By Guest Contributor Hans N. Tuch
Hans Tuch retired from the U.S. Foreign Service as a Career Minister in 1985. He also taught at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Georgetown University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the disciplines of Public Diplomacy and Inter-Cultural Communications.
A true story, identities and location changed: A friend of mine, serving as chief of mission in an Eastern European country, entertained an American four-star admiral on an official visit in his residence.
The admiral, impressed with the attractiveness of the ambassador's official home, commented that when he retired, he would seek an appointment as ambassador so that he could live in a nice home provided by the US government in a foreign country. The ambassador responded that when he retired, he might ask the president to appoint him commander of the Seventh Fleet so that he could live in the admiral's house on the U.S. Naval Base on Hawaii.
Ridiculous story?
The practice of giving ambassadorial appointments to non-professional people solely as a reward for their political contributions to the president's campaign is as stupid and potentially dangerous to the national interest as if the president were to appoint the contributor to a high command in the military.
The position of US chief of mission in a foreign country requires the training, long professional experience and wide knowledge of American foreign policy as well as acquaintance with the history, culture and current policies of the country of assignment. Appointing an inexperienced person to represent the U.S. in a foreign country merely on the basis of his or her financial contribution for the election of the president may seriously compromise our foreign relations and potentially endanger our security. It may affect negatively our national interests in a manner similar to the appointment of an unqualified civilian to a high military position.
Qualifications and Pertinent Experience Needed
Of course, there have been highly effective and renown non-career ambassadors serving as the president's representatives abroad: Ellsworth Bunker in Vietnam, Mike Mansfield in Japan, Arthur Burns in Germany. But they represented qualities and experience specifically pertinent to the assignment. The president should realize that he is doing a disservice to the country by appointing unqualified persons to represent the United States abroad.