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The American Academy of Diplomacy

1726 M Street, N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C., 20036
(202) 223-0510 • Fax (202) 833-2369

**Chairman of the Board**
Max M. Kampelman

**Vice Chair**
Samuel W. Lewis

**President**
L. Bruce Laingen

**Treasurer**
Joseph A. Greenwald

**Administrative Assistant**
Cecilia V. Mulligan

**Directors**
Shirley Temple Black
Thomas D. Boyatt
William P. Bundy
Frank C. Carlucci
Jean M. Clark
Lawrence S. Eagleburger
Andrew J. Goodpaster
Arthur A. Hartman
Arthur W. Hummel
Max M. Kampelman
Samuel W. Lewis
William H. Luers
Leonard H. Marks
Charles McC. Mathias
Robert J. McCloskey
David H. Popper
Rozanrie L. Ridgway
Joseph J. Sisco
John Wills Tuthill
Nicholas A. Veliotes

**Counsel**
Mark A. Kantor

**Founders (1983)**
U. Alexis Johnson
Ellsworth Bunker
(1893-1984)
John J. McCloy
(1896-1989)

**Chairmen Emeritus**
Sol M. Linowitz
Frank C. Carlucci
Lawrence S. Eagleburger

April 19, 1996

Dear Colleague:

As you know, the Academy has earlier placed on the record on several occasions its concern about disproportionate reductions in resources to maintain the nations's diplomatic strength and the risk this poses for the preservation of a strong, professional Foreign Service to conduct the nation's diplomatic business. In this connection, Roy Atherton has had several exchanges with Henry Kissinger and his staff suggesting the utility of a statement from him that would reinforce the Academy's efforts and also reach a broader audience.

Secretary Kissinger has now provided us with such a statement and we are deeply grateful. A copy is attached.

The Academy is issuing the Kissinger statement under a press notice. We are also making it available to the Administration, all members of Congress and to the broader foreign affairs community. Many Academy members will have their own means of making the statement available to others in their local communities, and we hope they will do so.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the annual meeting on April 29.

Enclosure

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1726 M Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C., 20036
(202) 223-0510 • Fax (202) 833-2369

**Directors**
Shirley Temple Black
Thomas D. Boyatt
William P. Bundy
Frank C. Carlucci
Joan M. Clark
Lawrence S. Eagleburger
Andrew J. Goodpaster
Arthur A. Hartman
Arthur W. Hummel
Max M. Kampelman
Samuel W. Lewis
William H. Luers
Leonard H. Marks
Charles McC. Mathias
Robert J. McCloskey
David H. Popper
Rozanne L. Ridgway
Joseph J. Sisco
John Wills Tuthill
Nicholas A. Veliotes

**Counsel**
Mark A. Kantor

PRESS NOTICE

APRIL 22, 1996

A Statement by Henry Kissinger

The Academy is pleased to release the attached statement by one of its members, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, on the important role of the United States Foreign Service in the pursuit of American policy interests abroad and on the critical need for adequate resources to sustain that process.

As Secretary Kissinger states: "In the post Cold War world, we need professional experts more than ever, able to help the President and the Congress develop a consensus around the national interest in foreign affairs, but above all, who can help to implement it - with integrity, experience and insight." The statement goes on to warn that "The succession of cutbacks in State's operating budget in recent years... cause our overseas representatives to be already working under the most severe budget conditions ever. Further cuts ... [risk] ... less complete political and economic reporting on foreign conditions, less effective representation and advocacy of U.S. interests in foreign countries, and less adequate services provided to U.S. citizens traveling abroad - tourists or business people."

The Kissinger statement coincides with Foreign Service Day on May 3, observed annually and celebrated this year as well in a U.S. Senate resolution introduced by Senator Kassebaum of Kansas.

The American Academy of Diplomacy is a limited membership, non-profit society of 100 men and women who have served the United States as ambassadors at major diplomatic missions or in equivalent high-level foreign policy positions in Washington. Its objective is to promote the highest standards of American diplomacy and to emphasize the indispensable role of diplomacy in the furtherance of America's national security interests. Its members include all seven living former Secretaries of State, several former Secretaries of Defense, Directors of USIA and CIA, National Security Advisors and chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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THE FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES

Henry A. Kissinger

April, 1996

The Foreign Service of the United States is an extraordinary institution. It represents a country without a tradition of foreign policy as other nations understand foreign policy. It serves a society oscillating between a craving for withdrawal and a yen for missionary conversion. It is periodically subordinated to political requirements of incumbents. Through it all, the Foreign Service is the repository of continuity, the vindicator of the permanent values and the conscience of the national interest of a society that too rarely appreciates it.

Nearly twenty years ago, during my tenure as Secretary of State, I had the distinction of presiding over a ceremony in honor of an extraordinary predecessor, Dean Acheson -- a giant of a man, and architect of our post-War foreign policy -- together with one of America's original Foreign Service diplomats, Loy Henderson. In reflecting on the Foreign Service as one of our country's ablest and proudest institutions, I noted at the time:*

"In an age of...growing international interdependence, at a time when American can no longer overwhelm its foreign problems by a massive expenditure of resources, consistency in the thrust and execution of our foreign policy is essential. And it is to the Foreign Service that America must look for the sense of the national interest, the impartiality, the expertise -- in a word, the continuity -- that will assure a steady course. Presidents and Secretaries of State come and go ...but the values and goals of the United States,

*From remarks at the dedication the Dean Acheson Auditorium, and the Loy Henderson International Conference Room at the Department of State, October 26, 1976.

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the dreams of our people for a life of
peace and freedom, the hopes mankind has
reposed in America, remain constant. The
Foreign Service, at its best, has served
those interests...The country is in its
debt."

These sentiments are even stronger today
which is why I dedicated my most recent book, Diplomacy,
to "the men and women of the Foreign Service...whose
professionalism and dedication sustain American diplo-
macy."

America's victory in the Cold War has only en-
hanced their value. For the international system now
emerging is far more complex than any previously facing
American diplomacy. The certitudes of physical threat
and hostile ideology characteristic of the Cold War are
diminished, leaving in their wake a far more abstract
set of principles with which we need to address, and
hopefully master, the emerging world order. The vision
of the future today cannot be demonstrated when it is
put forward, and judgments about the relationship between
hope and possibility are, in essence, conjectural.

Thus, defining the national interest, while navi-
gating the ambiguities of choice in an imperfect world
becomes an ever more difficult intellectual task, as does
the prospect of selecting the various courses of action
and then implementing the ones chosen.

On a practical level, too, the end of the Cold War
has emphasized the importance of our Foreign Service
officers. While in the defense area it may make sense
to trim back our budgets and deployments because the
Soviet military threat has receded, in the diplomatic
field the workload is greater than ever. For one thing,
the breakup of the Communist empire has resulted in some
twenty new countries requiring U. S. diplomatic repre-
sentation. Many of the new assignments of our officers
are in hardship posts that stand in total contradiction
of the common image of "cushy" diplomatic assignments
abroad.

Even a cursory review of the day's headlines drama-
tizes how turbulent the post-Cold War world actually is,
and how complex is the task of keeping the peace. The

succession of cutbacks in State's operating budget
in recent years, combined with inflation and a weakened
dollar, cause our overseas representatives to be al-
ready working under the most severe budgetary conditions
ever. Further cuts would necessitate closing many over-
seas posts with the result that there would be less com-
plete political and economic reporting on foreign condi-
tions, less effective representation and advocacy of U.S.
interests in foreign countries, and less adequate services
provided to U.S. citizens travelling abroad -- tourists
or business people.

In the post-Cold War world, we need professional
experts more than ever, able to help the President and
the Congress develop a consensus around the national
interest in foreign affairs, but above all, who can help
to implement it -- with integrity, experience and insight.

The Foreign Service has, and must continue, to perform this service. And we must ensure that it is adequately supported in its mission.