For more information contact:
Harold Pachios
hpachios@preti.com

COLIN POWELL HAS already encountered many challenges as the new secretary of state.  He has also inherited a department with serious management problems.
At a town hall meeting with State Department employees in his first week on the job, Powell demonstrated his awareness of the department's low morale, obsolete infrastructure, and inflexible and centralized bureaucracy.
Buoyed by his reputation at the Pentagon, those who attended the town hall meeting saw firsthand the importance the new secretary places on the esprit de corps.  Morale at the State Department, while never especially strong for more than a decade, has been particularly low of late.
The US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy found in a recent report that morale among old and new employees – those who formerly worked at the US Information Agency and were merged into State in October 1999 – is suffering.  This assessment was confirmed by a report just released by a nonpartisan outside task force that calls for major reform.
More than 1,500 Foreign Service officers recently signed a letter to Powell which they described the department as dysfunctional and complained that its traditions and culture block needed change while its dedicated employees are distracted with trivia.

Numerous layers of approval and sign-off are needed for the most basic things – from procurement and personnel to grant-making and travel – and many employees have become discouraged; retirements and early departures have been on the rise and the Foreign Services has more than 700 positions unfilled.  The budget for employee recruitment has been a mere $70,000 a year, an amount the Pentagon spends in one 30-second television commercial.

As quickly as possible, Powell should streamline State's bureaucracy by reducing the number of necessary clearance and sign-offs, empower lower-level officers, especially in overseas posts, and increase the recruitment budget.  Appointing career officers to key positions and ambassadorships would also send a strong message of support to employees.

In light of several embarrassing lapses over the past 24 months, State's leadership rightly beefed up its internal security program, but many employees believe that the emphasis on security has been disproportionate.
Powell will need to find the right balance between maintaining adequate security while allowing officer to do their job effectively.  Ensuring the safety of State's computer system, for example, needs to be balanced with maintaining and even increasing interaction with the outside electronic world, an issue Powell noted at the town hall meeting.

A lack of resources has been another source of employee discouragement.  The State Department has been under funded; overall spending on international affairs – the State Department plus foreign aid programs – accounts for barely 1 percent of the federal budget.  Powell has promised that as secretary of state. "I now will be up before the Congress letting them know in the most powerful terms that I can muster that the dedicated men and women of the State Department need that same kind of support.  We must make sure that when State employees go to do the work of the American people, they not only have the support they need but that they have the resources they need."
Yet even with Powell's persuasive skills, Congress is unlikely to provide significantly more funding until State becomes a more efficient operation.

In an age of globalization, when nongovernmental groups and private interests, not just governments, are major players on the world scene, State must become a more nimble agency that focuses increasingly on public diplomacy – activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics through international exchange and information programs, media research and polling, and support for nongovernmental organizations.
Traditional diplomacy focuses on government-to-government relations; public diplomacy deals not only with other governments but also with nongovernmental organizations to inform and influence the public in other nations.

This is where those who formerly worked at the US Information Agency and are now at State play such a crucial role.  When consolidations of USIA into State was first proposed in 1997, its supporters in Congress expected it to be accompanied by a reinvention of the department has been on hold for years, but there is great optimism that this will now change.

The future of US foreign policy depends on a revamped management structure and on continued engagement with foreign governmental officials.  Equally important, our ability to influence large-scale public attitudes abroad requires a nimble State Department to lead the way.
Harold C. Pachios is chairman of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.