Politics inevitable, but we still need our 'best people' as ambassadors

I worked for an ambassador who had a conversation with a vice admiral who was about to retire after a long career in the U.S. Navy. The ambassador asked him what he planned to do in his retirement and the vice admiral said, "Well, I think I might want to be an ambassador."

My ambassador said, "that's interesting because I was thinking that when I leave this post that I might want to command a carrier battle group." The vice admiral sputtered, "that's ridiculous ... one needs training for that," to which my ambassador replied: "Exactly."

There have been a number of articles recently - New York Times, The Economist - concerning the challenges that President-elect Biden will have in restoring America's diplomatic capabilities, with some calling for a significant reduction if not outright elimination of politically appointed ambassadors. President-elect Biden, when questioned, has said only that he will try to choose the best people.

There is certainly work to be done. At the Department of State, 22 percent of the top 225 positions remain unfilled, even as the Trump administration heads for the exits. There are no ambassadors to China or Japan nor a representative to the European Union. There are no assistant secretaries for Europe, South Asia or international organizations. There is no inspector general. That said, 43 percent of ambassadors under President Trump are political appointees, up from the historical average of about 30 percent.

The numbers of individuals taking the Foreign Service Exam are down from more than 20,000 at the end of the Obama administration to about 9,000 in 2019. The hiring freeze imposed by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been lifted, but with an intake of about 300 new officers a year, it will take time to bring numbers up again.

One has to accept the reality of our political system that some appointments in Antony Blinken's State Department will be political, including many of the key ambassadorships. The Senate, which has blocked some of President Trump's more unqualified nominees, has to play its role to assure that ambassadors will represent our country well.

Yes, they should have a knowledge of world history as well as American history, be well-spoken, have some experience as negotiators and be people of good character, but the main reason that political appointees make sense in some positions is that an ambassador is, first and foremost, the personal representative of the president of the United States. The ability of an ambassador to pick up his phone and call the president directly should not be underestimated.

In like manner, the political appointees in the State Department are often portrayed as being at odds with the career staff. The political appointees suspect that career officers are not completely on board with a president's policies. The career staff might fear that years of painstaking effort to develop working relations with a particular country could be blown up by a sudden shift in policy. Yet, when political and career staffs work together, the political appointees can give career staff the cover needed to take more risks and advance policies that might have more impact.

America's greatest strength in international affairs is a system of alliances underpinned by a common democratic vision, something that neither Russia nor China possess. Those relationships need constant tending, and that is what diplomats do. President Trump favored bilateral negotiations because he believed the U.S. would always have the upper hand. However, as relations with Iran have shown, even when the United States had a vast power advantage, we could not achieve our goals. It is now up to our new president to pick up the pieces and reconstitute or create coalitions that pull in the same direction. We will indeed need our best people to do that.

• Keith Peterson, of Lake Barrington, served 29 years as a press and cultural officer for the United States Information Agency and Department of State. He was chief editorial writer of the Daily Herald 1984-86.