[voiceover] the Us Ambassador to libya and three Embassy Staffers have been killed in an attack on the us consulate in the libyan city of benghazi. [kathleen] ive seen firsthand the sacrifice of Foreign Service families. My father was a consular officer and my mother worked right alongside him. Its done because people love the concept of serving their country and they love the idea of taking american ideals abroad, taking our values and trying to promote them in various places and also in doing so, helping to protect the interests of our country at home. [kathleen] from Benjamin Franklin, americas first diplomat, to todays professional Foreign Service, these are the foot soldiers on the front lines of americas Foreign Policy. These are americas diplomats. [voiceover] great decisions is produced by the Foreign Policy association, in association with thomson reuters. Funding for great decisions is provided by the nelson b. Delavan foundation, pricewaterhouse coopers, llp, and the Una Chapman Cox foundation. heartbeats if you walk in the front door of the state department, you will see plaques and plaques of the names of american diplomats whove given their lives for the United States in acts of violence and diseases acquired abroad, ships sunk, planes crashed. Somebody was targeting president marcos. It was a small bomb. We get deathly ill because there is no medical care. [voiceover] we were told people were going to come up and try to assassinate me and burn the embassy. Two of my absolutely favorite bosses were killed. Midday for a trade mission in town, our consulate was blown up. [voiceover] and he was lost at sea. Hijacked, held hostage, blown up, shot at. They started firing at the aircraft. I was number one on their target list. Richard brought the coffins back the next day. chanting [kathleen] in 1979, it became clear just how exposed our diplomats can be when 52 american diplomats and citizens were held hostage in iran. It was in some ways, an ideal assignment, if it all hadnt come crashing down on the 4th of november. Here, was not an embassy. It was a cia center. This was a den of espionage where they were plotting against the iranian people. The United States had admitted the deposed shah of iran for medical treatment. I think we expected that there would be some reaction but what we did not expect was that when the embassy was taken, those in charge, those in authority, would actually side with the occupiers. I was actually outside the door on the second floor, attempting to talk down the attackers and driven to dissuade them from what they were doing, a task at which i was notably unsuccessful. [kathleen] the iran hostage crisis would not end quickly. I got a care package from home from my family and it included some books and the books were things like war and peace, brothers karamazov. In other words, average length about 1,200 pages and i think the message was pretty clear at that point. It said, youre in for the long term. [kathleen] the hostages spent 444 days in captivity in iran. [voiceover] some 30 minutes ago, the planes bearing our prisoners left iranian airspace and are now free of iran. applause it was a defining moment in american history. Reminded us of the vulnerability of our diplomats. People remember the hostage crisis and it skewed our relations with a really important country in the region, made it difficult to reach an understanding over nuclear matters. [kathleen] nairobi, kenya. August 7, 1998. Ambassador Prudence Bushnell was in her office. I had finally gotten a meeting scheduled with the minister of commerce. The press had just left. We had gotten our requisite cup of tea. I was sitting next to the minister on the couch and we heard a boom that sounded to me like a construction boom and i asked, is there construction going on . I was the last one up and had taken a few steps when this boom, a huge percussion came and threw me back. distant commotion some shadowy figures went by. I thought simultaneously im going to die. [kathleen] it was a massive truck bomb, detonated by al qaeda operatives. indistinct conversation i havent gotten any numbers or names of anybody with any injuries or casualties but there were plenty of. [kathleen] 213 people were killed, including 12 americans. The men and women who serve in our embassies all around this world do hard work that is not always fully appreciated and not even understood by many of their fellow americans. Far from home, they endure hardships, often at great risk. [prudence] and then we started to piece ourselves back together again and we did it as a community. Americans were given the option to leave. We chose to stay. [kathleen] embassies in the middle east have been the target of terrorist attacks. Were at a time where there is a growth of groups like isil, al qaeda, boko haram. They look for targets where they think that they can drive us out. The history of american diplomacy and certainly these last few years have been the great courage of Foreign Service people who said, no, were not going to be forced out of these places. We are going to continue to represent the United States of america. For my generation that experienced 9 11 in college, we knew we entered a service that was at war and weve gone willingly. Weve voluntarily gone. Having sworn in young diplomats when i was under secretary of state, they want to go out and meet the world. They want to serve in the toughest places. They want to get outside the wire. They want to emerge from those Embassy Walls and go out and meet people. [kathleen] embassies around the world have turned into fortresses, giving some diplomats little flexiility to interact with locals. Architects were brought in to redesign every embassy in the world and they literally go around the world, even in fairly safe places. They look like fortresses. Theyre set back from the streets. They have high walls. They have layers of security to get in. The bunkers are a function of washingtons political sensitivity to letting us continue to accept the risks we need to accept. Weve had risks as long as i was in the Foreign Service. We understand going abroad that to do our job well, we have to go out into the field. We have to meet the public. We need to have a way to talk to people. Without that, there is no diplomacy. Without that, we cant share our ideas and our cultures. We spend an amazing amount of time and energy, as we should, to make sure that our diplomats on a daily basis, are getting what they need. The toughest thing for the leadership of a modern state Department Since the advent of terrorism, say in the early 1980s, whats the balance . Whats the risk . And whats the proper level of security for our young people . [voiceover] we have breaking news. An american, we can confirm now, has been killed in libya tonight at the consulate, according to a Libyan Interior Ministry official. Armed men stormed the american consulate in benghazi, libya tonight. This is a horrible result of a day of violence against america in the middle east. [kathleen] in 2012, the attack on a us consulate in benghazi reminded us of the risks our diplomats face. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars increasing the security at that compound but there are always events that you cannot foresee. Benghazi was a tragedy. There is just no way that i can say anything other than the fact that the loss of Chris Stevens and three other officers in benghazi was a failure. What is most distressing is that chris was able to help in protecting our city, benghazi but benghazi was unable to protect him. There was a belief that if we had a small enough presence, that we could fly underneath the radar and i think that that belief and that. I just think ultimately, they got it wrong. Proved wrong and it was a tragic event. Benghazi and the way it has been politicized in our domestic debate has made washington, frankly, scared of taking any losses and i think that will continue, whichever party has the next administration. [kathleen] leaving the us to serve abroad for years at a time can be exciting but it comes with a unique set of challenges. My first tour, which was in india, cost me a son to bad medical care. Had we lived in the United States, he would still be with us. It is, like any career of service to your country, it is one in which you make sacrifices. My wife and i served in separate countries apart from each other for a total of 12 years and i tell young diplomats coming in, its hard. Its a hard lifestyle on families. M most of them are veryre not difficult countries. Rome. Some of them very dangerous countries. We have a very different lifestyle, a very different family life. Even our military colleagues may be deployed for a year or 15 months but their families stay here and they come back here. You dont go into Foreign Service for anything other than public service, so you forego economic benefit from the skills you have and you do it because you are serving a valid profession but most importantly, your country. Those are the kinds of sacrifices that people make constantly. There are dangers in certain places. Theres a lot of travel, long hours, not high pay. Its done because people love the concept of serving their country and they love the idea of taking american ideals abroad. The reward is the information, the influence, a projection of us National Interests that we can obtain by being in a location, working with the people there of all walks of life. At the end of the day, anything that any of us is asked to do is the price of admission for an unparalleled opportunity to do good work and to hopefully be good at it. [kathleen] the foundation of the Foreign Service was laid before america won her independence. Diplomats have been extraordinarily important in the founding and the prospering of our nation. The moment the colonies decided to break the tie with the empire, they recognized that they cant do it alone. The United States would not have existed without the french support. [kathleen] in 1776, an astute political operative named Benjamin Franklin was dispatched by the Continental Congress to secure the support of the french. cheerful Classical Music france rewarded franklins diplomacy with the promise of support. Without that alliance, the American Revolution may well have been lost. As the colonists met to ratify a constitution, the importance of diplomacy was clear. The result, americas First Federal agency, the department of foreign affairs. Even with a formal agency, the business of diplomacy remained largely improvised. The purpose of american diplomacy in its early start was to keep this new country safe and to keep it economically viable. [kathleen] when Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, france controlled new orleans. [voiceover] there is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is new orleans, through which the produce of threeeighths of our territory must pass to market. France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude of defiance. Thomas jefferson, 1802. Jeffersons commission went to napoleon to get access to new orleans, not to buy louisiana. Exports had to go down the Mississippi River and get into the world market through that port. [kathleen] jefferson dispatched a diplomat named Robert Livingston to paris to gain control of the crescent city, not anticipating the much larger purchase of the entire louisiana territory. To the surprise of the main negotiator, livingston, napoleon says, look, you can have the whole thing. [kathleen] livingston agreed to buy not just new orleans but the territory that stretched from the Mississippi River westward to the rockies and as far north as canada. In one move, he doubled the size of the new nation. The price . 15 million. lively banjo music as the country focused on domestic concerns, a disdain for formal diplomacy grew. In 1830, ambassador John Randolph of virginia reportedly addressed the russian czar by saying, how ye, emperor, and hows the madame . After the revolution, the American People didnt like the idea of diplomacies and ambassadors. They didnt like it. That was european. It wasnt american. We were different. [kathleen] following the american civil war, us territory grew, as did its involvement in International Trade and politics. By the late 19th century, it was becoming clear that america needed professional diplomats to represent her growing interests. We had begun to try to professionalize the Civil Service of the United States, to no longer make it essentially a spoil system for political victors. The aftermath of wwi, the huge era for american diplomacy, the department entered that conflict with a very low up tempo 19th century bureaucracy and all of a sudden, theres this deluge of activity that theyre forced to respond to and i think thats part of the impetus towards the rogers act. [kathleen] in 1924, wilbur j. Carr wrote the rogers act, which merged the diplomatic and consular offices under the newly formed Foreign Service. Legislation was passed that eliminated the complete amateur hour wed had before. We said a Diplomatic Service needs to be professional. It has to have experience. It cant be that money, privilege, and political influence are the only bases for deciding who, in fact, should be useful and indeed important in making american Foreign Policy decisions. [kathleen] the rogers act laid out a series of competitive entrance exams and set professional standards for diplomats. As Foreign Service officers, you are sample americans and many people abroad will think better or worse of the United States because of what you are and what you do. You created a competitive entry system so the idea was that Foreign Service would be just that. It would be meritocratic. The maintenance of stability in the world, the preservation of the peace, the protection of american interests are the core responsibilities of an american diplomat. [kathleen] the fact that the cold war never boiled over is credited largely to the efforts of a young diplomat from milwaukee named george kennan. The wonderful thing about george is he really knew russia. He knew enough to be angry about what they stood for but he knew also enough to know this was not a cultural distinction of the russian people, that they werent fundamentally communists. [kathleen] after wwii, soviet behavior baffled leaders in washington. So the state department reached out to kennan in moscow for answers. In the aftermath of the war, it became clear that it was going to be very hard to reconcile their vision of the postwar world with this dream that we had had of a United Nations with this collegial relationship and a longterm stable relationship with the soviet union was just not going to happen. [kathleen] laid up in bed from illness, kennan dictated what would become known as the long telegram. It outlined his opinions and views of the soviets. [voiceover] i cannot compress answers into a single brief message without yielding to what i feel would be. Moscow has no abstract devotion to United Nations ideals. Its attitude. The problem of how to cope with this force is undoubtedly the greatest task our diplomacy has. The soviet union is impervious to logic or reason and it is highly sensitive. The greatest danger that can befall us in coping with this problem of soviet communism is that we shall allow ourselves to become like those with whom we are coping. George kennan had this big idea that we could contain soviet power, not by fighting them but by just outlasting them. And that was in many ways, the continued perhaps, best known example of how a professional american Foreign Service officer could provide the kind of advice which would set the course for the country. [kathleen] sometimes a diplomats mission is to end a war. Richard holbrooke would do just that in the balkans. Its impossible to talk about diplomacy without talking about richard holbrooke. He was just an extraordinary fore of nature itself. There are very few people you find who have those combination of skills, big Strategic Insights but also operational skills. One who did was richard holbrooke. Richard had been a diplomat, a negotiator specifically since vietnam. His first negotiation was the paris peace talks, which ultimately did end the war in vietnam. He was in his twenties then and learned from the best. He would use his convening power to get all the agencies most senior people, cia, pentagon, white house, to meet every monday afternoon privately in his office. He had a reputation for being maybe a bull in the china shop but certainly, this was not a bull in the china shop approach. I was working in the middle east bureau. He flopped down in a chair in my very small office and he says, you know, the one job i want, my first choice, is to handle the negotiations in bosnia. [kathleen] it was a job he would get. President clinton tasked holbrooke with negotiating an end to bosnias bloody civil war. He began a year of shuttle diplomacy, driving back and forth between serb and bosnian leaders on europes most dangerous roads. [voiceover] milosevic wouldnt let richard and his team land their plane at the sarajevo airport. He wouldnt give them safe passage so they took this road and tragically, there were three armor personnel carriers that his team was in and one of them rolled down mount igman and three of Richards Team members perished. What happened this morning on the mount igman road was an Automobile Accident but an accident caused by the war. Three brave, brilliant, fine americans have died in this accident. He was brokenhearted because these guys were his dear friends but also very angry and that, i think, doubled his determination. [voiceover] he went into franjo tudmans office in croatia. Obviously, the United States thinks the time has come for the fighting to stop. [voiceover] and Alija Izetbegovics office in sarajevo. Confidentiality requires confidential talks. [voiceover] and then president milosevics office in belgrade. [kathleen] holbrookes efforts culminated in a summit of balkan leaders at an Airforce Base in dayton, ohio. The agreement, known as the dayton accords, brought an end to years of brutal killing. He locked them down. Were talking sensory deprivation here, and didnt let them out until they agreed. You think about the effect of dayton in terms of the number of people who have been saved, the number of people who are still alive, the number of people who arent dead. Well, its a big accomplishment. [voiceover] all the bombs at our disposal would not have ended that war. Not in the long run. I think it did the United States proud to have been able to literally end a war in the heart of europe in the 20th century. [voiceover] Consular Services helped american sailors and merchants do business imports around the world, but before professionalization, it had a less than sterling reputation. In 1906, author Ambrose Bierce described a consul as a person, who having failed to secure an office from the people is given one by the administration on the condition he leave the country. Today, consular officers serve as the first line of defense. They identify security threats among travelers hoping to come to the u. S. They ensure the safety of americans living and traveling abroad. We provide the routine Services Like passports but also emergency services, we evacuate them whenever a country is in turmoil. [voiceover] america is one of the worlds most visited countries and a nation of immigrants. What were doing is talking literally to millions of people annually who want to come to the United States for business, for pleasure, perhaps as a student and we need to know as much as we can about that person and that application in order to make the best decision possible. [voiceover] after 9 11, it became much more urgent that our consular officers know whos coming and why. sirens wail one of the shocking things about 9 11 was that there was information that would have, had it been in the consular officers hands, made it impossible for some of these people to get visas in the first place. So what do we expect of them . We expect first, that they keep bad people out, but also very importantly, that we keep our doors open so that good people can come in. foghorn sounds piano music [voiceover] as the son of italian immigrants, fiorello la guardia, a consular officer who would eventually become mayor of new york city, knew the importance of keeping our doors open. Between the 1880s and 1920s, tens of millions came to the United States from overseas. Basically for the same reasons we have now. Unemployment, poverty, lack of opportunity, coming to the great United States, where the roads and highways were lined with gold. light jazz music [voiceover] as a teenager, la guardia got a job as a state Department Clerk in eastern europe. Rising to the rank of consular officer, he realized that one american policy devastated many families. When immigrants arrived at ellis island, they received medical screenings. Family members who didnt pass were sent back. [voiceover] if you were the head of family, and you were being turned around, what about the rest of your family, who perhaps have come with you. Lets say its the other way around. Youre the head of the family and its your daughter whos being turned around, what do you do . It was devastating for a lot of people. [voiceover] at the age of 21, la guardia made it his mission to solve this problem. His solution, insist shipping lines medically examine immigrants before they ever get on a boat. [voiceover] why would you test people once they arrived here when you could just as easily have them tested back home to see if they were qualified for a visa, and he instituted that. [voiceover] this type of common sense, human rights reform later landed la guardia the job of mayor of new york city, a city built by immigrants. violin music americas diplomats cant always prevent conflict. When war does break out, its up to the Foreign Service to work with all sides to protect civilians. The fundamental piece of our work is to arrange for the evacuation of others. Under normal circumstances, even normal can be pretty hairy. Itll be the Foreign Service that is shepherding the people out. [voiceover] when hitler targeted millions of jews in europe, a diplomat named Hiram Bingham took it upon himself to help as many as he could reach safety in america. He was stationed in marseilles in southern france, and this was right at the time that hitler was marching across europe. Refugees who had been refused visas in other consulates realized that they should come to see Harry Bingham in marseilles for one last chance to live. [voiceover] in just 10 months, and in defiance of orders from washington, bingham provided aid and travel documents to some 2,500 jews. He looked out the window and saw all these desperate refugees seeking lifesaving visas. He immediately thought he should exercise compassion and regardless of policy to issue visas to them. One day my father received a letter from the consulate inviting him in for an interview. And the interview was with Harry Bingham. He said, what if i offered an immigrant visa for your complete family, so thats how he saved us, along with hundreds of other people. intense music [voiceover] some of the survivors have thanked my father and written correspondence, it says i am the last one alive and i write this with trembling fingers and many a tear. Your father provided us with documents. I cannot honor him enough, he saved my mother, my sister, and me, without him, we would not have avoided the concentration camp to which we were assigned two days later, ellie sherman. [voiceover] Harry Bingham and 10 other diplomats were later recognized by yad vashem, israels National Holocaust memorial, for saving more than 200,000 jews during the war. Binghams lifesaving actions, which defied washington, would eventually cost him his career in the Foreign Service. Trade is a big part of the american economy. The Foreign Service has vigorously supported americas business interests. Diplomacy has always kept commerce at its core. Diplomats today play a bigger role in advancing americas economic interests overseas than they used to. Through the 1970s, american diplomats saw their role and the role that was assigned them was to represent the political relationships between the United States and a Foreign Government in particular, but that became different. It got into the 80s, the 90s, and American Business started competing around the world, head on head. Our Main Objective is to promote u. S. Businesses abroad, to bring in investment, build those linkages with the ones in the host country. Americas power is based primarily, number one, on our economy. Yes, on our principles and values, free market democracy, but also on our economy. As long as our economy has been in good shape, as long as we have been the number one economy in the world and a strong, prospering economy, weve been strong diplomatically, militarily, and politically. [voiceover] the role Foreign Service plays in the economy has grown over several administrations. Theres this feeling that diplomats were not interested, not concerned with American Business and i think thats one thing that president reagan got across his message, look, use us, use the embassies and they can help. That started a new, broader base relationship. For a long time now, american president s have understood and secretaries of state, that weve got to be very active in promoting american exports and american commercial and business interests around the world. Its a competitive global landscape. The future of the United States in many ways depends on the health of our economy. [voiceover] with over 10 million american jobs supported by International Trade, the business role of the Foreign Service is expanding in surprising ways. One of the issues that i had to deal with in yemen was trying to secure the ability of the Washington State apple growers to import apples into yemen, which im sure you did not understand was one of our major Foreign Policy challenges. I know coal is not the most popular subject but in india, they mine a lot of coal, and they mine it in a very inefficient way and i worked with the chairman of coal india to persuade him to persuade the ministry of coal that u. S. Products were significantly better than these cheap, fast products that china was offering. And in the end, this company in indiana got a multimillion dollar, 12year contract that was not just equipment but also maintenance, and i knew i was saving people jobs because this was work that really happened in the United States. [voiceover] diplomats have been put to work on behalf of American Companies to open markets and create a level Playing Field the world over. This is a core of what we do. Call it economic diplomacy, its how do we open markets to u. S. Products, how do we make sure americans have a fair competition when theyre bidding on contracts overseas . How do we make sure they have a leg up when theyre competing with other companies . American Companies Run into all kinds of problems. Problems with local law and regulation which they may not understand. Knowledge of the marketplace, knowledge of Business Partners while an American Embassy on the ground has a better chance of being on top of those questions, being able to answer them, being able to guide an american firm. The european union, based in brussels, their executive branch, the commission, was looking to improve safety for young motorcycle bike riders. In doing so, they focused their regulation on the size of a motorcycle engine. And they placed that size at an interesting level that would only have affected one manufacturer, harleydavidson. [voiceover] their entire range of motorcycles would have been frozen out of the european market. [voiceover] because we were based on ground, had excellent relationships with the commission, we were able to bring some technical arguments to bear from our Regulatory Community and from harleydavidson and from the european manufacturers association. [voiceover] chuck ford used diplomacy to support a classic american brand. If you do it right, you can really avoid many conflicts that arise because of the lack of trust, the lack of access, and the lack of respect for each other. [voiceover] although practiced for centuries, the term Public Diplomacy has only been in use since the 1960s. Public diplomacy differs from traditional diplomacy because it deals directly with the public. We have the power of our ideals, the ability to make others want what you want, theres tremendous power in our example, projecting what goes on inside this country outside as a part of our Public Diplomacy. Were not talking about diplomacy between states to states, were talking about diplomacy in which you communicate with the public. This is sometimes called nowadays, twitter diplomacy. Thats one of the Main Responsibilities of our embassies around the world is to communicate americas principles and values but its the job of the embassies to promote those and to explain those to the countries in which theyre located and to be americas face, if you will, in those countries. [voiceover] in 1985, ed perkins was serving in liberia. South africa was on the verge of civil war, and apartheid was the law of the land. The apartheid government was a government based on a racial doctrine of trying to keep everybody separate. It meant white minority rule, it meant oppressive rule, it meant very, very Draconian Police operations. It meant pass laws that prevented people of color from coming into the urban areas unless they had a permit to do so. [voiceover] perkins was called back to washington so president reagan could consider him as the next ambassador to south africa. [voiceover] he came over and he shook my hand and said, thanks for coming to my house. He said, well, you know George Schultz has asked me to interview you as a possible next ambassador, if i send you, what are you going to do . Well i winged it, i said well, the South Africans need to know that the United States does not agree with this system, and that if they want relations with us, theyre gonna have to change. Its gonna be my job to tell them that. [voiceover] he was quickly appointed as our first black ambassador to south africa. I go to south africa with no uncertainties about the rightness of our objectives and no illusions about the difficulty of our achieving them. I go with the utmost of goodwill toward all South Africans. He was the ideal american professional ambassador for those days and he was as a black american, a clear representation of the diversity of this nation, this successful nation to the people of south africa. [voiceover] not everyone would welcome his efforts at Public Diplomacy. Well the South African president at the time, p. W. Botha, was a fellow out of central casting in the hollywood sense. He was tough, he was direct, he was blunt. I cant comment on the experience that ambassador perkins had. When they first met, i suspect it was pretty chilly. I said well mr. President , im happy to be here. Im gonna travel a lot in south africa. And get to know the people and he stuck his finger in my face, he said, you didnt hear me, did you . I dont want you traveling around the country. I dont want you getting involved in our affairs. He began to rant and rave and his aides were visibly shaken. [voiceover] traveling extensively across the country, perkins reached out to meet South Africans of all races. To ease fears about rule by the majority black population and promote american values. I remember traveling with him in the wine country outside cape town, which is the essential home of afrikaanerdom. Seeing the kindness but the terribly offensive condescension with which some of the afrikaaners dealt with this tall, very black american. It was a very hostile encounter all the time even though they feigned courtesy. Generally people were very polite as long as one didnt question what was going on in their country. people yelling we are wanting to say, we determine our own destiny. The black leadership, about five of them, had taken a vow just before i came, that because i was appointed by ronald reagan, they would not cooperate with me. Blacks were skeptical as hell about the United States. If we were really sincere, the longer i stayed, the more convinced they became that we really were trying to make a change. The black south African Leadership finally decided that they would cooperate with me. Desmond tutu was the last one to come around and he came around and said well, listen mister, youre a black person you cant be all bad. Ed and his team, and im very proud that i was part of that, were engaged in a struggle to not only defeat apartheid, but also to help prepare the majority of South Africans to advance and take responsibility for running their country which they had been denied for hundreds of years. intense music [voiceover] there are challenges that go beyond one on one relations with individual countries. These regional and global issues require a multilateral approach. Well let me let you in on a little secret. Other ambassadors and other Diplomatic Missions look to the United States for leadership. United nations deals with world political and economic social issues. We need an organization that allows us to pool resources from all over the world. It is a structural impossibility for any one country even a country as powerful as the United States to deal with Climate Change, to deal with terrorism by itself. [voiceover] issues like terrorism and Climate Change defy borders. Only by working toward a common goal with many countries can these challenges be resolved. Part of what we will do on a transnational issue is explain what the local context is. If the saudis dont appreciate Climate Change because their economy is based on hydrocarbons, how do you explain that to the saudis . You know, if the sea levels rise, you lose jeddah. [voiceover] u. S. Diplomat Richard Benedick garnered worldwide support to tackle a global issue, the growing hole in the ozone. Two scientists at the university of cal tech discovered in an experiment done in a snare drumsized pressure containment that ozone in the upper atmosphere would be destroyed by chlorofluorocarbon chemicals. This was a research Lab Experiment but the implications for the planet, for the entire planet were dramatic. [voiceover] the Foreign Service played a pivotal role early on in terms of helping to frame what the issue was going to be, helping to define who are the logical partners here, and who are the key challenges that were going to face. [voiceover] benedicks efforts resulted in the 1987 montreal protocol, signed by 129 countries. His work positioned the United States as a leading voice on Global Environmental issues. And it still serves as the framework for discussing Climate Change today. Kofi annan, the former secretary general, has referred to it as the single most Important International agreement ever reached. applause [voiceover] the world came together and agreed to replace chlorofluorocarbon, which was creating ozone holes. It is the model for the programs that we now need to deal with the Global Warming problem that we have in the world. [voiceover] as the Foreign Service closes in on its first century, it faces no shortage of challenges. More and more, america relies on diplomats to advance our interests, but the profession remains misunderstood. [voiceover] its easy to understand the 101st airborne when they go out and they won a big battle for america, its not as easy to understand the battles that are won every day in the field by americas diplomats abroad. The Foreign Service does a great deal for the United States, but sometimes its hard to tell because were actually not in the United States. We need to be better advocates for what we do overseas in support of American Business and i think thatll come with time. We have a lot of challenges ahead. As an institution, we need to do a better job and we know that, of letting americans know what it is we do for america overseas. The tempo and the pace has changed very, very significantly. Modern Communications Media has presented an instantaneous challenge to diplomats. [voiceover] the idea that you would have internet in a suitcase, and that the state department would be fundamentally steering that kind of development is truly a watershed moment in american diplomacy. We can help nascent movements, democratic movements, protest movements. intense piano music [voiceover] increasingly, top diplomatic jobs go to political appointees and not to Foreign Service officers. Were about to vote on a totally unqualified individual to be ambassador to a nation which is very important to our National Security interests. Why do we choose ambassadors . Some of them are supremely gifted, College President s, corporate ceos, Foundation President s who have unparalleled qualifications. Others, the main qualification is they contributed to the president s campaign, whether its in the Democratic Party or republican party, and i think it really depreciates the process of naming and selecting ambassadors. When we appoint an ambassador who cant speak the local language and isnt even sure who the Prime Minister is or what party he or she belongs to, we look unserious. Its important that you have both career Foreign Service people involved in diplomacy and political people who can represent the president s political interests. Thats important, thats the basis of our democracy. [voiceover] but concerns linger over the appearance of patronage and its impact on u. S. Foreign policy interests. Since the kennedy adminstration, 70 percent of our ambassadors roughly have been career Foreign Service, roughly 30 percent political. I wonder if thats too high a percentage for political appointees, because i think in the main, people whove invested their entire professional life in language, in area experience, and knowing how diplomacy is done are probably going to be more effective for the United States. [voiceover] to be successful in the next century, the Foreign Service needs the best and the brightest. All of our diplomats come to the Foreign Service institute at the very beginning of their career from the earliest days when they raise their hand and take the oath of office, throughout their tenure with the department of state we teach them about the countries theyre going to serve in, the languages they will have to speak, and the skills theyll need. The Foreign Service has been changing a lot. Theres a lot of people who are second or third career, a lot of former military, a lot of lawyers, and its more diverse than it used to be, for sure. They said that my class was the first one where the gender balance, i believe we had one more female than male. [voiceover] a diverse Foreign Service is an Important Message to broadcast to the world. Weve done a great job, but theres still a lot more work to be done in ensuring that americas face continues to be the face of diversity and the face of power in the world. [voiceover] our ability to influence events is more urgent than ever, but how do we adapt our Foreign Service to this new century . It is an institution of the 20th century. It needs to become a Global Organization of the 21st century. The volatility of the world, the dangers of the world today in terms of terrorism, sectarian conflict, civil wars, strife, so forth are really presenting a whole set of new challenges. Diplomacy has a place, it is the Foreign Policy tool of the 21st century. [voiceover] what it means to be a diplomat is being redefined. What is acceptable risk . What makes a diplomat qualified, and what tools we should rely on . This century will see more changes, and more engagement with the world, and the men and women of the Foreign Service will make sure america plays the leading role. [voiceover] great decisions is produced by the Foreign Policy association, in association with thompson reuters. Funding for great decisions is provided by the nelson b. Delavan foundation, pricewaterhousecoopers llp, and the Una Chapman Cox foundation. Great decisions is americas largest Discussion Program on global affairs. Discussion groups meet in community centers, libraries, places of worship, and homes across the country to discuss global issues with their community. Participants read the eighttopic briefing book, meet to discuss each topic, and complete a ballot which shares their views with congress. To start or join a Discussion Group in your community, visit greatdecisions. Org, or call 18004775836. intense music