Green Zone Diary (eBook)

Chapter 3:

The Foreign Service

I am one of those lucky (some people might call it nerdy) people who love tests. I love them. I like filling in the bubbles. I like being the first one done. And I enjoy the pressure of writing essays under a deadline; it gives me a rush. Plus, I usually excel at test taking (I never claimed to be modest). So, I followed my friend’s advice, took the Foreign Service written and oral exams, and passed. My memories of the daylong oral exam will forever be clouded by another woman who also took hers that same day.

As instructed via a letter, in the fall of 2001, I walked into a nondescript office building in Washington DC, rode the elevator to the assigned floor at the appointed time, and found my way to a waiting room. As I nervously glanced around, anxious for what was to come, I thought my surroundings were disappointingly similar to the countless waiting rooms I’d sat in before: the same industrial carpeting, the same soothing colored walls, the same generic artwork, and the same molded chairs with cushioned seats lining the edges of the room. There was a watercooler in one corner and a plant in the other. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it felt altogether anticlimactic for a day that could literally change the course of my life.

After a few minutes of nervously glancing about and furtively checking out the other applicants who arrived before me, another woman came in and slid into the seat next to me. She flashed me an anxious smile. We appeared to be the only two women out of the dozen or so people who were there that day for the oral exam, so it felt natural to sit next to each other. My first thought was, “Yay, another woman, maybe we can keep each other company and support one another throughout the day.” Turning to face me, she introduced herself and said she was a student at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. I responded, letting her know I was a student at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Almost before the word “University” was out of my mouth, with a look of derision and a saccharine tone, she said, “At my school, at SAIS, I attended a prep session with a former Ambassador. And he said we should really only wear a blue or black pants suit on the day of the oral examination if we wanted to pass.” I didn’t need to glance down at myself to know I was wearing a tan skirt suit.

My eyebrows furrowing, I stared at her for a minute, and thought, “What is wrong with you? We’re the only women here. We’re supposed to be allies; we should be supporting each other and celebrating our success. Why are you trying to psych me out right before the exam? Not cool. Not cool at all, dude.”

I gathered my runaway thoughts and returned the lob in the most unconcerned voice I could muster, “Well, at my school, at Maxwell, I also attended a prep session with a former Ambassador. And he said we should wear whatever makes us feel the most comfortable and confident.” (A belated thank you to Ambassador Levitsky for his advice).

While not my proudest moment, I have to admit there was some satisfaction in knowing that I passed the exam that day and she did not. Those of us who passed were asked to stay behind to immediately start the security clearance interview process, those who didn’t pass had to parade by us as they walked out the waiting room door. As she passed me, head hanging, she looked up for a brief moment and muttered under her breath, “Congrats.” In reply, I beamed, “Thanks!” just managing to contain myself from doing a victory fist pump or a cartwheel, tan skirt suit be damned.

After exam day and the required security clearance background check were completed, I was called up for service into a new class of Foreign Service Officers that started in November 2002. I didn’t know what to expect. I was simply filled with the buoyant optimism of a privileged twenty-something who was figuring out what door to open next.

Foreign Service Officers are employees of the U.S. Department of State. State Department employees also include Foreign Service Specialists, Civil Servants (primarily based at DC headquarters), locally employed staff at embassies and consulates, and various classes of political appointees. All combined, the State Department represents the interests of the United States in foreign countries. They staff the roughly 300 U.S. embassies, consulates, and diplomatic missions around the world, as well as the State Department headquarters in Washington, DC.

There are five Foreign Service Officer specializations called “cones”: Political, Economic, Public Affairs, Management, and Consular. I was an Economics Officer (of course I was, the Economics Officers are usually the nerdiest ones). As much as I hate admitting it, my high school guidance counselor was right. I was meant to work with numbers. He had encouraged me to major in math in college, as it was my strong suit, but ever the nerdy rebel, I, I thought math was “too easy.” I wanted to travel the world and opted for Political Science and International Relations instead. And yet, ultimately, as an Econ-coned officer, there I was pouring over numbers and data and graphs and statistics. I once told a visiting roomful of high-profile and well-educated guests in Dubai that “numbers are important” to Economic Officers. That self-evident statement got a bit of a laugh—at me.

Like with any organization, there is an unstated, yet ever-present hierarchy, among the various types of officers. My information is slightly dated now, and other Foreign Service Officers may disagree about the order of this hierarchy, but Political Officers are definitely the cool kids at any embassy. When I took the Foreign Service Exam, a higher score was necessary to become a political officer, presumably because it was much more popular than the other cones. Political Officers are charged with understanding the political environment of the country where they are posted and reporting that information back to Washington. They have meetings with all the big, important political muckety-mucks.

The not-quite-as-cool younger sibling of the Political Officer is the Economic Officer, who is tasked with determining the economic situation on the ground. I once had a boss (also an Economic Officer) who told me partly in jest that Political Officers may think they’re the best—but they often find themselves having coffee with political dissidents who can barely rub two cents together; while Economic Officers go to dinner at the best restaurants in town with CEOs and other business leaders. I’m not sure if he really believed that (possibly) or if it was just a pep talk for my chosen path (more likely), which had rendered me perpetually in second place in the embassy hierarchy. I try not to show it, but I can be obnoxiously competitive, as can my husband. Our kids are going to need so much therapy. We half-jokingly say that in our family, second place is the first loser (with great emphasis on loser).

Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) generally come third, although some may think they are on the same level as Economic Officers. PAOs fill two main functions: speaking to the press and overseeing cultural programs or exchanges. Originally, I thought about being a Public Affairs Officer, with my positive student exchange experiences in high school and college, but the idea of talking to the press scared me. Still does. I feel compelled to forthrightly answer every question asked of me, which is probably an unfortunate trait for those tasked with speaking with the press, particularly government officials who deal in classified materials. Once while in Dubai, my boss sent me to talk about Iran’s economy with a well-known journalist named Robin Wright. I was so petrified of accidently leaking classified information or saying something wrong thing that I’m sure I came across as a tongue-tied bumbling idiot not worthy of her time.

Next are the Management Officers. They are in charge of everything that keeps an embassy running, as well as moving and housing of Foreign Service personnel. Think motor pool, arranging airfare, apartment leases, maintenance of embassy grounds, and so on. While management jobs are not as cool as some of the other overseas postings, Management Officers often have the last laugh. Because they showcase their management skills early on, by being in charge of large budgets and the most personnel, they can also set themselves up for assignments that require strong management skills like ambassadorships.

Consular Officers, the fifth and final cone, perform two main functions: visa interviews for both immigrant and non-immigrant travelers to the United States and American Citizen Services (ACS). Conducting visa interviews is a painful and thankless job. Consular employees are at the front lines in deciding which foreigners can or cannot present themselves at a United States border, but they are often under pressure to complete interviews quickly while dealing with yelling, crying, lying, and all sorts of other human behavior—good and bad. Their snap decisions can literally change a person’s life. It’s a lot of pressure.

ACS assists Americans who are traveling overseas with all matters of life, such as birth, death, illness, incarceration, lost passports, notarizing documents, and more. ACS can also be an unappreciated job. During office hours, ACS is the responsibility of the Consular Officers, but on nights and weekends, American embassy or consulate staff rotate being the off-hours...