The Education of a Diplomat

I have finally finished my Foreign Service Officer training! Last week I finished 12 weeks of intensive Spanish training, and am now officially able to communicate in Spanish at a "professional" level, which means I can effectively communicate U.S. policy in a number of topics, to include the economy, the environment, the education system, healthcare reform, immigration policy, and a few others.

The training I've been given is incredible. I had a weekly seminar on the region I'm going to -- The Andean Region of South America -- and am now fairly well-versed on the history and current political situation of the countries in that area of the world, and know something about the culture and hot current topics. In addition, I've completed classes on Combating Terrorist Financing; Intelligence & Foreign Policy; Outreach Diplomacy; and Interagency Planning for Conflict Transformation. I've had the opportunity to hear professors from Georgetown and George Washington University; former Ambassadors; lobbyists; Undersecretaries of State; a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist; experts from Washington-based think tanks, and others I can't recall off the top of my head.

At the Foreign Service Training Institute, on any given day there are 1000 students studying 70 languages. When I wasn't stressed out myself, it was sort of entertaining to see all the half-dazed, disheveled students wandering around muttering under their breath in a strange language. Lab time was interesting, but a few times I was a little distracted by someone in the next cubicle reciting dialogue in Urdu or Tamil or Albanian. My Spanish training was wonderful! I went in with a certain proficiency, but four hours of class time with 4-5 people plus two hours of lab work every day really polished up my fluency. Our instructors rotated every 4-5 weeks, and I had the great fortune of working with some really fascinating people from Spain, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Costa Rica.

So, I think I'm prepared now. In the next few weeks movers come and take all my worldly possessions and my car and hopefully get them to Lima without losing them in the ocean. Hopefully pirates won't be an issue, either.

Big Day Today

Today was Secretary Clinton's first day on the job. There was a welcome for her at the State Department's main building ("Main State," as we refer to it). Almost 1000 State Department employees attended. The din was unbelieveable; people cheered and applauded as if they were at a rock concert. My A-100 classmate, Felix, and I were the first two people there, and we were both able to shake her hand as she arrived.

One of the things she said that really resonated with me was that U.S. Foreign Policy rests on three things -- diplomacy, development, and defense -- and that the State Department is responsible for two of them. The "best long-term tools" for securing America's future are "robust diplomacy and effective development," she said. She ended by saying:

"I think this is a time of such potential and possibility. I don't get up in the morning just thinking about the threats and the dangers, as real as they are. I also think about what we can do and who we are and what we represent. So I take this office with a real sense of joy and responsibility, commitment and collaboration. And now, ladies and gentlemen, let's get to work."

You can read her full remarks herehttp://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/01/115262.htm
and see some video here http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/01/celebrity-welco.html.