Military personnel facing a first TDY or assignment to a U.S. Embassy abroad are often concerned about how they will fit in, and more-importantly, succeed in an unfamiliar environment.  They may wonder whether they will be able to work with the Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) and other embassy employees who come from different backgrounds and have different cultural references.  They might also be concerned about living for the first time outside the United States, or the “Little America” of a U.S. military base abroad.

It is true that a typical U.S. Embassy works very differently from the Pentagon, Fort Bragg, or Naval Base Coronado.  But you don’t need an Enigma machine to crack the diplomatic code and find success; all it takes is a little background and preparation.  As an FSO for 35 years who retired as U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, I spent the majority of my career working closely with U.S. military personnel from all services and many specialties, both in Washington and at posts abroad; I can both reassure you that everything is likely to work out well, and give you some hints that will increase your odds of success.

The Ambassador is the Boss

The person in charge of a U.S. Embassy is usually an Ambassador, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.  Think of her as the CEO of the embassy.  While technically an employee of the State Department, she has written instructions from the President to supervise all Executive Branch activities conducted at the post, including those of DoD.  The President’s letter says all employees must keep the Ambassador apprised of all current or proposed activities; the Ambassador may also see all communications from all mission elements, including on issues such as military operations and intelligence, whatever the classification.  If she is not happy with your performance, she has authority to send you back to the U.S. in shame. 

So, it’s clear you will want to keep the Ambassador happy during your assignment.  But if it is starting to sound like the Ambassador is kind of a dictator, well, that’s true, at least as far as U.S. Government (USG) personnel are concerned.  The positive aspect is that the Ambassador is usually a benevolent dictator, and wants to make sure you are successful; otherwise, she would not have let you come work at her post in the first place – because responsibility for granting or denying your “country clearance” is also in the President’s letter.

Mission Structure

Whether they are big or small, Embassies usually have a common structure.  The Deputy Chief of Mission is the Chief Operating Officer; the DCM is usually the hardest-working person at any embassy, and is responsible for ensuring the day-to-day operations of the post run smoothly; the DCM is also in charge when the Ambassador is out of the country.  Since the Ambassador typically spends the majority of her time out of the embassy building or in meetings, the DCM will usually try to tee up complicated or controversial issues for the Ambassador, and negotiate any intra-embassy disagreements.

The Ambassador is supported by the “country team,” which consists of the heads of all the USG agencies represented at the post, plus the heads of each State Department section.  Most embassies will have representatives from State and DoD, and perhaps Justice, intel, and a few others.  Big embassies like in Germany, where I was DCM, might have an alphabet soup of thirty agency heads represented on the country team.  Small embassies in developing countries may only have a few.  The CT is the main forum for conducting and coordinating business in the embassy.  CT members are there to be the boss of their organizations at post, to advise the ambassador, and to work with other CT members on joint objectives.

DoD appoints a “senior defense official” (SDO) at any embassy with more than one DoD component represented; the SDO is usually the Defense Attache, or DATT.  The Ambassador will expect the SDO to have full knowledge of all DoD activities in country, whether conducted by permanent embassy employees, or by TDY visitors.  So make sure the SDO knows what you are up to.

On the CT are the heads of up to six State Department sections at the mission:  Consular, Economic, Management, Political, Public Diplomacy, and Security.  In the Political section there will generally be an FSO responsible for political-military issues that works closely with the DATT on promoting U.S. policies to the Ministry of Defense.  You will probably get to know the pol-mil officer too.

The Regional Security Officer is in charge of security for all mission personnel and TDYers. The RSO will probably brief you and give you guidelines for staying safe in country.  If she tells you not to go to a particular bar in the middle of the night, there is a good reason for that and you should follow her advice. 

Priority Setting in an Embassy

The State Department does not have doctrine, OPLANs, or FRAGORDs, but it does have strategies and plans that are arrived at in a collaborative manner at embassies.  The Country Team develops a draft Country Strategy every three years based on the Ambassador’s priorities and their Washington headquarters’ goals, which if all is working well, typically line up.  The Ambassador approves the strategy, then it is sent to the State Department, which discusses it with other Washington agencies, and approves it or suggests modifications.  The strategy is typically in the neighborhood of twenty or thirty pages, covering both strategy and tactics to achieve goals, so it is not heavy on detail, but most of an embassy’s key responsibilities are covered, at least at a high level.  It is up to the embassy staff to develop specific actions and events to achieve those goals.

A couple of examples might help explain this better.  In Kosovo, when I was Ambassador, we had three broad goals: Rule of Law; Economic Development; and Regional Security; each of those was broken down into several sub-goals.  Improving rule of law is a key goal for most embassies in developing countries, since we have learned over the years that countries without strong respect for rule of law tend to fail both politically and economically, as Venezuela is failing now; these failures lead to instability, emigration, and violence, all of which represent threats to U.S. interests.  The main rule of law challenge in Kosovo, as in many developing countries, was corruption, where public officials put their own interests above those of the citizens they had been elected or appointed to serve.  We had a variety of programs to help improve laws, make it harder to act corruptly, or to call out corruption when it happened.

All of the DoD-related goals we had in Kosovo were covered under the Regional Security heading; we had specific sub-goals to increase the professionalism of the Kosovo Security Force and increase its abilities to interact with NATO militaries.  All the permanent staff and TDY visitors from U.S. military components were operating consistently with the embassy strategy, which was drafted broadly enough to allow for the incorporation of new DoD-relevant issues. 

Foreign Service Culture

We have all seen movies where the diplomat, perhaps wearing striped pants, spends his time at parties entertaining people.  Just as military personnel do not see their lives portrayed with anything like accuracy in war movies, the real work of FSOs is generally nothing like the Hollywood version. The goal of an FSO is to achieve the objectives spelled out in the Country Strategy; being liked can be a useful tool to achieve your objectives, but it’s not the goal itself. I have told senior foreign officials they were liars to their faces; it did not make us the best of friends, but it did help me achieve my goals.

Diplomacy is a people business, so you will see FSOs go out of the embassy frequently to develop relationships with government officials and other contacts who will help them achieve their goals.  So there can in fact be a lot of parties involved in a diplomat’s life, just like the stereotype I mentioned above.  When I was Ambassador in Kosovo or DCM in Berlin, I would often attend three receptions in one night to make sure I had opportunities to promote our agenda and stay in touch with key people.  Pro tip:  no one else will notice if you carry the same glass of un-consumed wine around all evening, and your head will still be clear enough to write some notes after each conversation. 

You may hear a lot of discussions about politics among your embassy colleagues, but it’s always politics local to the country of assignment.  Just like military personnel, FSOs pride themselves on serving under Democratic and Republican administrations impartially.  Our culture frowns on discussion, even during off hours, of U.S. political topics.

Remember, You’re Not in Kansas Any More

Another movie cliché is the diplomat getting some hapless American out of jail abroad.  Although this does happen occasionally, I can tell you in 35 years in the Foreign Service, I never did so.  I did visit American prisoners in foreign jails, to make sure they were being treated no worse than local citizens, and to take them magazines.  The vast majority of Americans in jail abroad are there because they committed crimes that would have led to prosecution in the U.S. as well.  Occasionally an American is imprisoned for inadvertently breaking a foreign law he did not know about, or did not think was serious.  For example, there are several countries in which merely possessing alcohol can land you right in jail, blue American passport notwithstanding.

The key thing to remember here is foreign country, foreign rules.  When you arrive at post, the Regional Security Officer will warn you of pitfalls that might bring unwelcome attention from the local police – pay attention to the RSO!  Even if your position comes with diplomatic immunity, you could be temporarily arrested and expelled from the country, which would really put a damper on your day – and your mission. 

Wrap Up

During my 35 years in the Foreign Service, I worked with hundreds of U.S. military personnel on issues large and small.  Our specialties and training were very different, but we shared commitments to  serving the people of the United States, allegiance to the Constitution, and promoting a positive U.S. role in the world.  Despite our corporate cultural differences, we were more alike than not.  I hope the tips I have listed above will ease the transition for U.S. military personnel who may be apprehensive about an upcoming transfer or TDY to a U.S. Embassy.

Greg Delawie is a former Foreign Service Officer who served as Ambassador in Kosovo, Deputy Chief of Mission in both Germany and Croatia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, among many other assignments.  He is originally from San Diego.