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Amalia  Babayan Associate professor, PhD at the Department of Diplomatic Service and Communication of the Faculty of International Relation of YSU The ambassador is the official and personal envoy of the U.S. president in the country in which he or she serves. It takes a whole team to run an embassy, however, and ambassadors are backed up by professionals handling everything from arranging press briefings to keeping the phones working. Without a deputy chief of mission, the ambassador could easily become overwhelmed with management tasks. Without an office management specialist as the gatekeeper, the ambassador might end up meeting with the foreign minister’s staff assistant when he or she should be meeting with the president of the country. Without the information management staff, the embassy’s links to Washington and the rest of the world would come to a screeching halt. Without political officers, the ambassador might not learn about key people needing attention from the U.S. government. Without the consular officers, the lines for visas would stretch on for miles. Without the Foreign Service Nationals (the local staff), the embassy would need to start a knowledge base all over again every few years as American Foreign Service staff rotate out. Every person working in an embassy plays a vital role, and the following profiles will illustrate just what those roles are. […] Some of the largest U.S. embassies have over a thousand employees, while some of the smallest have just a few.…[T]he most interesting happenings do not always take place in the capital city, and consulates can be just as significant to the overall relationship with the country as the embassy in the capital. […] Sh. Dorman (ed.). Inside a U.S. Embassy: How the Foreign Service Works for America: 9. Loyalty: A Mission must work as a team and no matter what place you occupy in it, part of your job is to help the others, up and down the ladder, as they in turn will help you. The need for loyalty to the Government which sent you out is self-evident. But loyalty to everyone serving with you is no less important if the Mission is to present a good front to the outside world. In any community, gossip is a special danger and you should be on your guard not to spread or participate in it. Everyone from top to bottom of an overseas mission is a representative of this country; and neither he or his family will ever be completely off duty or wholly free to follow the whim of the moment until they are home again. Rightly or wrongly, whether you like it or whether you don’t, your country will be judged by your behaviour. C. Slater. Good Manners & Bad Behaviour: the Unofficial Rules of Diplomacy : 33, 103.

THE FOREIGN SERVICE

1561 reads | 06.04.2013