nationally in preparing itsstudents for medical and dentalschools and for social science doc-toral programs. Originally an all-male institution, St. Mary’s now has more female thanmale students.

St. Mary’s has a proud tradition of public service,including the Foreign Service. Cresencio Arcos, formerU.S. Ambassador to Honduras and now retired, attendedSt. Mary’s, and Ambassador James Creagan, also ambas-sador to Honduras, was a professor of political sciencethere before entering the Foreign Service. The currentU.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua, O.P. Garza, and the U.S.Consul in Calgary, Alberta, Roy Chavera, are both St.Mary’s graduates.

When Ambassador Scassa was assigned as Diplomat-in-Residence, his responsibilities were not defined beyondteaching one upper-level undergraduate course and con-ducting an occasional graduate seminar. Father NorbertBrockman, the director of undergraduate internationalrelations, who submitted the school’s request for aDiplomat-in-Residence, wanted to give AmbassadorScassa the opportunity to design a job that fit his ownstrengths. With that latitude, the senior career diplomatcould have given himself a soft assignment: one class andan occasional public lecture. But that’s not the Scassa style.

28 State Magazine

He created a course on transnational issues to introducestudents to the roles ambassadors and embassies play intackling global issues such as internal ethnic and religiousconflict, immigration, the environment, drugtrafficking,economic assistance, overseas investment, education,women’s issues and the role of nongovernmental organi-zations. This course became one of the most popular inter-disciplinary electives on campus. While the content wasimportant, students also wanted to enroll in the classbecause Ambassador Scassa was sincerely interested ineach one of them. He gave students his home phone num-ber and an open invitation to visit him and his wife Susanin their home.

In addition to teaching his own classes, AmbassadorScassa visited faculty and students across the campus,whether they were in the schools of engineering, biology,business, the humanities or law. His style and commit-ment ignited a campus-wide interest in public service.

Ambassador Scassa was skilled in capturing the imag-ination and idealism of St. Mary’s students, many ofwhom were the first in their families to attend a universi-ty. He promoted government service, particularly with

Ambassador Gene Scassa:A Diplomat and a Scholar

Ambassador Scassa, right, withFather John Moder, past president,St. Mary’s University.

October 2000 29

Although most cases were routine, American soldiersare as diverse as the clientele in the United States. In onecase, the team had to to verify citizenship law affectingan applicant from the Marianna Islands and anotherfrom Panama.

Preparation for the public relations side of the outreachprogram began at least two months before the first trip.Public diplomacy officers at the America House inFrankfurt provided guidance for press releases and inter-views. Some team members even became media stars in amanner of speaking. Kathleen Cayer, Frankfurt’s consularsection chief, was interviewed on Armed Forces NetworkTelevision, broadcast to each of the bases in Germany.

Will these outreach visits continue?Yes. The teams gained a tangible sense of satisfaction

from the visits, and the work statistics confirm theirsuccess. �

Liz Montagne is chief of the passport citizenship section andCindy Foster is the FSN supervisor of the military courierunit at the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt.

the State Department, through student internships. Overthe years, he arranged State internships for more than 60St. Mary’s students. These interns worked inWashington, D.C., and in countries as diverse asLithuania, Croatia, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile andNicaragua. All returned to school with a stronger com-mitment to public service.

During his six years at St. Mary’s, Ambassador Scassainvited more than 25 high-level Foreign Service officers tocampus to lecture and participate in small group discus-sions with students interested in Foreign Service careers.

Community service is an important part of the universi-ty’s mission and an obvious part of Ambassador Scassa’scode of professional responsibility. He became involvedwith the San Antonio World Affairs Council and was invit-ed to serve on its board. He brought many speakers to SanAntonio but, more significantly, he helped the councilorganize and sponsor an annual model Organization ofAmerican States (OAS). The first model OAS gatheringtook place near Washington, D.C. Students from morethan 20 colleges and universities throughout theSouthwest and Mexico now participate in the conferenceeach year. Last year, Ambassador Scassa invited the formerpresident of Honduras and the deputy permanent repre-sentative of the U.S. Mission to the OAS to address theconference and engage students in discussions.

Ambassador Scassa started an outreach program at theInternational School of the Americas, a magnet highschool in San Antonio, and he tutored St. Mary’s studentsattending the annual model Arab League meetings.

Committed to supporting and encouraging students topursue careers in the Foreign Service, St. Mary’s

University is proud of its youngalumni currently serving abroadin Israel, Mexico, Swaziland, theUnited Kingdom and Curaçao.Others have passed the writtenand oral examinations and arewaiting to enter the ForeignService. In recent years, fourHispanic students from St.Mary’s have been awardedWoodrow Wilson ForeignAffairs Fellowships.

As a Diplomat-in-Residenceand as a professor, AmbassadorEugene Scassa set high standardsas a mentor, community activistand promoter of governmentservice. If the Foreign Service isinterested in diversity, then send-ing Diplomats-in-Residence toquality minority institutions is awise investment, especially ifthey follow the Scassa model. ToAmbassador Scassa, being aDiplomat-in-Residence was atleast a 12-hour-a-day job. St.

Mary’s University recognized this exemplary public serv-ice by bestowing on him an honorary doctorate. �

The author is the director of the Graduate InternationalRelations program at St. Mary’s University.

Frankfurt Continued from page 27

Ambassador Scassa discussescareer opportunities with St. Mary’s students.

By Kathryn C. Skinner

The stately colonial revival building with whitecolumns and dormer windows stands proudlyin Arlington, Va., draped in scaffolding, like therecent restoration of the historic WashingtonMonument only a few miles away.

Originally a college for young women, the buff-brickArlington Hall (now known as Building E) guards theArlington Boulevard entrance to the National ForeignAffairs Training Center (NFATC), home to the ForeignService Institute (FSI). The imposing structure is under-going a facelift to help preserve its past and future.

The building’s past dates from 1927 when William E.Martin, president of Sullins College in Bristol, Va., found-ed Arlington Hall Junior College. One of the first institu-tions of higher education for women in the Washington,D.C., area, the college offered a privileged group ofyoung women the chance to live in an idyllic setting,board their horses, entertain young men on the school’scalling list and enjoy all the cultural offerings of the near-by national capital. They also took courses to prepare forbusiness occupations and marriage.

In addition to a separate gymnasium with an indoorpool, Arlington Hall itself boasted administrative offices,a chapel, library, art and music studios and receptionrooms on the first floor. The second and third floors weredormitory rooms. The fourth floor contained classrooms,while the basement accommodated laboratories, a diningroom and kitchen. The surrounding grounds featuredlandscaped paths with a fountain, a recreational pond,stone benches, mature trees and two stone footbridgesthat stand today over a mostly dry creek bed. An eastwing was added to the main structure in 1928. It wasreplaced later by NFATC’s dining and conference facility.

The Depression of the early 1930s threatened to bank-rupt the school, but it survived the financial challengesthrough reorganization. Arlington Hall became a resorthotel in the summers. For $3 a day, including all meals,Washingtonians could escape the heat of the city inbucolic Arlington.

Then, in 1942, the Army sought space to expand itsintelligence activities and identified the campus as adesirable property because it was close to Washingtonand secluded. While Arlington Hall Junior College washappy to offer its facilities for the duration of the war, theArmy wanted to purchase the property outright. It origi-

30 State Magazine

Preserving the Past andFuture at Arlington HallPreserving the Past andFuture at Arlington Hall

nally offered $600,000, which was not enough to coverthe college’s mortgage. A court increased the settlementto $650,000, enough to pay off the debt but not enough torelocate. The college was forced to close its doors forgood, a casualty of the war effort.

During World War II, Arlington Hall housed the Army’sSignal Intelligence Service. At first, heavy code machinesinstalled on the first floor imperiled the building’s struc-ture. When the first few hundred military and civilian per-sonnel assigned there swelled to thousands, Arlington HallStation boasted dozens of “temporary” buildings, largeand small, on more than 86 acres. The site would continueto house intelligence activities throughout the Cold War.

During its tenure, the Army Signal Intelligence Serviceand its successor organizations deciphered Japanese andGerman codes and developed American code. And evenwhile the Soviets were officially allies, Arlington Hallhoused the then-ultra-secret, but now much-praised,Venona project. From 1943 to 1980, Venona partiallydeciphered Soviet codes and revealed an extensiveSoviet spy network in this country. In 1948, British ana-lysts were also assigned to Arlington Hall, and coopera-tion between the two countries, and with the FBI, lastedfor the life of Venona.

In 1995 the National Security Agency revealed the fasci-nating story of the project and released the first of morethan 2,200 declassified translations of Venona material.The first documents released concerned Soviet intelligenceoperations against the Manhattan Project. The cablesrevealed the identities of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Over the decades, Arlington Hall Station lived throughmany military intelligence incarnations. The end of

October 2000 31

World War II, the KoreanWar and the Cold War allbrought frequent reor-ganizations, but the sta-tion housed intelligenceor intelligence supporttenants until 1989, whenthe intelligence activitiesmoved to Fort Belvoir, Va.Later, most of the proper-ty was turned over to theState Department to betransformed into today’sNFATC campus.

Time and weather havetaken their toll onArlington Hall. Thebuilding’s interior wasthoroughly renovatedduring NFATC’s creation,preserving fireplaces,mantels and an intricatelycarved mirror. Even win-dows were faithfullyreplicated, but it was rec-

ognized that more wouldhave to be done for the exterior when further fundingwas available.

Arlington Hall, left, circa 1927,and Arlington Hall today.

Secretary of State George Shultz,center, on the campus of NFATC,which he helped create.

Photos courtesy of the Foreign Service Institute.

Photo courtesy of the Foreign Service Institute.

Arlington Hall, left, circa 1927,and Arlington Hall today.

In 1997, the Facilities Management Services staff, inconsultation with FSI, began documenting the conditionof Arlington Hall. The Ionic columns of the entrance por-tico were structurally sound but in need of repairs totheir stucco coatings and cast concrete bases. The 42dormers with complex muntined arched windows allneeded stripping and painting. A large hole in a sillrevealed that at least one squirrel was residing at the baseof the Palladian window—the focal point of the southcenter façade. Lead-based paint was found on the origi-nal exterior surfaces and would have to be removed.

By 1999, when the Office of the Inspector General urgedfunding for the project, the architectural and engineeringdesign had been completed and construction estimatesreceived. The old Arlington Hall main building has spent

32 State Magazine

More for the CuriousAnyone with an unsatisfied curiosity about

Arlington Hall’s history and architecture can easilylearn more. The Library of Congress houses theHistoric American Buildings Survey of the NationalPark Service. Arlington Hall is well documented therewith numerous photographs, historical narrative, archi-tectural description and a site map. Much of this mate-rial can be accessed on the Internet, although photo-graphs are still being digitized. To see those, you’ll haveto visit the Prints and Photographs Reading Room onthe third floor of the library’s Madison building.

The Virginiana Reference section of the ArlingtonCounty Library contains several linear feet of archivalmaterial from Arlington Hall Junior College, includingyearbooks, newsletters, college catalogs, scrapbooksand photographs.

An Internet search for Arlington Hall yields photo-graphs and reminiscences from the building’s militaryintelligence days. The National Security Agency’s offi-cial web site contains extensive Venona material, bothimages of the original translations and explanatorymonographs. Start at http://www.nsa.gov/docs/venona/index.html. Displays of significant messagesare on view at the National Cryptologic Museum, at theintersection of Maryland Route 32 and theBaltimore/Washington Parkway. All released messagesare available for review in the Museum’s library. Theirstyle may not be worthy of John le Carré, but their true-life plots are more intriguing than any novel’s.

the spring and summer of its 73rd yeardressed in scaffolding and the protectivegarb of hazardous materials abatement.Work was begun last May when the con-tractor—a firm experienced in historicpreservation of federal buildings—erectedscaffolding on the south side. The projectis scheduled to be completed inNovember, but as with any historicpreservation project, unexpected condi-tions may be uncovered that wouldrequire additional time.

When the building emerges, it willhave the same impressive façade aswhen it opened in 1927. Its facelift ack-nowledges the remarkable achieve-ments it has seen and its investment forthe future. �

The author is a technical librarian in theBureau of Administration, FacilitiesManagement Services.

Scaffolding envelopsArlington Hall.

Workmen strip and paint oneof the 42 dormer windows.

Photos by Bob Kaiser

October 2000 33

By Ken Alms

How is it that Tom Cruise in MissionImpossible has instant, secure com-munication with people anywherein the world and we are still carry-

ing cables to communications centers? Hollywood aside, the Department of State

Information Technology Strategic Plandemonstrates how strategic goals can be moreeasily met through technology. The StateDepartment is moving ahead to take advan-tage of the tremendous strides in technology,but information technology changes are notinstantaneous.

The strategic plan moves State toward anew vision of the future with worldwideresources linked together in an electronicglobal village. Capitalizing on the resourcesavailable in the commercial sector—electroniccommerce, the Internet and high-speed com-munications—the Department will create anelectronic environment that supports U.S.diplomatic interests and priorities effectively.The leadership role of the United States ininternational affairs demands the develop-ment of a fully responsive, yet secure, IT sys-tem. Using the latest systems and tools, Stateemployees will access, manage and share up-to-date information and collaborate with oth-ers to address foreign policy issues.

The strategic plan fully supports theOverseas Presence Advisory Panel’s recom-mendations and promotes effective exchangeof information and collaboration among thefederal agencies represented at our diplomaticmissions overseas. Many government guide-lines are driving the Department in this direc-tion, including the Government PaperworkElimination Act, e-government and e-com-merce initiatives.

Mission Quite PossibleAn Information Technology Strategy forthe 21st Century

Eric Kamp/Index Stock/PictureQuest Photo

By 2005, State’s IT environment will be greatlyimproved with:

• Significant investment in desktop tools for Departmentemployees—ready access to information sources and effec-tive document management and retrieval.

• A web-based e-diplomacy environment that incor-porates the Internet and electronic commerce.

• Replacement of the current cable system with an inte-grated suite of commercial off-the-shelf products for infor-mal and formal exchanges of information of all types andfor central administration and management.

• Consolidated and centralized management, serversand databases to realize the concept of the “datalesspost,” where sensitive information is not stored locally—substantially reducing security risks and far-flung techni-cal support requirements.

• A centrally funded, deployed and operated infra-structure that ensures universal, consistent, high-capacity and high-performance networks, and servers.

• Reliance on commercial communications services toensure high performance and high levels of availability ofour unclassified networks.

When this vision is a reality, it will change the wayemployees conduct business:

• Virtual teaming: Through networks and softwaresolutions, State employees will be able to participate in

virtual teams to focus on both foreign policy and admin-istrative issues. Location will be irrelevant for manyactivities, as video teleconferencing and on-line meetingsbecome the norm. This concept of knowledge manage-ment will ensure that Department employees haveinstantaneous access to the information needed to per-form their mission, regardless of the location of the peo-ple, the computers or the information.

Diplomatic communications will change in this virtualteaming environment. No longer will employees berequired to communicate vital information via outmodedand inflexible cables. In the future, communication willbe like the web—immediate, interactive, multimedia andflexible in format and style. Materials under develop-ment by team members will be made readily available forreal-time or off-line review and discussion—all via easy-to-use network facilities. Employees worldwide will con-tribute to a document, reviewing each other’s work inways that suit their personal styles.

• User empowerment: Many operational and admin-istrative processes, such as human resources and pro-curement, will be highly automated and standardized—enabling self-service for many functions. For example,employees will be able to update most of their personnelinformation either online, via the web or by telephone aspeople today do their banking and stock trading elec-tronically. In addition, data collection and transfer will

34 State Magazine

By Robert C. Wood

From the summer of 1997 to the end of 1999, theinformation technology revolution of theDepartment of State transformed telecommuni-cations at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague and theU.S. Consulate General in Amsterdam.

The two-year effort involved dozens of InformationResource Management Bureau professionals and manyadministrative and logistical employees. The effortspeaks well of the information technology team at TheHague who overcame institutional obstacles to achievetheir goal.

Every piece of telecommunications gear that carrieselectrons into, around and out of these two posts wasreplaced during those two years. The Bureau ofEuropean Affairs funded the replacement of all personalcomputers. These were ordered in September 1997 andinstalled, along with new internal circuitry, before ALMA(A Logical Modernization Approach—the new model forlocal area network infrastructure at each post) installa-tions began in 1998.

ALMA teams provided an efficient base for consularapplications in Amsterdam and sufficient bandwidth forrapid and efficient communications with theDepartment. In The Hague, ALMA installations estab-lished an efficient internal LAN system, on which theembassy’s information systems center placed new finan-cial, general services and personnel applications. But formonths the powerful computers and applications thatworked so well internally were hamstrung by insufficientbandwidth to support them to the Department.

This glimpse of future possibilities fueled theembassy’s desire to carry out a complete transmissionfacility upgrade, many times scheduled and many timespostponed during the previous decade. Finally, after sev-eral setbacks, the Diplomatic TelecommunicationsService Program Office and the embassy overcame allobstacles and installed the new transmission facility andbandwidth sufficient for the foreseeable future. With theupgrade in November came International Voice Gatewaylines (telephone tie lines to federal facilities) and newsecure telegraphic, e-mail and data capabilities.

The long delays in scheduling the upgrade actuallyresulted in two bonuses.

Wiring for the Future

October 2000 35

First, by the time the upgrade was accomplished,CABLEXPRESS, the Department’s new program fortelegram dissemination and filing, was ready to go; ahearty effort by the planners resulted in The Haguebecoming the ninth post to receive this service. TheForeign Service Institute trained all users in a programpraised heavily by experienced veterans for its simplicityand the expertise of the trainer.

The second benefit came from the integration of the ArmsControl and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) and the U.S.Information Agency into State. The Hague had both a USISoffice (in the embassy) and an ACDA-led U.S. Delegation tothe Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

across town. Although plans for integration were sketchy in1997 and 1998, embassy officers foresaw the likelihood thatUSIS and ACDA telecommunications would merge withState’s and worked with DTSPO, USIA and ACDA to inte-grate the systems. Staffing was adjusted, new circuits to thedelegation office were laid, and the public diplomacy sec-tion was integrated with State systems—all in conjunctionwith the major upgrade at post.

USIS at The Hague brought two significant telecommu-nications innovations to the merger that complete the mil-lenium package. The first was Lotus Notes, the basis ofCABLEXPRESS. The second was an Internet infrastructuresufficient to form the base of an Internet LAN for theembassy, reaching all agencies that desire it and adminis-tered through ICASS (at great savings over stand-aloneunits and separate Internet subscriptions). At the embassyin The Hague, the so-called “third enclave”—communica-tions via Internet and systems outside State’s closed, clas-sified and sensitive but unclassified systems—is a reality.

Anecdotes abound about the backwardness ofAmerican diplomatic telecommunications, stories promul-gated by blue-ribbon panels and by the media in soundbites. Don’t believe them. The Department and its overseasposts have a unique telecommunications mission whichoutsiders find difficult to appreciate. We perform it well.

The author is the administrative officer at the U.S. Embassyin The Hague.

be facilitated. Users will not have to repeat-edly submit information already available inDepartment systems. When employeesmove, their electronic information will movewith them.

The Embassy of 2005 might look like this:• The embassy environment: Many

administrative activities will be performedvia self-service, easily accessed central sys-tems. The operating environment will be bet-ter integrated than it is today. All members ofthe country team, regardless of agency, willcommunicate with one another via a stan-dard network and will participate in the vir-tual teams. The post will interact more fre-quently with other posts and with externalorganizations—through the Internet, videoconferencing and online communities. Inselected cases, the Department will movetoward dataless posts—especially in high-threat areas where data will be maintainedcentrally rather than at post.

• Consular operations: Consular officerswill be connected directly to their peers atother posts and to headquarters, enabling

The IRM Team in The Hague, left, front row: Rob Buthker, Harry Riversand Stefan Galewicz; back row: Ron Kamman, Richard Moody, HarryHolland, Allen J. DeLucia and Barry R. Peterson.

information to be shared effectively for border securityand visa processing. Biometrics—fingerprints, voice, reti-na patterns or other biological measurements—will beused extensively for identification, and the Departmentwill experiment with fully electronic travel documentsmuch as the airlines have done. These enhanced serviceswill be available to Americans overseas.

• Political and economic work: Political or economicofficers’ days will be more dynamic and demanding inthe future, and information technology will enhancetheir ability to meet those demands. The volume ofinformation will be overwhelming. State’s officers willbe expected to keep up by using sophisticated tools tosearch for and obtain the data they need. TheDepartment will provide systems and tools to aidthem—specialized desktops or toolkits for officers in thepolitical, economic, consular and administrative fields.They will also spend more time in interactive workgroups, coordinating with peers at other locations and inother organizations, bringing their special expertise tobear on the problems of the day.

To be successful, the plan’s goals and objectives willrequire major changes in the Department’s culture andthe supporting IT systems.

While bringing about these changes will take time,various pilot programs are already under way at sever-al embassies. In Bangkok, a large classified local area

network is operating using software that provides clas-sified telegraphic and e-mail access to all offices withinthe embassy. Defense elements used the classified sys-tem successfully during a recent joint U.S.-Thai militaryexercise, coordinating not only with various missionelements but also with other U.S. military commands.Pilot Overseas Presence Advisory Panel programs thatdemonstrate how a common interagency IT platformwill work are scheduled to begin in Mexico City andNew Delhi in the next fiscal year. Elsewhere, as in theNetherlands, modernization is already taking place.(see Wiring for the Future sidebar).

So, while we have not caught up with Hollywood,State is moving forward with a plan that has received awarm welcome from the Office of Management and theBudget and from Congress. Employees’ active involve-ment in launching this plan will ensure its success.

The author is acting chief of the information technology planningdivision in the Bureau of Information Resource Management.

The IRM Bureau welcomes comments and suggestions aboutits Information Technology Strategic Plan, available on the IRMPlanning website. For a hardcopy, contact irmplanning@state.gov.

36 State Magazine

Strategic IT Goals and ObjectivesGoals Strategic Objectives

■ Objective 1A Commercial-Style Global Network for Class. and Unclass. Communication■ Objective 1B A Continually Updated Equipment and Software Base■ Objective 1C Robust Infrastructure Security Services■ Objective 1D Effective Infrastructure Management and Support Services

■ Objective 2A Worldwide Access to International Affairs Information Resources■ Objective 2B IT Support for Effective Collaboration■ Objective 2C Effective IT for Public Diplomacy

■ Objective 3A Business Quality E-mail■ Objective 3B Standard Utilities and Services for Information Exchange

■ Objective 4A User-empowered Administrative Systems■ Objective 4B Consolidation of Information Technology Facilities

■ Objective 5A A Rewarding Workplace for IT Specialists■ Objective 5B An Effective Distance Learning Program

Goal 1A Secure GlobalNetwork and Infrastructure

Goal 2Ready Access to International Affairs Applications and Information

Goal 3Integrated Messaging—A Modern Worldwide Approach

Goal 4Leveraging IT to Streamline Operations

Goal 5Sustaining a Trained Productive Workforce

Note: The Information Technology Strategic Plan for FY 2001–2005 lays out five key goals and 13 objectives, each of which has clear milestones and performance measures to guage progress.

October 2000 37

People Like YouPeople Like YouRetired RSO Inducted intoHometown Hall of Fame

Nick Green, a retired regional security officer from Michigan whoserved tours in London, Lagos and San Salvador and held seniorpositions in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, was recently induct-ed into the Hamtramck High School Sports Hall of Fame. Beginninghis varsity career while still in junior high school, Mr. Green earneda total of 12 varsity letters—six in football and six in track and field.

He ran an average of 4.5 yards per carry as a fullback and cocap-tain of the school’s football team and was a member of Hamtramck’smile-relay team. That team placed third in the 1950 DeVilbiss relays,a three-state competition among the top high school track and fieldathletes from Michigan, Ohio and Illinois.

Mr. Green joined the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in 1977 afterserving as a U.S. Army officer. While assigned to the bureau’s fieldoffice in Los Angeles, he earned the Department’s Award of Valorfor preventing the possible assassination of the Iranian QueenMother and Princess Shams Pahlavi, sister of the Shah of Iran, dur-ing their visit to the United States.

As chief of the bureau’s Emergency Action Plan Division, Mr.Green traveled to West Africa, where he contracted a serious illnessthat left him paralyzed. He retired in 1991 with 31 years of federalservice and now lives in Northville, Mich., with his wife Jennifer.

Medicine and Music MixDecades after the Stones and the Beatles, Dr. Bill Green still knows how to

rock and roll. As regional medical officer at the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, Dr.Green spends his days traveling the roads of Africa and tending to the medicalneeds of the mission community. But despite his busy schedule and much to the“dismay” of his neighbors, he finds time to play around on his 88-key piano-weighted synthesizer. Dr. Green’s keyboard stylings are not just pipe dreams.

In the late ‘60s, Dr. Green played keyboard and guitar in a variety of bandsthat made the college bar circuit in Youngstown, Ohio. His first band, theGemini V, consisted of his brother and a few friends. They performed songs bysuch popular groups as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and PaulRevere and the Raiders.

Thirty years after their last gig, the retro rockers took the stage at their highschool reunion. With Dr. Green on keyboard and guitar, the Gemini V’s reunionshow was a smash. The band has been bitten once again by the rock and rollbug and plans to do more reunion performances in the future and maybe evena CD.

Photo by Patti Mauer

Dr. Bill Green, regional medical officerin Lagos, Nigeria, on keyboard withmembers of the Gemini V rock band.

Nick Green winsrelay in 1950 withroom to spare.

U.S. Ambassador to Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda,Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. James A. Daley ofMassachusetts was recess appointed as U.S. Ambassadorto Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada,Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and theGrenadines. Mr. Daley has held senior management posi-tions in corporations, participated in the leadership ofmany organizations and served as director on numerousboards including the Board of the MassachusettsConvention Center Authority and the LoJackCorporation. He has also served as chief executive officer,owner and developer for long-term care facilities.

Special Coordinator for Cyprus.Thomas G. Weston of Michiganwas accorded the rank of ambassa-dor during his tenure as specialcoordinator for Cyprus. Mr.Weston is a career member of theSenior Foreign Service, Class ofMinister-Counselor. He joined theForeign Service in 1969 and hasheld assignments as deputy assis-

tant secretary for European and Canadian Affairs anddeputy chief of mission to the European Union. He alsoserved in Canada, Germany and the Congo.

Chief of Mission and Consul General to Jerusalem.Ronald Lewis Schlicher was appointed as chief of missionand consul general to Jerusalem. Mr. Schlicher joined theForeign Service in 1982. Since then he has held assign-

ments in Cairo, as chief of the Civilian Observer Unit in theSinai and as deputy chief of mission in Beirut. He mostrecently was director of the Office of Egyptian and NorthAfrican Affairs.

U.S. Ambassador to Norway. RobinChandler Duke was recess appoint-ed as U.S. Ambassador to Norway.She has served as vice chairman onthe Board of the Institute ofInternational Education and ascochair of the Millennium Project ofthe Friends of Art and Preservationin Embassies. Ms. Duke formed theoriginal committee for the

Restoration of Blair House in the Kennedy Administration.She is currently a director of the U.S.-Japan Foundation, theLucile and David Packard Foundation and the UnitedNations Association of the United States.

U.S. Ambassador to the SlovakRepublic. Carl Spielvogel of NewYork was recess appointed as U.S.Ambassador to the SlovakRepublic. He created and served asthe chief executive officer of Backer& Spielvogel, Inc. and SackerSpielvogel Bates, Worldwide, Inc.Mr. Spielvogel also was vicechair-man of the Interpublic Group of

Companies, Inc. and CEO of the United Auto Group, Inc.

38 State Magazine

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

Celebrating DisabilityAwareness Month

To celebrate National DisabilityEmployment Awareness Month, theGallaudet Dance Company will presentits program, “45 Years of Dance,” Oct.17 at 11 a.m. in the East Auditorium atMain State. This year’s theme is“Ability You Can Bank On.”

Gallaudet DanceCompany performs.

Phot

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vret

te/O

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a

October 2000 39

Foreign Service Retirements

PERSONNEL ACTIONS

Clark, Irene B., Consular and Intl. Programs Div.Flynn, Barbara A., Political AffairsHarrower, Maura B., Central Allotment SectionO’Rourke, Thomas J., Support Services DivisionOsullivan, James T., Prog. Sys. and Integration Div.Soloway, Irving Harry, Anti-Terrorism Asst. Div.Taylor, Kathryn M., Immediate Office of Asst. Sec.Taylor, Shirley T., HistorianWhitlow Jr., William R., Policy Rev. and Interag.

Liaison

Joyce, David C., Euro. and Can. Area BranchKaraer, Arma Jane, In TransitOcallaghan, James F., LomeOrlando, Jack P., Team IiPiekarz, Emil M., Office of Foreign BuildingsRogers, Gale Ellen, Language Training Sveda, Russell J., Bureau of Human Resources Tabb, Vandoster L., The Trans. Center—Dean’s OfficeWarner, Joseph Lacy, Bureau of Human Resources Wright, Donna Maye, Office of the D.G. of the Foreign

Serv. and Dir. of Per.

Alexander, Leslie M., Diplomat-in-ResidenceAndersen, Paul John, CongressBostock, Cecily Jane, KampalaBradshaw, Alvin R., Florida Regional CenterBredeck, Duane R., AccraBrown, Norma Ruth, Eur. Security and Political AffairsCoffman, Robert William, Jakarta, JavaDaniels, Rita Kay, HanoiFeifer, Theodore, Secretary of DefenseGarnett, Nancy Ruth, NassauJenista, Frank L., Policy Analysis and Public Dip.

Civil Service Retirements

Foreign Service GrievanceBoard Summary

In this issue, State Magazine continues pub-lishing summaries of selected Foreign ServiceGrievance board decisions. Our aim is to helpemployees better understand the importantrole the board plays in resolving disputesbetween employees and the Department, aswell as to highlight examples of Board deci-sions that might be of particular benefit toemployees and supervisors.

Reported cases will provide general infor-mation about matters that can be grieved,remedies available through the grievanceprocess and significant grievance boardprecedent. As a principle of good manage-ment, disputes and grievances should beresolved through discussion among the par-ties or mediation at the lowest possible level.An employee whose grievance has beendenied by the agency or has not beenresolved within the 90-day statutory periodfor agency review, however, may appeal tothe Foreign Service Grievance Board.

Further information on the grievanceprocess is available in 3 FAM 4400-4470 andat the grievance staff (HR/G) homepage onthe Department’s OpenNet at https://hrweb.hr.state.gov/grievance/index.html.

‘Borrowing’ Prompts SuspensionA Department employee assigned abroad grieved the

Department’s decision to suspend him for 10 days and place a let-ter of suspension in his official personnel folder for removinggovernment property (a piece of computer equipment) withoutpermission and for making a false statement in the course of anofficial investigation.

In his grievance, the employee acknowledged installing thecomponent in his personal computer at home, but asserted thathe was merely borrowing a component that was not being usedby the embassy. The grievant added that he had not intended tokeep the component, but merely to use and return it at a latertime. The grievant also acknowledged that he had made a falsestatement to the Diplomatic Security agent who questioned himabout the missing component. But, the grievant argued, he hadbeen nervous and panicked; after his initial panic, he had coop-erated, returned the component and told the truth. Finally, thegrievant argued that a 10-day suspension was unduly harsh andinconsistent with discipline imposed in other cases.

The Department argued that the grievant’s assertion that hehad merely borrowed the computer component was difficult toaccept, since it had remained in his possession approximatelynine months. The Department noted that the grievant told thetruth only after the Diplomatic Security agent informed him thatthe serial number on the component in his computer matchedthe serial number of the component missing from the embassy.Finally, the Department argued that a 10-day suspension wasnot unreasonable and noted that the discipline cases the griev-ant cited where lesser penalties had been imposed involvedinstances of less severe employee misconduct.

In its decision, the board observed that, “typically, borrowingis done with the knowledge and permission of the person fromwhom borrowed.” The board noted that the grievant “lied to the[DS] agent when the agent had no proof against him. He thentold the truth only after the agent had very strong proof.” Theboard found that a 10-day suspension was not unduly harshwhen compared with relatively similar discipline cases.

The grievance was denied. FSGB Case No 2000-023

40 State Magazine

Iran, from 1979 to 1981. He received the Department ofState Award for Valor. He retired in 1990 as a ministercounselor but continued to work for State on variousshort-term assignments until 1999.

Robert H. Phinny, 78, formerambassador to Swaziland, diedMay 11 in Wilson, Wyo. He servedin Swaziland from 1982 to 1984and was a specialist in SouthAfrican affairs. Mr. Phinny servedas a lieutenant in the U.S. Navyfrom 1942 to 1945 and was in theNaval Reserve from 1946 to 1956.

George M. Spoth, 78, a retiredForeign Service officer, died of can-cer May 27 in Springfield, Va. Hejoined the State Department in1942. From 1943 to 1946, Mr. Spothserved in the U.S. Navy and in 1946rejoined the State Department. InWashington, Mr. Spoth was chief ofthe passport investigations branchand special agent in charge of the

Washington field office. He retired in 1974.

George Sweeney, 78, a retired StateDepartment employee, died of alung ailment May 22 inWashington, D.C. He served as theadministrator of the alcoholawareness program in the Office ofMedical Services, traveling tomany Foreign Service posts todeliver briefings. Mr. Sweeneyretired in 1995. During World War

II, he served in the U.S. Army.

Bradford L. Thomas, 68, a retired StateDepartment geographer, died of aheart attack Feb. 22. He was an inter-nationally recognized expert onboundary and sovereignty issues,specializing in the Middle East,Latin America and the South ChinaSea. At State, Mr. Thomas served aschief of the Cartography andBoundary Analysis Division, Office

of the Geographer and Global Issues. He retired in 1997.

Donald P. Black, 73, a retired ForeignService officer, died April 22 inWashington, D.C. Joining theForeign Service in 1959, Mr. Blackdirected the CzechoslovakBroadcast Service of the Voice ofAmerica and served as a negotiatorin the Multilateral Arms ControlNegotiations. He also worked in theBureau of Intelligence and Research,

the United Nations General Assembly and the Bureau ofInternational Environmental Affairs. Mr. Black served twicein the Navy, from 1944 to 1946 and from 1952 to 1954.

Patricia Ann Crum, 54, a Foreign Service specialist, diedMay 12 in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ms. Crum joinedthe Foreign Service in 1985 and also served in Washington,D.C., Italy, Kenya, Hungary and the United Kingdom.

Joachim von Elbe, 98, a retired StateDepartment employee, died June 8in Madison, Wis. During World WarII, he served in the U.S. Army. Mr.von Elbe joined the American mili-tary government in Berlin and even-tually became legal adviser to theU.S. Embassy in Bonn. He retired in1969. In 1982, President RonaldReagan appointed Mr. von Elbe

Justice to the Supreme Restitution Court in Munich.

Frank Kemler, 86, a retired ForeignService officer, died Feb. 2 inArlington, Va. He served in the U.S.Army during World War II andjoined the State Department in 1948.During his career with State, Mr.Kemler served in South Korea,Germany, France, Vietnam andWashington, D.C. He retired in 1974.

Bert C. Moore, 65, a retired ForeignService officer, died of cancer June8 in Homosassa, Fla. He joined theState Department in 1961 andserved in Washington, D.C.,Canada, the former Rhodesia,Malawi, France, Zaire, Iran, Spain,Nigeria, Indonesia and India. Mr.Moore was one of the 52 Americandiplomats held hostage in Teheran,

O B I T U A R I E S

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Historic Arlington Hallgets a face-lift. —page 30