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A former American diplomat reveals a disconnect between Washington policymakers and those who work in US embassies.When the world awoke on November 28, 2010, and read the first of the 251,287 State Department cables made public by WikiLeaks, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini warned, "It will be the September 11th of world diplomacy." The WikiLeaks scandal certainly stirred tempers around the world, but it was not the implosion that many leaders expected: rather, it shed a new spotlight on the work of the U.S. foreign service. In To the Secretary, Mary Thompson-Jones explores the most fascinating and overlooked of these cables to offer an unparalleled window into the day-to-day work of U.S. diplomats, demystifying the lives of those who implement America's foreign policy across the globe.From the story of Bulgaria's Aleksi "the Tractor" Petrov to disappearing ballot ink in Ukraine, a Honduran coup d'tat, or disaster relief for a devastated Haiti, To the Secretary depicts the work of ambassadors and foreign service officers through their firsthand narratives dealing with crises, corruption, and testy world leaders. Negotiating distinctly un-American customs and corridors of power, these shrewd brokers in embassies from Argentina to Zimbabwe worked tirelessly to promote American diplomacy in a world frequently hostile to the United States.To the Secretary also reveals the disconnect that diplomats face at home, guided by conflicting approaches from multiple Washington stakeholders intent on their own agenda, often unaware of realities on the ground. In an honest assessment of America's foreign policy challenges, Thompson-Jones describes the deepening gulf between decision makers in Washington and their diplomats in the field. From misinterpreted analyses of anti-Americanism to Washington's unwillingness to send resources to support diplomatic activities that could make a difference, To the Secretary shows what policymakers can learn from diplomats abroad -- and how this can strengthen America's place in an unstable world. ---
About the Author
When I joined the U.S. foreign service in 1989, the Berlin Wall was about to fall, Tiananmen Square was waiting in the wings, and Nelson Mandela had yet to be released from prison in apartheid-era South Africa. The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize and Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his book, The Satanic Verses. Although I could not imagine the many ways in which foreign policy would collide with globalization, the hints were there.
When I arrived at my first embassy assignment in Madrid, Spain, I learned that reporting cables are the indispensable conduit through which diplomats write about conversations, ideas, and impressions. I waited impatiently each morning as a file full of cables processed magisterially down the corridor from the most senior officer to me. With unabashed admiration I read eagerly each day, intrigued by what my more senior colleagues in the building had been up to. I wondered, too, what policymakers back in Washington made of all those cables.
I had occasion to wonder that throughout my career, and again when Julian Assange and WikiLeaks published 251,287 leaked cables covering 2006-2010 - roughly corresponding to the nadir of the Bush administration and the euphoria of the early Obama administration. My book, To The Secretary, is an insider's look at those cables. In a world which focuses on Washington-made foreign policy, the cables are extraordinary because they provide a missing voice - that of American diplomats in embassies around the world trying (and struggling sometimes) to implement those policies. The officers write, often with flair and humor, about conversations with leaders, trips to the hinterlands, and diplomatic mishaps, telling how they explained and defended America's interests in challenging times and places.
The book illustrates the occasional disconnect between made-in-Washington policies and how those policies played out overseas, but also serves as a field guide to the often hidden world in which American foreign service officers practice the art of diplomacy.
