type: other

jurisdiction: US

text: b' SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\n\n\n UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE\n AND THE BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS\n OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL\n\n\nISP-I-13-08A Office of Inspections January 2013\n\n\n\n\n Inspection of\n Embassy Phnom Penh, Cambodia\n\n\n\n\nIMPORTANT NOTICE: This report is intended solely for the official use of the Department of State or the\nBroadcasting Board of Governors, or any agency or organization receiving a co py directly from the Office of\nInspector General. No secondary distribution may be made, in whole or in part, outside the Department of State or\nthe Broadcasting Board of Governors, by them or by other agencies of organizations, without prior authorization by\nthe Inspector General. Public availability of the document will be determined by the Inspector General under the\nU.S. Code, 5 U.S.C. 552. Improper disclosure of this report may result in criminal, civil, or administrative penalties.\n\n\n\n\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\n\n PURPOSE, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY\n OF THE INSPECTION\n\n This inspection was conducted in accordance with the Quality Standards for Inspection\nand Evaluation, as issued in 2011 by the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and\nEfficiency, and the Inspector\xe2\x80\x99s Handbook, as issued by the Office of Inspector General for the\nU.S. Department of State (Department) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).\n\nPURPOSE AND SCOPE\n\n The Office of Inspections provides the Secretary of State, the Chairman of the BBG, and\nCongress with systematic and independent evaluations of the operations of the Department and\nthe BBG. Inspections cover three broad areas, consistent with Section 209 of the Foreign Service\nAct of 1980:\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Policy Implementation: whether policy goals and objectives are being effectively\n achieved; whether U.S. interests are being accurately and effectively represented; and\n whether all elements of an office or mission are being adequately coordinated.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Resource Management: whether resources are being used and managed with maximum\n efficiency, effectiveness, and economy and whether financial transactions and accounts\n are properly conducted, maintained, and reported.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Management Controls: whether the administration of activities and operations meets the\n requirements of applicable laws and regulations; whether internal management controls\n have been instituted to ensure quality of performance and reduce the likelihood of\n mismanagement; whether instance of fraud, waste, or abuse exist; and whether adequate\n steps for detection, correction, and prevention have been taken.\n\nMETHODOLOGY\n\nIn conducting this inspection, the inspectors: reviewed pertinent records; as appropriate, circulated,\nreviewed, and compiled the results of survey instruments; conducted on-site interviews; and\nreviewed the substance of the report and its findings and recommendations with offices,\nindividuals, organizations, and activities affected by this review.\n\n\n\n\n i\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\n United States Department of State\n and the Broadcasting Board of Governors\n\n Office of Inspector General\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE\n\n\n This report was prepared by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) pursuant to the\nInspector General Act of 1978, as amended, and Section 209 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980,\nas amended. It is one of a series of audit, inspection, investigative, and special reports prepared\nby OIG periodically as part of its responsibility to promote effective management,\naccountability, and positive change in the Department of State and the Broadcasting Board of\nGovernors.\n\n This report is the result of an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the office,\npost, or function under review. It is based on interviews with employees and officials of relevant\nagencies and institutions, direct observation, and a review of applicable documents.\n\n The recommendations therein have been developed on the basis of the best knowledge\navailable to the OIG and, as appropriate, have been discussed in draft with those responsible for\nimplementation. It is my hope that these recommendations will result in more effective, efficient,\nand/or economical operations.\n\n I express my appreciation to all of those who contributed to the preparation of this report.\n\n\n\n\n Harold W. Geisel\n Deputy Inspector General\n\n\n\n\n ii\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\n Table of Contents\nKey Judgments 1\nContext 2\nExecutive Direction 3\nPolicy and Program Implementation 6\n Political/Economic Section 6\n Public Affairs Section 9\n Consular Section 11\nResource Management 15\n General Services 17\n Financial Management 19\n Human Resources 20\n Information Management 22\nQuality of Life 24\nManagement Controls 25\nList of Recommendations 26\nList of Informal Recommendations 28\nPrincipal Officials 30\nAbbreviations 31\n\n\n\n\n iii\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nKey Judgments\n \xe2\x80\xa2 Embassy Phnom Penh is led by a strong executive team. The Ambassador and deputy\n chief of mission (DCM) have promoted high morale, effective interagency cooperation,\n and clear lines of authority.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 The Ambassador has spearheaded an innovative whole-of-government approach to\n managing U.S. assistance to Cambodia. He has empowered the U.S. Agency for\n International Development (USAID) and made a concerted effort to improve\n coordination and oversight for all U.S. assistance.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 The residential security program is costly. Consolidation of the mission\xe2\x80\x99s housing stock\n in cluster housing or apartments could reduce operating costs by at least $1.5 million\n annually.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 The embassy successfully managed an unusually high volume of senior visitors\n associated with Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s 2012 chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations\n (ASEAN).\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 The Ambassador strongly supports economic policy reforms, strengthening bilateral\n economic ties, and promoting U.S. exports. The embassy has begun work toward\n strengthening its commercial advocacy and economic reporting activities.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 The embassy has set in motion an outreach strategy to engage key elements of civil\n society. The embassy has integrated public diplomacy into planning and operations.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 The management section provides good service to its customers but should introduce\n controls to reduce overtime costs of more than $400,000 incurred in FY 2012.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 The consular section is well positioned to manage anticipated growth in demand for all\n services, despite a workload complicated by high levels of relationship and document\n fraud. The consular section is tracking Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s progress toward implementing Hague\n Convention safeguards in advance of the country\xe2\x80\x99s expected resumption of international\n adoptions in 2013.\n\n \xe2\x80\xa2 The chancery roof needs to be replaced at a cost of more than $3 million, even though the\n new embassy compound was occupied in 2005. The Bureau of Overseas Buildings\n Operations (OBO) has acknowledged that its representative accepted a defective\n substitution during the embassy\xe2\x80\x99s construction.\n\n The inspection took place in Washington, DC, between September 4 and 21, 2012, and\nfrom September 26 and October 11, 2012, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (b)(2)(b)(6)\n\n\n\n\n 1\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nContext\n Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s history over the last half century has been uniquely tragic. In 1975,\ncommunist insurgents defeated the Lon Nol government and took control of the country. Pol Pot\nand his Communist Party of Kampuchea, better known as the Khmer Rouge, launched a\nxenophobic campaign to turn Cambodia into an agrarian commune. An estimated 2 million\nCambodians, almost a third of the population, perished in the ensuing genocide. A long-running\nKhmer Rouge insurgency ended only in 1993, when a United Nations-brokered settlement\nestablished the modern Kingdom of Cambodia.\n\n Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s poor human rights record, weak judicial and government institutions, and\nendemic corruption hinder economic development and deter foreign investment. Inadequate\ngovernment revenues leave the government dependent on foreign assistance to cover its budget\ndeficit and provide even the most basic public services. Elections in 2003 and 2008 produced\nlarge majorities for the incumbent Cambodian People\xe2\x80\x99s Party, which has increasingly sought to\nsuppress or eliminate opposition. China maintains a strong diplomatic and economic presence in\nthe country. Cambodia remains East Asia\xe2\x80\x99s poorest nation, with a per capita gross domestic\nproduct (GDP) in 2011 of $900, barely half that of Vietnam and less than a fifth of Thailand\xe2\x80\x99s.\n\n In 2011, Cambodia assumed the chair of ASEAN. During this period, the embassy\narranged some 700 meetings, many attended by senior-level U.S. delegations, which imposed an\nenormous workload on all parts of this medium-sized mission.\n\n The United States has committed significant resources to help Cambodia rebuild\ninstitutions shattered during the genocide, subsequent invasion by Vietnam, and civil war. U.S.\npolicy is directed at strengthening governance, enhancing the rule of law, and promoting respect\nfor human rights to create conditions favorable for sustained economic growth and development.\nSince restrictions on direct foreign assistance to the Government of Cambodia were lifted in\n2007, U.S. civilian and defense assistance have increased. The United States supports efforts in\ncountry to reduce human trafficking, forced labor, and human rights abuses. With U.S. support,\nCambodia has succeeded in halving the rate of HIV/AIDS infections through programs funded\nunder the auspices of the Global Health Initiative and President\xe2\x80\x99s Emergency Program for AIDS\nRelief (PEPFAR). The embassy hosts one of the largest USAID missions in Asia.\n\n Embassy Phnom Penh has a staff of 107 authorized U.S. direct-hire positions and 644\nlocally employed (LE) staff members; direct-hire staffing levels have more than doubled since\n2003. Operating and foreign assistance budgets reached $109 million in FY 2012. The mission\nmoved into a new embassy compound in 2006 that colocated most employees in a secure and\nfunctional facility.\n\n\n\n\n 2\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nExecutive Direction\n Embassy Phnom Penh is led by a strong executive team. The Ambassador, on his second\nchief of mission assignment in the region, arrived in April 2012. He is respected throughout the\nmission for his leadership and approachability. The DCM, who arrived more than a year ago,\nserved as charg\xc3\xa9 d\xe2\x80\x99affaires for 7 months and also as public affairs officer in a previous tour in\nCambodia. He has executed his DCM role effectively and with a similar open and supportive\nmanagement style.\n\n Together, they lead an effective and collaborative interagency process to coordinate and\nsupport the work of nine agencies. Both received scores well above Department of State\n(Department) averages from embassy staff on personal questionnaires.\n\n Cambodia is the 2012 chair of ASEAN and hosts all of the organization\xe2\x80\x99s meetings,\nmany involving non-ASEAN partners. This meeting schedule has produced a flood of senior\nvisitors, including 3 cabinet secretaries, 20 assistant secretaries or deputy assistant secretaries,\nand 3 congressional delegations. The President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Defense\nvisited in November 2012. The mission has managed this wave of high-level visitors efficiently\nand effectively. The Ambassador\xe2\x80\x99s leadership and commitment to his team sustained high\nmorale and efficiency throughout this busy period.\n\n Through an elaborate yet effective set of weekly and biweekly meetings, including a\nweekly country team, the front office oversees key U.S. programs in country. These are grouped\naccording to functionally related areas from civil-military cooperation to democracy and\ngovernance. Concurrently, the Ambassador himself chairs a weekly all-hands meeting for\nAmerican employees that facilitates communication about work and community issues.\n\n The Ambassador has inaugurated two outstanding initiatives to amplify the mission\xe2\x80\x99s\noutreach program and address human rights issues. He has established a nongovernmental\norganization council to bring together a select group of 10 leaders to advise mission leadership\non human rights issues and coordinate their message to the Cambodian Government. He has also\nestablished an innovative youth council that brings together 15 Cambodians under age 30,\nselected by the mission for their future promise, to meet regularly with the Ambassador and other\nmission staff. The inspection team attended the youth council\xe2\x80\x99s inaugural meeting with the\nAmbassador and country team members.\n\n The Ambassador has forged a strong, positive relationship with USAID. He has\nembraced the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review in designating the USAID\nmission director as the mission\xe2\x80\x99s development coordinator and delegated to him the authority to\nexercise those responsibilities. While early in the effort, there are signs that the mission\xe2\x80\x99s\ndevelopment agencies are collaborating better and supporting one another\xe2\x80\x99s respective programs.\nThe Ambassador is making a major effort to gain greater mission visibility into and oversight\nover the many streams of U.S. assistance, many outside his mission, that flow into Cambodia. At\nhis direction, the USAID mission director has developed a comprehensive inventory of almost\n$40 million in U.S. assistance outside the foreign assistance accounts\xe2\x80\x94an inventory that the\nAmbassador believes now covers 95 percent of the total U.S. Government funding. The\n 3\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nAmbassador is drawing on his extensive network of Washington contacts and the many high-\nlevel visitors from some of these agencies to understand disparate assistance elements and how\nto create a better integrated, whole-of-government coordination strategy that could be a model\nfor other missions.\n\nEconomic Issues\n\n The Ambassador and DCM are actively engaged in the review and revision of the current\nMission Resource Request (MRR) and called upon all elements to contribute to the plan. The\nAmbassador also has planned for implementation of the FY 2013 Integrated Country Strategy\nplanning process, which will incorporate all U.S. assistance programs regardless of agency or\nfunding source.\n\n The MRR reflects the extensive emphasis that the United States places on issues such as\nhuman rights, trafficking in persons, civil society, rule of law, and corruption. However, the\nMRR does not include any emphasis on economic and commercial objectives. Moreover, the\nAmbassador has underscored the importance of economic engagement in his discussions with\nstaff, the American business community in country, and with the OIG team. The formulation of\nthe Integrated Country Strategy, due in 2013, offers an opportunity to formalize the mission\xe2\x80\x99s\ncommitment to economic and commercial objectives.\n\nRecommendation 1: Embassy Phnom Penh should include in its FY 2013 Integrated Country\nStrategy an economic engagement objective and performance benchmarks. (Action: Embassy\nPhnom Penh)\n\nMorale\n\n Morale is high, as substantiated by interviews with American employees and positive\nresults on OIG questionnaires. Mission employees credit the Ambassador and DCM for\nimproving morale over the past year. The two of them have established a reputation for being\ngenuinely interested in ensuring good support to the official American community and their\nfamily members in this challenging environment, which includes widespread street crime, poor\npublic health conditions, and chaotic traffic.\n\nFirst- and Second-Tour Officers and Staff\n\n The DCM oversees efforts to mentor and assist first- and second-tour officers and staff.\nThe mentoring program includes regular monthly meetings chaired by the DCM, sometimes\nattended by the Ambassador, that feature a description of activities of other mission elements in\naddition to activities directly related to career planning. American entry-level employees\nexpressed appreciation for these meetings, which include Department and USAID personnel.\n\nDeputy Chief of Mission Position Grade\n\n The DCM position is graded at the FS-01 level. During the past decade, American\nstaffing has more than doubled, and U.S. assistance to Cambodia has grown to more than $100\n\n 4\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nmillion. The position as currently constituted does not reflect expanded responsibilities, which\nwould typically be performed by a Senior Foreign Service officer.\n\nRecommendation 2: The Bureau of Human Resources, in coordination with the Bureau of East\nAsian and Pacific Affairs, should conduct a classification review of the deputy chief of mission\nposition (position number 00-001-085) for a determination of classification as a Senior Foreign\nService position. (Action: DGHR, in coordination with EAP)\n\n\n\n\n 5\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nPolicy and Program Implementation\nPolitical/Economic Section\n\n Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s ASEAN chairmanship in 2012 created an enormous increase in the\npolitical/economic section\xe2\x80\x99s workload. Despite this extra workload, the political/economic\nsection maintained an impressive level of reporting that was well sourced and focused on the\nmission\xe2\x80\x99s key MRR goals. The section arranged and reported on upwards of 700 meetings in the\npast year, many associated with ASEAN work. In-depth, analytic reporting was less extensive\nduring this period.\n\n The section is robustly staffed at present, which has allowed it to support the heavy\nvisitor workload. The five LE staff members in the section are all capable and have received\nappropriate training, with the exception of one newly hired employee. But American staffing\nincludes a position that will not be filled after 2013, as well as a local-hire eligible family\nmember who covers environment, science, technology, and health issues. There is no certainty\nthat an eligible family member with appropriate expertise and experience will be available when\nthe incumbent departs. The section will need to realign and adjust portfolios to carry out its\npriority functions but staffing should be adequate to meet MRR goals. The inspectors counseled\nthe section on ways to rebalance portfolios and provide training opportunities in economic and\ncommercial tradecraft.\n\n Work requirements statements assign each officer discrete responsibilities and balance\nthe workload well but do not match up with the position titles in the staffing pattern. In addition,\nthe staffing pattern shows separate political and economic sections, not a combined section, and\ncontains other errors such as incorrect language designations.\n\n Informal Recommendation 1: Embassy Phnom Penh should correct errors in the post\n personnel staffing pattern to reflect the section\xe2\x80\x99s organization and division of labor.\n\nReporting and Analysis\n\n Inspectors surveyed embassy reporting covering the January-August 2011 period,\nreviewing 143 cables. Excluding cables related to high-level visits, foreign policy issues\nrepresented about 30 percent of reporting, and about half of these cables addressed Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s\nASEAN chairmanship. Reporting on human rights, labor, and trafficking issues accounted for\nmore than a quarter of reporting and is highly praised by end users involved in those issues. The\nlong-running Khmer Rouge Tribunal, 1 a hybrid international-Cambodian court set up to try those\nresponsible for the genocide under the Khmer Rouge regime, also is a significant topic of\ninterest, and reporting on the Tribunal attracts intense interest in Washington.\n\n Only about a quarter of reporting included analytical content, usually a comment\nparagraph. The period saw few in-depth, analytical reports. Washington analysts expressed a\ndesire for more analytical reporting. The embassy has a rolling reporting plan stretching into\n1\n Formally known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes\nCommitted during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea.\n 6\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nmid-2013 that addresses the need for more analytical reporting once the East Asia Summit and\nthe President\xe2\x80\x99s visit have concluded. The plan could be more robust, given the current staffing\nlevel.\n\nRecommendation 3: Embassy Phnom Penh should develop a comprehensive reporting plan to\ncomplement spot reporting with additional political and economic analytic reporting. (Action:\nEmbassy Phnom Penh)\n\nForeign Assistance\n\n Cambodia has been a major foreign assistance recipient since the United Nations-\nmanaged peace process in 1993 established the Kingdom of Cambodia as a political entity.\nInternational assistance from all sources has exceeded $1 billion annually in recent years. U.S.\nassistance to Cambodia in foreign operations accounts was approximately $76 million in FY\n2012. But millions more in U.S. assistance reaches Cambodia that is not captured in the MRR,\nnot managed in country, and over which the mission has no oversight or, in some cases,\nknowledge. Some of this money comes from the foreign operations account, but is outside the\nchief of mission\xe2\x80\x99s formal oversight and control, notably assistance from various Department\nbureaus, USAID Washington offices, and the regional USAID office in Bangkok. Other parts are\nin the budgets of other agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Labor,\nTreasury, Energy, and Justice, and Peace Corps. At the Ambassador\xe2\x80\x99s direction, USAID has the\nlead in identifying an inventory of assistance programs and developing a plan to ensure that the\nmission can meet a high standard of accountability and the most effective use of U.S.\nGovernment resources in support of priority foreign policy goals.\n\nTrafficking in Persons\n\n Cambodia is a trafficking-in-persons (TIP) priority country and the mission is active in\ncountering trafficking. The Office to Combat and Monitor Trafficking funds a grant to a United\nNations entity that works to prevent victims from being moved out of Cambodia. USAID is\nfollowing up a successful antitrafficking project with a 4-year, $5.4 million project to strengthen\nthe Cambodian Government\xe2\x80\x99s antitrafficking efforts. The mission\xe2\x80\x99s regular reporting on TIP\nissues is well done and comprehensive. There is excellent coordination and interaction between\nthe political/economic section and USAID. A TIP working group meets as needed, and the\nconsular section is being invited to future meetings.\n\n Embassy Phnom Penh takes its internal TIP prevention responsibilities seriously.\nInspectors reviewed a representative sample of embassy contracts and all included the required\nTIP language.\n\nThe President\xe2\x80\x99s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief\n\n Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated among at-risk populations. The United\nStates contributed $145 million from 2004-2011 for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment,\nhelping halve infection rates to under 1 percent of the adult population and providing\nantiretroviral therapy to more than 90 percent of those who meet international criteria. A USAID\nofficer serves part time as the mission PEPFAR coordinator pending the arrival of the full-time\n 7\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\ncoordinator, who was recently selected. Coordination between USAID and the Centers for\nDisease Control and Prevention is excellent, a point made both by Washington agencies and\npersonnel on the ground.\n\nLeahy Vetting\n\n Leahy vetting of candidates for military or law enforcement training represents a\nsignificant workload for the political/economic section, with upwards of 1,500 individuals vetted\nin 2012. The officer responsible for Leahy vetting is familiar with Department guidance and uses\nthe Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor\xe2\x80\x99s electronic vetting system effectively.\nCoordination with other sections and agencies is excellent, and nominating offices provide the\nresponsible officer with adequate lead time. Regional offices located outside Cambodia have not\nalways forwarded candidates\xe2\x80\x99 biographic information with adequate lead time.\n\nCommercial Advocacy\n\n There is confusion between the mission and the Bureau of Economic and Business\nAffairs about responsibility under a State-Commerce memorandum of understanding for\ndeveloping specific performance goals under the Post Partnership Program plan. The Post\nPartnership Program is intended to enhance the embassy\xe2\x80\x99s support for American companies\ninterested in exporting to new markets. Although Embassy Phnom Penh is a Partner Post for the\nForeign Commercial Service in Bangkok, no one from that office has traveled to Phnom Penh in\nthe past year. The enthusiasm of the Ambassador and economic officer for commercial statecraft\nhas produced tangible results with respect to new U.S. exports, to include new-to-market\nagricultural and medical products. The institutional foundation is lagging, however, and better\nsupport is needed to encourage regional planning and increase field collaboration.\n\nRecommendation 4: The Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, in coordination with\nEmbassy Phnom Penh, should develop a Post Partnership Program plan for Cambodia in\naccordance with the State-Foreign Commercial Service memorandum of understanding, dated\nSeptember 9, 2011. (Action: EB, in coordination with Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nBiographic Reporting\n\n The mission produced little biographic reporting over the last year. Washington agencies\nexpressed a desire to receive more. The section maintains a considerable number of individual\nbiographic reports; those consist of a single document on each individual that can be updated on\nan ongoing basis. The biographic files are on the political/economic section\xe2\x80\x99s shared drive but\nare not accessible by other sections. Inspectors counseled the section on strengthening biographic\nreporting to Washington and on ways to make the biographic files more complete, useful, and\naccessible to the mission.\n\nElectronic Files\n\n The political/economic section has transitioned to electronic files and places all files on\nthe section\xe2\x80\x99s shared drive. However, there is no systematic filing system that would make the\nfiles more accessible and useful nor has the section established a program to retire files as\n 8\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nrequired. The inspectors provided samples of filing systems that might be adapted for the\nsection\xe2\x80\x99s use.\n\n Informal Recommendation 2: Embassy Phnom Penh should implement a systematic\n filing system for the political/economic section\xe2\x80\x99s electronic files, including a program for\n retiring files annually.\n\nPublic Affairs Section\n\n The public affairs section (PAS) functions effectively. Both American and Cambodian\nemployees evinced high morale and motivation. The embassy has integrated public diplomacy\ninto planning and operations for outreach efforts by key U.S. agencies working in Cambodia. In\naddition to a morning press meeting, the Ambassador, DCM, and public affairs officer confer\nregularly on public diplomacy and media activities. Their consistent focus helps the mission\nmaximize the impact of its work, taking advantage of Cambodians\xe2\x80\x99 largely positive disposition\ntoward the United States.\n\n The exceptional number of high-level visits noted elsewhere in this report stretched the\nsection\xe2\x80\x99s capacity to its limit in the last year. Some local employees reported workload stress.\nSuch stress is likely to diminish as the mission returns to a more normal work volume after the\nconclusion of ASEAN meetings in November 2012. The OIG team believes the section has the\nright number of employees for the work it has to do.\n\n In support of a mission objective to reach out to young people, PAS played a central role\nin establishing a 15-person youth council that will meet with embassy staff over the next year,\njointly developing activities geared to younger Cambodians. During the inspection, the\nAmbassador inaugurated the project, for which the Office of the Under Secretary for Public\nDiplomacy and Public Affairs provided $21,000.\n\nStrategic Planning\n\n PAS developed a useful public diplomacy plan for the Ambassador\xe2\x80\x99s first months in\nCambodia. However, a fair number of FY 2012 activities were targets of opportunity, in part\nbecause the pace of high-level visits this year reduced the time available for long-term planning.\nAlthough PAS activities support mission goals, the section can strengthen its planning by linking\nresources to objectives in a more structured way. For example, the allocation of funds for\nexchange programs, social media, and grants and cooperative agreements can be modified to\nreflect the full range of MRR priorities, such as programming focused on economic development\nor civil society. The public affairs officer has scheduled an offsite meeting to plan the FY 2013\nagenda. This meeting presents an opportunity to plan strategically for exchange and speaker\nprograms and identify opportunities to support the full range of mission goals through public\ndiplomacy programming.\n\n Informal Recommendation 3: Embassy Phnom Penh should develop a public diplomacy\n plan with quarterly goals that maximizes program and exchange resources with specific\n ties to mission objectives.\n\n 9\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nPress and Information\n\n PAS spends an appropriate amount of time monitoring the media and producing a daily\nsummary for mission and Washington readers. The public affairs officer and a senior local\nemployee maintain regular contact with journalists, and the public affairs officer frequently\nspeaks with reporters in Khmer. Journalists attend embassy events and cover U.S-sponsored\nactivities. Although newspapers are the least important communications medium in the country\nbehind television and radio, the Ambassador\xe2\x80\x99s weekly column, published in a leading paper, has\nbecome influential with Cambodian elites.\n\nAmerican Spaces\n\n PAS operates an Information Resource Center on the embassy compound that attracts an\naverage of 25 students daily and serves as a platform for hosting public events. The center staff\nalso reaches out electronically to an audience of more than 300 print and broadcast journalists\nand other contacts, relying on materials prepared by the Bureau of International Information\nPrograms and the embassy. PAS maintains productive relations with four American Corners\nlocated in universities and educational institutions around the country. Although the number of\nvisitors varies, the Corners typically enjoy heavy usage and comply with the terms established by\ntheir memoranda of understanding with the embassy. The mission regularly hosts American\nspeakers in the embassy and at American Corners outside the capital. The embassy takes\nadvantage of the expertise of its American officers, tapping many of them to speak at the\nCorners.\n\nWeb Site and Social Media\n\n The embassy Web site complies with Department standards and is updated frequently.\nPAS maintains a presence on social media platforms aimed at establishing a dialogue with\nyounger Cambodians. The embassy has reinvigorated its Facebook presence and attracted 40,000\nfriends in the last year, a significant number given low Internet penetration in the country. The\nconsular section and USAID regularly submit content to PAS to post on the Web site and social\nmedia platforms, and that collaboration works well.\n\nCultural and Educational Programs\n\n The exchange programs, including the Fulbright Program and the International Visitor\nLeadership Program, run without major problems. PAS oversees the nomination and selection\nprocesses, but other embassy sections are involved as warranted. The DCM chairs the selection\ncommittee. Nominees and grantees and the programs in which they participate generally track\nwith mission priorities.\n\n PAS sustains contact with alumni of Department exchange programs through an active\noutreach program, led by a full-time LE alumni coordinator. The embassy invites alumni to its\nevents and hosts an annual reception for returned exchange visitors. The embassy is in the\nprocess of transferring alumni contact information to the Department-recommended Contact\nManagement Database.\n\n 10\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n Specialists in educational advising and English language teaching visit the embassy\nregularly to provide guidance and training and conduct outreach activities. During the inspection,\nthe Ambassador inaugurated an Education USA center at an American Corner to facilitate study\nin the United States by Cambodian students.\n\nGrants\n\n In FY 2012, PAS awarded $388,000 in grants and cooperative agreements to Cambodian\nrecipients. While the grants activities themselves typically supported mission objectives, grants\nprocedures and files need attention. In some instances, grants awards documents lacked required\ninformation, including a check of the Excluded Parties List System. Some grants did not specify\ngrantee program reporting needed to document the outcomes of embassy-funded activities. Other\ngrants files did not specify how the U.S. Government would be publicly credited for its support\nin cases when this objective was important.\n\n Informal Recommendation 4: Embassy Phnom Penh should tighten its public\n diplomacy grant procedures so that grantees understand and agree in writing to all award\n stipulations and the files accurately reflect the status and outcome of the funded activity.\n\nConsular Section\n\n The consular section does a good job managing operations in a complex, high-fraud\nenvironment. Three of four American officers departed for onward assignments in 2012, and the\nLE staff are relatively inexperienced. Despite these challenges, the section effectively manages a\nmodest but growing workload. American staffing levels will increase with the arrival of a\nconsular associate, an additional American officer, and an assistant regional security officer-\ninvestigator, all of whom are expected to join the mission in 2013. The new consular section\nchief and visa chief are analyzing workload to manage anticipated growth. The consular staff has\nbeen active with public outreach to Cambodian and American citizens. During the inspection, the\nconsular chief conducted an interview on Cambodian national television, and the section\norganized several outreach events for American citizens on voting.\n\n Evolving job responsibilities have caused confusion among LE and American staff in\nterms of work flow and duties. The consul plans to redefine roles to incorporate the new\nAmerican positions and clarify supervisory responsibilities and job duties.\n\n Informal Recommendation 5: Embassy Phnom Penh should revise work requirements\n for all American staff in the consular section to clarify lines of responsibility and\n authority.\n\nConsular Section Space\n\n The consular work and public areas meet current needs but are not optimally configured\nfor the expected increase in workload. The chancery has a separate public consular entrance, but\nthis entrance is subject to intermittent flooding during the monsoon season, which precludes use\nof the entrance for part of the year. Consular traffic flow in the public waiting areas is inefficient\nand confusing. The entrance building has two unused consular service windows and a secure\n 11\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nworkspace that could be used to streamline consular work processes. Currently, consular\nclientele pass repeatedly through security and enter the consular waiting room to be interviewed,\ndeliver documents, and pick up passports and visas. Some of these tasks do not require access to\nsecure consular areas. These repeat visits create unnecessary congestion and require additional\nguard services.\n\n Informal Recommendation 6: Embassy Phnom Penh should evaluate consular processes\n and traffic flow to make better use of the workspace and public service windows outside\n of the secure consular area but inside the consular compound access control building.\n\n The consular subcashier booth is located in front of a building support pillar that\nobstructs line-of-sight supervision by American officers. Per 7 FAH-1 H-283(4), American\nofficers should have line-of-sight supervision for consular subcashier operations. The consular\nsection operates a reception booth located in the interview area that is within line of sight of the\nAmerican officers and has a secure storage area. By moving the consular subcashier to this\nlocation, the embassy can establish line-of-sight supervision and reduce the risk of malfeasance.\n\nRecommendation 5: Embassy Phnom Penh should relocate the consular subcashier to the space\ncurrently used by the consular receptionist. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\n Signs in the consular section are inadequate and traffic flow is confusing. Two large\npillars impede waiting room traffic flow, and signage does not guide the public to service\nwindows efficiently. American citizens services has no designated waiting or service area. Clear\nsignage in the waiting room will facilitate better traffic flow.\n\n Informal Recommendation 7: Embassy Phnom Penh should install signs in the public\n waiting room in the consular section to facilitate efficient public traffic flow and to\n identify interview areas.\n\nAmerican Citizens Services\n\n The American citizens services workload is dauntingly complex. Under the new consular\nchief\xe2\x80\x99s guidance, one entry-level officer and two LE staff members manage this workload\nskillfully. Repatriation of destitute Americans and death cases have increased in recent years.\nFifteen prisoners require regular prison visits around the country. Arrest cases, many involving\ndrugs or child sexual abuse, are labor-intensive. Federal beneficiaries in Cambodia have\nincreased from 5 to 90 in the past 10 years. The Social Security Administration classifies\nCambodia as a country that requires exceptional processing. Each beneficiary must register\nmonthly in person at the consular section to receive benefits checks. Almost half the consular\nreport of birth abroad applications require genetic testing due to unreliable evidence of biological\nparentage.\n\nAdoptions\n\n In 2001, Embassy Phnom Penh processed 404 immigrant visa cases for adopted\nCambodian children, one of the largest adoption workloads in the world that year. In 2002,\nCambodia suspended international adoptions because of issues relating to trafficking of children.\n 12\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nCambodia is poised to resume international adoptions, having signed the Hague Convention on\nProtection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague\nConvention) on August 1, 2007, and put in place compliance mechanisms to implement the\nconvention. The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation, which serves as\nCambodia\xe2\x80\x99s international adoption central authority, has confirmed that Cambodia will restart\ninternational adoptions on January 1, 2013. The Hague Convention requires new implementation\nprocedures that are unfamiliar both to the consular section and the Government of Cambodia.\nThe embassy and Department must balance public demand for adoptions with legal requirements\nto ensure that Cambodian implementation complies with U.S. and Hague Convention\nrequirements. The Special Advisor for Children\xe2\x80\x99s Issues is scheduled to visit Cambodia and\nadvise the embassy on how or whether to proceed with immigrant visa processing for adopted\norphans processing in 2013.\n\n Requests for information from prospective adoptive parents and from adoption service\nproviders require consistent and clear public communication regarding U.S. plans to partner with\nCambodia under the Hague Convention. The consular section is monitoring Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s new\nadoption laws, implementing regulations, and procedures, but has not always reported via front\nchannel cable events of interest to the Department and other agencies. The OIG team counseled\nthe embassy on the value of front channel spot reporting on the status of intercountry adoptions\ngiven the high level of U.S. interest in Cambodian adoptions.\n\nImmigrant Visas\n\n A well-managed immigrant visa unit oversees a complex workload. The refusal rate is\nabout 50 percent. Official documents are unreliable and altered official documents are easily\nobtained on the local market. The consular section anticipates continued growth in immigrant\nvisa applications due to diversity visa applications and the expected resumption of immigrant\nvisas for adopted orphans. The section plans to fill a currently vacant LE staff position when\ninternational adoptions resume.\n\nNonimmigrant Visas\n\n Nonimmigrant visa operations function well despite a restrictive visa reciprocity schedule\nbetween the United States and Cambodia, which increases the nonimmigrant visa unit\xe2\x80\x99s\nworkload. The maximum validity for tourist and business visas is 3 months and, as a result,\nfrequent travelers must reapply for visas on a regular basis. The appointment system is locally\nmanaged and all fees are collected on site. LE staff members take photographs of visa applicants\nat the embassy because few Cambodians have access to the Internet needed to process visa\napplications. Local courier service is unreliable and applicants must pick up passports with visas\nin person.\n\n The visa referral process works well. The consular section chief briefs new embassy\nofficers and maintains excellent records related to referrals. The Visas Viper committee meets\nregularly and submits reporting cables on time.\n\n\n\n 13\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nFraud Prevention Unit\n\n The visa chief serves as the fraud prevention manager and oversees fraud prevention\nactivities for American citizens services and the visa units. Fraud is pervasive in Cambodia.\nMany government-issued identity documents were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge period\nand fraudulent documents are readily available. Relationship fraud is also common. The unit has\nuncovered marriage fraud and human smuggling rings. The fraud prevention manager has\ninstructed staff to use the Bureau of Consular Affairs fraud tracking system, the Enterprise Case\nAssessment Service. The slowness of the Web-based system has been a disincentive to its use.\n\nGenetic Testing\n\n Given the high incidence of document and relationship fraud, each month approximately\n100 applicants must undergo DNA testing under the direct oversight of a cleared American\nemployee. About half the testing is related to immigrant visa cases; the remainder is divided\nbetween cases involving applications for consular reports of birth abroad or cases referred by\nU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices in the United States.\n\nConsular Systems\n\n The information management office provides excellent support to the consular section.\nHowever, slow response times from Washington-based Web applications, especially\nnonimmigrant visa and fraud prevention systems, adversely affect operations. The consular\nsection is overdue for a hardware upgrade to improve system performance. The Bureau of\nConsular Affairs committed to replace the section\xe2\x80\x99s aging server in May 2011, but the server had\nnot been sent at the time of the inspection. New information technology hardware needs to be\nreplaced on a predictable schedule since operations depend on electronic systems for all services.\n\nRecommendation 6: The Bureau of Consular Affairs should expedite shipment of the\nreplacement computer hardware to Embassy Phnom Penh. (Action: Bureau of Consular Affairs)\n\n\n\n\n 14\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nResource Management\n Agency U.S. U.S. Foreign Total Total\n Direct- Local- National Staff Funding\n Hire Hire Staff FY 2012\n Staff Staff\nDepartment of State\nD&CP 33 5 25 63 $2,866,096\nICASS 6 15 139 160 $5,231,645\nPublic Diplomacy 2 2 8 12 $600,291\nDiplomatic Security 4 0 380 384 $3,469,369\nMarine Security 6 0 3 9 $72,286\nRepresentation 0 0 0 0 $28,490\nOBO 1 0 0 1 $1,608,790\nDepartment of Defense\nDefense Attach\xc3\xa9 Office 5 0 1 6 $383,257\nOffice of Defense Cooperation 2 0 6 8 $1,781,000\nNaval Medical Research Unit-2 4 0 11 15 $3,482,187\nPACOM Augmentation Team 9 0 0 9 $444,000\nDepartment of Justice\nFederal Bureau of Investigation 3 0 1 4 $125,000\nDepartment of Homeland\nSecurity\nImmigration & Customs 2 0 2 4 $167,347\nEnforcement\nUSAID 20 7 42 68 $78,860,000\nCDC 6 0 22 28 $8,846,562\nPeace Corps 3 1 2 6 $1,330,500\nTreasury 1 0 0 1 $63,960\nOffice of Special Counsel 0 0 2 2 $57,700\nTotals 107 30 644 780 $109,418,480\n\nManagement Overview\n\n The management section is led by a seasoned management officer who actively\nsupervises and directs his staff. Unit chiefs, including first- and second-tour officers also have\nturned in strong performances. Overall International Cooperative Administrative Support\nServices (ICASS) service satisfaction scores and OIG questionnaire responses exceed both the\nregional and worldwide averages. Since the 2007 inspection, the mission has added 42 American\n\n 15\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\npositions and 145 LE staff positions. The new chancery, opened in early 2006, is spacious and\nfunctional, easily accommodating the personnel expansion.\n\n The management section\xe2\x80\x99s major challenge in the last year has been supporting a surge in\nvisits associated with Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s role as ASEAN chair, to include planning for the East Asia\nSummit.\n\nHousing and the Residential Security\n\n The general services office and interagency housing board operate a smoothly run\nhousing program. The embassy\xe2\x80\x99s 2011 housing survey indicated high satisfaction with the\nprogram. Families usually request and receive single-family residences.\n\n The current configuration of the housing pool, however, does not provide the most cost\neffective use of resources, nor is it consistent with security regulations for missions at critical\nthreat level for residential crime. Consolidating the single-family houses in the embassy housing\npool into apartments and other cluster housing could save more than $1.5 million annually in\ndirect security costs. In addition, the mission could achieve significant economies in residential\nmaintenance, motor vehicle costs, generator acquisition, and associated administrative overhead\nby consolidating housing. OBO has identified Phnom Penh as a market in which it intends to\npurchase residential properties. Acquiring residential properties could also significantly reduce\ncosts incurred for short-term lease expenses.\n\n Of 367 security guards employed by the mission, 293 serve as residential security guards.\n These guard services accounted for almost 70 percent of the mission\xe2\x80\x99s FY 2013 security budget\n of approximately $3.9 million. The residential guard force is staffed for approximately 68 single-\n family residences in neighborhoods around Phnom Penh. Most of these individual homes require\n(b) (5)\n guards per home for 24-hour coverage. By contrast, the 17 residents living in one apartment\n (b) (5)\n building require only guards for 24-hour protection.\n\n Managing the large local guard force required to provide security guards and mobile\npatrols for all single-family homes and apartment buildings in the embassy housing pool places a\nsignificant burden on the regional security officer. The FY 2012 MRR justified the need for an\nadditional assistant regional security officer to help manage the large guard force.\n\n Per 12 FAH-6 H-412.2 b., at critical residential crime threat posts, preference should be\ngiven to residences that minimize the need for security upgrades and personnel. Apartment\nbuildings and cluster housing should generally be favored over single-family residences.\n\n There is considerable scope to adjust the embassy\xe2\x80\x99s housing mix while maintaining\nappropriate security. Consolidating housing into apartments, townhouses, or cluster housing\nwould result in better security coverage and more efficient use of resources without affecting\nhousing quality. As discussed in 12 FAH-8 H-146, cluster housing and apartments generally\nprovide a more secure environment, offer greater protection against criminal intrusion, present a\nmore difficult target, especially on higher floors, offer the tenant some degree of anonymity, and\nmake the absence of the tenant less obvious. Cluster housing provides many of the same\nadvantages with the added benefit of having other residents available to aid in the event of an\n 16\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nemergency. Transitioning the majority of single-family residences into apartment buildings or\ncluster housing would significantly reduce direct security costs and manpower resources. Further\ncost savings would result from a decrease in support costs such as the purchase of guard\nuniforms, equipment, and vehicles.\n\nRecommendation 7: Embassy Phnom Penh, in coordination with the Bureau of Diplomatic\nSecurity and the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should develop a multiyear plan to\nincrease the number of apartments, townhouses, or cluster housing in the embassy\xe2\x80\x99s housing\npool and adjust the size of the local guard force as new properties are leased. (Action: Embassy\nPhnom Penh, in coordination with DS and OBO)\n\nConsolidation and Rightsizing\n\n The embassy\xe2\x80\x99s management section has consolidated administrative operations with\nUSAID in the 15 service areas identified by the Department of State and USAID Joint\nManagement Board. The section is working out responsibilities for LE staff recruiting\nresponsibilities relating to screening applicants for job vacancy announcements.\n\n In 2010, the Office of Management, Policy, Rightsizing, and Innovation conducted a\nformal rightsizing study. At the time, the mission proposed to add 38 American positions by\n2015. None of the American increases have materialized; however, the LE staff has increased by\n80 positions.\n\nTour of Duty\n\n The quality of life in Phnom Penh has steadily improved since the end of Cambodia\xe2\x80\x99s\ncivil war in 1993. Discussions with American employees elicited many positive comments about\nthe quality of life in Cambodia, notwithstanding real hardship conditions. Employees attributed\ntheir high comfort level, in part, to the fact that residential guards are stationed at residences 24\nhours a day, 7 days a week. Nevertheless, Embassy Phnom Penh remains a 25 percent hardship\ndifferential embassy and tours of duty are 2 years with one rest and recuperation trip, per Bureau\nof Human Resources Standard Operating Procedure A-3. The Bureau of Human Resources\nreports that 10 employees requested and received tour extensions in 2011; several others\nextended in 2012. In addition, the human resources officer and the Bureau of East Asian and\nPacific Affairs indicated that the mission received a large number of bids from qualified\nemployees for positions opening in 2013.\n\nRecommendation 8: The Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in coordination with the\nBureau of Human Resources and Embassy Phnom Penh, should extend the duration of the tour\nof duty for assignments to Embassy Phnom Penh from 2 to 3 years. (Action: EAP, in\ncoordination with DGHR and Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nGeneral Services\n\n The general services office performs well, although property management requires closer\nattention to management controls in some areas. All general services categories received scores\nabove worldwide averages in the 2012 ICASS survey. Two entry-level American employees\n 17\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nmanage the office. The embassy\xe2\x80\x99s supervisory general services officer position was filled by an\nentry-level officer as part of the Diplomacy 3.0 exercise but will revert to a mid-level position in\nthe next bidding cycle.\n\nNew Embassy Compound Roof Issue\n\n The new embassy compound was completed and occupied in 2005. The facility is\nspacious, well maintained, and contributes positively to embassy morale. In 2007, the embassy\nidentified problems with leaking roofs in the chancery and five other compound buildings. OBO\nattempted to seek warranty compensation from the general contractor and roof subcontractor, but\napplicable construction warranties had already expired when the defect was discovered. OBO\ndetermined that the government had accepted a poorly designed and installed substitution\nproposed by the contractor during the construction process. As a result, the government has no\nremedy against the contractors and must undertake a costly replacement of the chancery\ncompound\xe2\x80\x99s roofs only 7 years after occupancy. The first phase of this replacement project will\ncost $2.75 million and does not include replacement of the roofs of the four annex buildings.\nOBO reports that it now requires review by the Roof Management Program of all future roofing\nand waterproofing efforts at the architecture and engineering design phase, attendance by roof\nprogram personnel at preconstruction meetings, and inspection of works in progress to assist\nproject directors in accepting properly designed and installed roof systems.\n\nProcurement\n\n The procurement unit operates well. The section documents sole source procurements\nadequately and manages the procurement and contracting process in a satisfactory manner.\nProcurement agents ensure close-out procedures and contracts comply with Department\nstandards. Contracting officer\xe2\x80\x99s representative controls are effective.\n\nMotor Pool\n\n The motor pool provides good service. The Ambassador issued a motor vehicle policy\nand sets charges for other authorized use. The embassy and USAID successfully completed\nmotor pool consolidation in 2012. The mission\xe2\x80\x99s motor pool safety program is effective, with\none exception noted below, and incorporates regular safe driving training for chauffeurs.\n\n Many drivers complain they are required to drive in excess of 10 hours, which is a driver\nsafety issue. In a sample pay period, for example, drivers worked 55 hours of overtime, most of\nwhich was in excess of the 10-hour-per-day limit stipulated by the Department\xe2\x80\x99s Motor Vehicle\nSafety Management Policy. Nonobservance of the Department\xe2\x80\x99s safety policy for driver shifts\ncould result in a higher risk of vehicle accidents.\n\nRecommendation 9: Embassy Phnom Penh should limit the number of hours worked by motor\npool drivers in accordance with the Department of State\xe2\x80\x99s motor vehicle safety management\npolicy. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\n\n\n 18\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nFacilities Management\n\n The facilities management office performs well and received high scores on OIG\nquestionnaires. The office workspace benefits from the modernity of the embassy compound.\nResidential housing maintenance also received high scores on OIG questionnaires. The work\norder application system is used effectively. Unscheduled maintenance is timely.\n\n The Office of Safety, Health, and Environmental Management conducted its most recent\nsite visit in October 2011. The embassy has addressed all the report\xe2\x80\x99s recommendations;\nhowever, the inspectors found that one residence, the Hampton apartment building, does not\nhave a self-latching gate at the swimming pool. The absence of a gate is contrary to the\nDepartment\xe2\x80\x99s Swimming Pool Safety Standard. Although the embassy assigns only employees\nwithout children to the Hampton apartment building to mitigate the risk of accidental drowning,\nfamilies with children also visit the compound.\n\nRecommendation 10: Embassy Phnom Penh should require the landlord to install a self-\nlatching gate at the swimming pool at the Hampton apartment. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nFinancial Management\n\n The financial management office is directed by a first-tour financial management\nspecialist. Her successful initiatives included meeting with relevant sections and agencies to\nreduce unliquidated obligations and engaging a local bank to provide accommodation exchange,\nthus reducing the cashier\xe2\x80\x99s operating advance. The latter initiative resulted in a (b) (5)\nreduction of the cashier\xe2\x80\x99s operating advance.\n\n The financial management office uses the Department\xe2\x80\x99s regional Post Support Unit to\nprocess permanent change of station vouchers, but in FY 2012, the embassy sent only two\nvouchers to the Post Support Unit. The Department encourages use of the center to reduce\ntransaction costs, but the LE staff is reluctant to increase the percentage of vouchers processed\nby the regional center. Increasing the number of vouchers handled by the Post Support Unit\nwould increase efficiency in the unit and likely reduce costs.\n\nRecommendation 11: Embassy Phnom Penh should increase the number of vouchers it sends to\nthe Post Support Unit for processing. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nCashiering\n\n The OIG inspection team observed a cash reconciliation conducted by the financial\nmanagement officer. The fact that Cambodia has no coinage and that the smallest bill\ndenomination is 50 riels (approximately 1.25 U.S. dollars) leads to constant rounding issues\nduring cash reconciliations, thus the reconciliation conducted during the visit uncovered a\ndiscrepancy of less than $1. Subcashier reconciliations are performed in a timely manner.\nOccasional money holders are frequently reminded that they cannot keep advances outstanding\nfor more than 72 hours.\n\n\n 19\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n A review of recent records indicated a trend of cashier reconciliations consistently\noccurring during the last days of the month rather than staggered to include reviews at various\ntimes during subsequent months. Random cashier reconciliations provide a more effective\ndeterrent to cashier misconduct.\n\n Informal Recommendation 8: Embassy Phnom Penh should conduct cashier\n reconciliations on a random basis.\n\nInternational Cooperative Administrative Support Services\n\n Embassy Phnom Penh has established a budget committee and an ICASS council. The\ncommittees meet regularly. The chair of the ICASS committee, in consultation with the\nmanagement officer, prepared the required annual assessment of ICASS services and submitted\nit to the Ambassador in September.\n\n The embassy does not prepare invoices to temporary duty employees for indirect ICASS\ncosts, in part because it does not have full and complete records of executive branch visitors\nfrom Department of Defense agencies under combatant commander authority. The budget\ncommittee reviewed the mission policy and, after discussion, agreed that the embassy would not\nseek to recoup indirect costs associated with short-term visitors. Currently, ICASS can identify\nonly short-term visitors who submit country clearance requests through the Department. Some\nDepartment of Defense agencies under the authority of the combatant commander do not seek\ncountry clearance and therefore are not visible to ICASS. According to 6 FAH-5 H-362, all\nofficial executive branch, temporary duty visitors must obtain country clearance via the\nDepartment\xe2\x80\x99s automated country clearance system prior to arrival.\n\n Informal Recommendation 9: Embassy Phnom Penh should reexamine the issue of\n charging short-term visitors for indirect International Cooperative Administrative Support\n Services costs by designing a system to track all visitors with a view to instituting such\n charges.\n\nHuman Resources\n\n The human resources office is managed effectively, and the recent hiring of two new LE\nstaff members has addressed understaffing in the office. Staffing levels are now appropriate.\nSome human resources policies are outdated but draft revisions are in process, including the LE\nstaff handbook and the nepotism policy.\n\n Supervisors generally complete performance evaluations on time for U.S. direct-hire\nemployees and LE staff members; however, this is not true for eligible family members. During\nthe past year, 4 of 13 evaluations were completed after due dates. Late completion of evaluations\nmay disadvantage these employees.\n\nRecommendation 12: Embassy Phnom Penh should institute procedures for tracking eligible\nfamily member performance evaluations. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\n\n 20\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nLanguage-Designated Positions\n\n Embassy Phnom Penh has 13 language-designated positions. For the most part, embassy\nemployees in these positions regularly use Khmer and deem it essential for professional duties.\nFor two positions, however, Khmer appears to be unnecessary. The DCM conducts official\nbusiness exclusively in English or with an interpreter. The general services officer does not\nregularly use Khmer in work with local landlords, vendors, and employees. Per 13 FAM 221 b.,\nlanguage training should be provided only where it is essential, not merely useful. Language\ntraining for these positions requires the expenditure of approximately $200,000 in funds that\ncould be put to better use.\n\nRecommendation 13: The Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in coordination with the\nBureau of Human Resources, should remove Khmer language designation from the general\nservices officer position (position number 52-014001) and the deputy chief of mission position\n(position number 00-001085). (Action: EAP, in coordination with DGHR)\n\nLocally Employed Staff Issues\n\n The inspection team met with the LE staff community association. The association is\nsatisfied with the frequency of meetings and quality of communication with the front office. The\nDCM meets quarterly with the association committee. The association indicated that the LE staff\nis satisfied working in the mission, feels respected, and appreciates working in a new facility. LE\nstaff members expressed dissatisfaction with the wage freeze. Communication with the LE staff\ncommunity association, though good, is generally in the form of oral conversation. In cases\nwhere the mission has sought and received guidance from Washington, written communication\nwould also be useful to assist in publicizing the outcomes of discussions.\n\n Informal Recommendation 10: Embassy Phnom Penh should regularly communicate in\n writing the outcomes of its discussions on matters of interest to the locally employed staff\n association.\n\nOvertime\n\n In a 6-month period in 2012, Embassy Phnom Penh authorized more than 19,000 hours of\novertime for LE staff members, the majority by local guards, but a significant amount by general\nservices office and facilities maintenance employees as well. In FY 2012, Embassy Phnom Penh\nincurred $400,000 in overtime costs. According to the management office, much of the local\nguard overtime occurred because of a staffing shortage in the office. Additional hiring resulted in\ndiminished overtime for the month of August, but overtime performed by other sections remains\nhigher than necessary.\n\nRecommendation 14: Embassy Phnom Penh should reduce the amount of overtime performed\nby its locally employed staff members. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\n The embassy has not established procedures to directly charge overtime costs incurred\nduring official visits. In the absence of such procedures, it is more difficult for the mission to\nrecover costs associated with these visits and appropriately manage overtime expenditures.\n 21\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n Informal Recommendation 11: Embassy Phnom Penh should issue overtime reports that\n clearly separate routine overtime and overtime chargeable to official visits.\n\nEmbassy Duty Program\n\n Embassy Phnom Penh has an active embassy duty program, but the embassy\xe2\x80\x99s duty book\ndoes not have specific information for dealing with crises or mass casualty events. Some\nreference material is several years old. The duty officer has a laptop for creating a log with\nreference material, but the log is not configured to permit efficient management of duty\ninformation. In the absence of an up-to-date duty book, the embassy may not be positioned to\nrespond to a mass casualty event or crisis.\n\nRecommendation 15: Embassy Phnom Penh should revise duty book materials to include\nguidance on dealing with crises and mass casualty events. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nEqual Employment Opportunity and Federal Women\xe2\x80\x99s Program\n\n The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) program functions well. The American EEO\ncounselor has received mandatory training and five LE staff liaisons are scheduled to receive\nformal EEO training in the near future. The embassy prominently displays EEO and Federal\nWomen\xe2\x80\x99s Program information within the mission and maintains a presence on the mission\xe2\x80\x99s\nWeb site.\n\nInformation Management\n\n The information management office is an efficient, well-managed operation that provides\nquality service, as evidenced by high marks in OIG and ICASS questionnaires. The office\nsuccessfully maintains a high level of customer service despite an increased workload associated\nwith staffing growth and the demands of many high-level visits in the past year. The information\nmanagement team has implemented contingency planning, which has not been the case in the\nmajority of OIG overseas inspections. The internal Web page and organization of information\nservices center staff are areas for improvement. The classified annex to this report contains\nrecommendations concerning information management physical security.\n\nInformation Management Team\n\n Embassy Phnom Penh\xe2\x80\x99s information management office is appropriately staffed to\nsupport 320 users. An experienced information management officer oversees the information\nmanagement office, which includes an information programs officer and an information\nmanagement specialist. The university-educated LE staff is highly motivated and cross-trained,\nbut all five employees are graded at the same level, an unusual configuration. Although the staff\nsuccessfully supports customers, there has been little innovation. The primary focus has been on\nsupporting mission and official visits. The information services center would benefit from\nreconfiguring LE staffing with a lead manager and deputy. These positions have been\nreclassified but not advertised. Advertising and filling these positions would assist the team in\ndeveloping new goals and prioritizing projects geared toward meeting the mission\xe2\x80\x99s needs.\n\n 22\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nRecommendation 16: Embassy Phnom Penh should advertise and fill the information services\ncenter\xe2\x80\x99s locally employed staff computer manager and deputy positions. (Action: Embassy\nPhnom Penh)\n\nInternal Web Page\n\n The information management team designed Embassy Phnom Penh\xe2\x80\x99s intranet site and\nembassy sections maintain site content. Intranet content is not well organized, not all links work,\nand material is out of date. For example, the map to the medical facilities in Phnom Penh does\nnot work. Per 5 FAM 722.6 (7), it is the site manager\xe2\x80\x99s responsibility to keep content current and\nroutinely verify that links are valid. Although the mission\xe2\x80\x99s internal Web site is a joint effort\nbetween the information management office and its customers, the mission has no project plan\nthat identifies the implementation steps, timelines, or opportunities for content submission\nneeded to maintain a well functioning site.\n\n Informal Recommendation 12: Embassy Phnom Penh should designate a project\n manager in the information management office to oversee design, content, and\n maintenance of the mission\xe2\x80\x99s Web site in coordination with representatives appointed by\n each section.\n\n\n\n\n 23\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nQuality of Life\n As noted throughout this report, morale among American and LE staff members is high.\nMany American employees request tour extensions. Housing is good. Petty crime is a concern\namong embassy residents. Morale challenges include limited employment opportunities for\neligible family members, hot weather, a lack of basic medical care, and limited recreational\nfacilities at residences and in the community. Except for the lack of employment opportunities,\nthese factors do not appear to effect morale significantly. The community liaison office provides\nnumerous social opportunities. The medical unit is spacious, well equipped, and receives\nfrequent visits from regional medical officers. The school is satisfactory. There is no employee\nassociation at the mission and no need for one.\n\nEligible Family Member Employment\n\n Employment opportunities for family members are limited. The mission is working to\nidentify additional local-hire employment opportunities within the embassy to accommodate an\ninflux of new family members interested in employment. The United States does not have a\nbilateral work agreement with the Kingdom of Cambodia. According to mission personnel,\nemployment opportunities at United Nations offices and nongovernmental organizations are not\navailable to family members who do not have authorization to seek employment in Cambodia.\nThe lack of a bilateral work agreement limits job opportunities on the local economy that\notherwise might be available to American family members interested in employment.\n\nRecommendation 17: Embassy Phnom Penh, in coordination with the Bureau of East Asian and\nPacific Affairs, should negotiate a bilateral work agreement with the Kingdom of Cambodia.\n(Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\n\n\n\n 24\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nManagement Controls\n Embassy Phnom Penh designated the management officer as the management controls\ncoordinator. The Ambassador completed and signed the annual chief of mission management\ncontrols statement of assurance in June 2012. The submission of the assurance statement was\npreceded by a thorough review of management operations using the Department\xe2\x80\x99s risk\nassessment questionnaires. The statement identified no material weaknesses in embassy internal\ncontrols. The inspection identified internal controls issues pertaining to overtime and property\nmanagement. Consular internal controls are in good order.\n\nReceiving Procedures\n\n During the last annual inventory, the mission identified (b) (5)\n hat had not been recorded in the\nDepartment\xe2\x80\x99s property management system. This property had been delivered to the embassy\nduring the year but not recorded in the system, increasing the risk of theft or loss.\n\nRecommendation 18: Embassy Phnom Penh should establish procedures to ensure that all\naccountable nonexpendable property is recorded at the time of receipt in accordance with\nDepartment of State regulations. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nExpendable Property\n\n The embassy needs to strengthen internal controls for its inventory of expendable\nproperty, which has a total value of $600,000. Expendable property is stored in various parts of\nthe warehouse and chancery. Storage space is cluttered and the general service office has not\nestablished stock numbers and area location identification for expendable property. The property\nmanagement unit did not retain records supporting the expendable supply inventory certification.\nThus, the embassy lacks added assurance that the inventory is accurate. Expendable property\nunder the unit\xe2\x80\x99s custody is at greater risk for theft and loss.\n\nRecommendation 19: Embassy Phnom Penh should perform and document a management\ncontrol review for expendable supplies procedures and require documentation for the annual\ninventory. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\n\n\n\n 25\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nList of Recommendations\nRecommendation 1: Embassy Phnom Penh should include in its FY 2013 Integrated Country\nStrategy an economic engagement objective and performance benchmarks. (Action: Embassy\nPhnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 2: The Bureau of Human Resources, in coordination with the Bureau of\nEast Asian and Pacific Affairs, should conduct a classification review of the deputy chief of\nmission position (position number 00-001-085) for a determination of classification as a Senior\nForeign Service position. (Action: DGHR, in coordination with EAP)\n\nRecommendation 3: Embassy Phnom Penh should develop a comprehensive reporting plan to\ncomplement spot reporting with additional political and economic analytic reporting. (Action:\nEmbassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 4: The Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, in coordination with\nEmbassy Phnom Penh, should develop a Post Partnership Program plan for Cambodia in\naccordance with the State-Foreign Commercial Service memorandum of understanding, dated\nSeptember 9, 2011. (Action: EB, in coordination with Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 5: Embassy Phnom Penh should relocate the consular subcashier to the\nspace currently used by the consular receptionist. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 6: The Bureau of Consular Affairs should expedite shipment of the\nreplacement computer hardware to Embassy Phnom Penh. (Action: Bureau of Consular Affairs)\n\nRecommendation 7: Embassy Phnom Penh, in coordination with the Bureau of Diplomatic\nSecurity and the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should develop a multiyear plan to\nincrease the number of apartments, townhouses, or cluster housing in the embassy\xe2\x80\x99s housing\npool and adjust the size of the local guard force as new properties are leased. (Action: Embassy\nPhnom Penh, in coordination with DS and OBO)\n\nRecommendation 8: The Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in coordination with the\nBureau of Human Resources and Embassy Phnom Penh, should extend the duration of the tour\nof duty for assignments to Embassy Phnom Penh from 2 to 3 years. (Action: EAP, in\ncoordination with DGHR and Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 9: Embassy Phnom Penh should limit the number of hours worked by motor\npool drivers in accordance with the Department of State\xe2\x80\x99s motor vehicle safety management\npolicy. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 10: Embassy Phnom Penh should require the landlord to install a self-\nlatching gate at the swimming pool at the Hampton apartment. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 11: Embassy Phnom Penh should increase the number of vouchers it sends\nto the Post Support Unit for processing. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\n\n 26\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nRecommendation 12: Embassy Phnom Penh should institute procedures for tracking eligible\nfamily member performance evaluations. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 13: The Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in coordination with the\nBureau of Human Resources, should remove Khmer language designation from the general\nservices officer position (position number 52-014001) and the deputy chief of mission position\n(position number 00-001085). (Action: EAP, in coordination with DGHR)\n\nRecommendation 14: Embassy Phnom Penh should reduce the amount of overtime performed\nby its locally employed staff members. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 15: Embassy Phnom Penh should revise duty book materials to include\nguidance on dealing with crises and mass casualty events. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 16: Embassy Phnom Penh should advertise and fill the information services\ncenter\xe2\x80\x99s locally employed staff computer manager and deputy positions. (Action: Embassy\nPhnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 17: Embassy Phnom Penh, in coordination with the Bureau of East Asian\nand Pacific Affairs, should negotiate a bilateral work agreement with the Kingdom of Cambodia.\n(Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 18: Embassy Phnom Penh should establish procedures to ensure that all\naccountable nonexpendable property is recorded at the time of receipt in accordance with\nDepartment of State regulations. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\nRecommendation 19: Embassy Phnom Penh should perform and document a management\ncontrol review for expendable supplies procedures and require documentation for the annual\ninventory. (Action: Embassy Phnom Penh)\n\n\n\n\n 27\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nList of Informal Recommendations\n Informal recommendations cover operational matters not requiring action by\norganizations outside the inspected unit and/or the parent regional bureau. Informal\nrecommendations will not be subject to the OIG compliance process. However, any subsequent\nOIG inspection or on-site compliance review will assess the mission\xe2\x80\x99s progress in implementing\nthe informal recommendations.\n\nInformal Recommendation 1: Embassy Phnom Penh should correct errors in the post\npersonnel staffing pattern to reflect the section\xe2\x80\x99s organization and division of labor.\n\nInformal Recommendation 2: Embassy Phnom Penh should implement a systematic filing\nsystem for the political/economic section\xe2\x80\x99s electronic files, including a program for retiring files\nannually.\n\nInformal Recommendation 3: Embassy Phnom Penh should develop a public diplomacy plan\nwith quarterly goals that maximizes program and exchange resources with specific ties to\nmission objectives.\n\nInformal Recommendation 4: Embassy Phnom Penh should tighten its public diplomacy grant\nprocedures so that grantees understand and agree in writing to all award stipulations and the files\naccurately reflect the status and outcome of the funded activity.\n\nInformal Recommendation 5: Embassy Phnom Penh should revise work requirements for all\nAmerican staff in the consular section to clarify lines of responsibility and authority.\n\nInformal Recommendation 6: Embassy Phnom Penh should evaluate consular processes and\ntraffic flow to make better use of the workspace and public service windows outside of the\nsecure consular area but inside the consular compound access control building.\n\nInformal Recommendation 7: Embassy Phnom Penh should install signs in the public waiting\nroom in the consular section to facilitate efficient public traffic flow and to identify interview\nareas.\n\nInformal Recommendation 8: Embassy Phnom Penh should conduct cashier reconciliations on\na random basis.\n\nInformal Recommendation 9: Embassy Phnom Penh should reexamine the issue of charging\nshort-term visitors for indirect International Cooperative Administrative Support Services costs\nby designing a system to track all visitors with a view to instituting such charges.\n\nInformal Recommendation 10: Embassy Phnom Penh should regularly communicate in\nwriting the outcomes of its discussions on matters of interest to the locally employed staff\nassociation.\n\nInformal Recommendation 11: Embassy Phnom Penh should issue overtime reports that\nclearly separate routine overtime and overtime chargeable to official visits.\n\n 28\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\nInformal Recommendation 12: Embassy Phnom Penh should designate a project manager in\nthe information management office to oversee design, content, and maintenance of the mission\xe2\x80\x99s\nWeb site in coordination with representatives appointed by each section.\n\n\n\n\n 29\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nPrincipal Officials\n Name Arrival Date\nAmbassador William E. Todd 04/12\nDeputy Chief of Mission J. Jeff Daigle 06/11\nChiefs of Sections:\n Management Terry Murphree 07/11\n Consular Eric Meyer 08/12\n Political Darren Hultman 07/12\n Economic David Myers 08/12\n Public Affairs Sean McIntosh 07/11\n Regional Affairs David Sauer 08/11\n Regional Security Luis Matus 08/12\nOther Agencies:\n Department of Defense DATT - COL Mark Gillette 09/09\n Office Defense Cooperation ODC \xe2\x80\x93 LTC Kristin Means 05/11\n PACOM Augmentation Team PAT \xe2\x80\x93 Bryan Campbell 06/12\n NAMRU-2 Steven Newell 07/11\n USAID Flynn Fuller 07/09\n DHS/ICE Fong Tchan 04/11\n DOJ/FBI Sharon Kuo 01/12\n CDC Dora Warren 10/09\n Treasury Tim Grewe 10/09\n Peace Corps Penny Fields 07/11\n\n\n\n\n 30\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\nAbbreviations\nASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations\nDepartment Department of State\nDCM Deputy chief of mission\nEEO Equal Employment Opportunity\nHague Convention Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect\n of Intercountry Adoption\nICASS International Cooperative Administrative Support Services\nLE Locally employed\nMRR Mission Resource Request\nOBO Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations\nPAS Public affairs section\nPEPFAR President\xe2\x80\x99s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief\nTIP Trafficking in persons\nUSAID U.S. Agency for International Development\n\n\n\n\n 31\n SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0cSENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\n\n\n\n FRAUD, WASTE, ABUSE,\n OR MISMANAGEMENT\nOF FEDERAL PROGRAMS\n HURTS EVERYONE.\n\n CONTACT THE\n OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL\n HOTLINE\n TO REPORT ILLEGAL\n OR WASTEFUL ACTIVITIES:\n\n\n 202-647-3320\n 800-409-9926\n oighotline@state.gov\n oig.state.gov\n\n Office of Inspector General\n U.S. Department of State\n P.O. Box 9778\n Arlington, VA 22219\n\n\n\n\nSENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED\n\x0c'