VOA, 19 November 2008
Sounds like a no-brainer to me: amidst fears of melamine contamination, it's a bit more than a "do something!!" response to fears of what might be coming next in Chinese container ships. Already, in response to fears generated by 9/11, we have had US Customs agents in huge overseas ports like Rotterdam as part of the Container Security Initiative.
Many people are unclear as to what "diplomacy" consists of, and generations of American Foreign Service Officers have tales of how they explain to friends and family that working for the "State" Department does not mean a dreary job in Harrisburg or Tallahassee or some other state capital. "What do you do?" in an embassy, anyway?
Well, anything that the US Government does, to be concise. In small embassies in small countries, that often entails a State Department FSO representing the interests of agencies not present. In Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, that meant me handling monthly US Air Force flights and occasional US Navy ship visits, since there was no Defense Attache at our embassy at the time.
In Beijing, the task of food inspection (or more likely, liaising with Chinese food inspectors) is much more technical than ensuring flight clearances, so it makes sense to send in the FDA. In large embassies like Beijing, London, Cairo and elsewhere, the Ambassador's "Country Team" of US agency representatives is a veritable alphabet soup of specializations.
The State Department, in tandem with GAO concerns about the burgeoning presence at US embassies abroad, set up an Office of Rightsizing the U.S. Government (USG) Overseas Presence. They even put together this handy "Guide for U.S. Agencies Planning Overseas Representation."
"Rightsizing" is an appropriate term. Even in small countries, the US Embassy is often the largest one in town, since there is a kind of minimum staffing threshold below which the US does not seem to be able to conduct its business. So, given longstanding American practice of having universal representation - an embassy in every country (some exceptions permitting) - what is the addition of a few more bodies in Beijing?
"Downsizing" the American presence overseas has sometimes been carried to extremes. About ten years ago, I remember seeing a large empty space in the middle of the Economic Section in the US Embassy in London. "Oh, that's where the Treasury people used to sit" was the explanation. In one of the world's financial capitals - the home of The City, LIBOR, the EBRD - the US Treasury Department had decided to pull its people out.
Right after September 11 2001, when we were organizing a conference in Luxembourg on countering terrorist financing, we had the able assistance of the sole remaining Treasury official overseas. He was based in Frankfurt, recognition by Treasury that perhaps the home of the Euro, the European Central Bank, should have someone to answer the phone. Things appear to have improved since then.
When these FDA people settle into Beijing, I would hope that their colleagues from State, Defense, and the other more "established" foreign affairs agencies treat them like the genuine diplomats that they can become. For if there is anything that should become clearer under an Obama Administration, it is that US engagement with the world must be inclusive and interconnected. No more simple recourse to "bomb 'em" or "with us or against us." Doesn't work in the international financial crisis.
American Embassies in a world where combating climate change is a central (inter)national security priority may require even more of an alphabet-soup presence: EPA attaches, NOAA counselors, etc.
When the Gulf War loomed in late 1990 and flared briefly in early 1991, the US Embassy in Algiers drew down, evacuating families and nonessential staff. The skeleton staff remaining was tiny, but allowed the US to maintain essential operations. One officer that the Ambassador insisted on retaining was the Agricultural Attache. Why, when he sent away such key people as the consular and public affairs officers? Simple: Algeria depended on imports of US grain to feed its people. No US wheat: riots in the streets. The agricultural trade relationship was a key factor in stability.
Next time someone asks what diplomats do, give a thought to the unsung diplomats of the USDA. And the FDA, the FAA...