Ambassador Katherine H. Peterson Director of Foreign Service Institute Training New Generation of Diplomats by John Shaw When Katherine H. Peterson, then the U.S. ambassador to Lesotho, traveled to Washington in the summer of 2001 for an interview with Secretary of State Colin Powell for the job of director of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), she had an experience that most job applicants can only dream about. Her primary interest and passion coincided almost perfectly with that of her prospective boss. Additionally, the famously courtly and affable Powell made it very clear to Peterson that they saw eye to eye on an issue of paramount importance to him. Both Peterson and Powell believe that U.S. diplomacy can be advanced by vigorous, career-long training programs and that the United States has paid too little attention to these programs in the past. ìSecretary Powell said training was very important to him and that he was looking for someone at FSI who was energetic and enthusiastic and willing to run with the ball,î Peterson said in an interview with The Washington Diplomat in her office at FSIís sprawling, leafy campus in Arl ington, Va. ìI believe I have run with the ball.î Peterson said she is trying to solidify Powellís commitment to training and management while molding FSIís programs to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Riceís focus on transformational diplomacy. ìOne of Secretary Riceís watchwords is transformational diplomacy. Weíre looking at ways to make sure our classes are pointed in that direction, and we are teaching skills that will enable our employees to conduct transformational diplomacy,î she said. Peterson explained that transformational diplomacy seeks to encourage and support governments to adopt more democratic institutions, with a view toward creating a more stable world that will benefit everyone. ìWe have already been doing that to some extent, but the secretary wants us to do much more. This requires additional skills that many Foreign Service employees donít have at the momentófor instance, how to run a program and deal with grantsófor which we must now train,î Peterson said. Informal, engaging and energetic, Peterson is a native of Pasadena, Calif. She has an undergraduate degree in history from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and speaks French and Spanish. Peterson joined the Foreign Service in 1976 after three years in the Peace Corps as a volunteer in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She began her State Department career in the Bureau of African Affairs, working as a regional affairs officer, a staff assistant to the assistant secretary, a desk officer, and a press spokeswoman. Peterson served abroad in Jamaica and Mexico and held senior jobs in Washington, including as managing director of overseas citizen services. In an important career development, she was selected for senior training and attended the National War College at Fort McNair. She said the program convinced her that she could compete with the best in the Foreign Service and aspire to reach the senior ranks of U.S. diplomacy. She served from 1993 to 1996 as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia. Then Peterson served as ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho from 1998 to 2001. On June 18, 2001, Peterson became the 18th director of the Foreign Service Institute. As FSI director, she holds the rank of assistant secretary of state. The Foreign Service Institute was established on March 13, 1947, to provide training for Foreign Service officers throughout their careers. Itís the federal governmentís chief training institution for officers and support personnel of the U.S. foreign affairs community. Put simply, it prepares U.S. diplomats and other government officials to implement and explain U.S. foreign policy. Located at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center on a 72-acre campus in Arlington, Va., FSI looks like a typical college campus, albeit one with older and more serious students. FSI offers more than 450 coursesóincluding about 70 languagesóto some 50,000 enrollees each year from the State Department and more than 40 other government agencies and the military. FSIís programs help to develop skills for administrative, consular, economic, commercial, political and public diplomacy officers. Courses range from half a day to two years and are designed to promote successful performance, ease the adjustment to other countries and cultures, and bolster leadership and management capabilities. FSI comprises several schools: language studies, professional and area studies, applied information technology, and leadership and management. The Leadership and Management School was created in 1999 and was a huge favorite of Powellís, who identified frequent training as an important boost to his career in the military. The schoolís senior seminar, which runs for nine months, is the most advanced professional development program open to senior foreign policy and national security officials. ìThe primary thing I wanted to do was make training an integral part of peopleís careers and not something you did to get your next assignment,î Peterson said, adding that FSI is constantly refining its classes. ìAll of our courses are works in progress. Weíre flexible. Weíre always trying to make courses better and more relevant. We teach very practical, how-to skills.î FSI has expanded its training programs since Sept. 11, 2001, especially in language studies, which is of special interest to Peterson. ìOur overarching goal is to get the right people, with the right skills, in the right place at the right time to carry out Americaís foreign policy. One of the skills that is the hallmark of effective diplomacy is the ability to use a foreign language to carry out our responsibilities,î Peterson wrote in an essay last year. Peterson said sheís convinced of the critical role that high-level foreign language capabilities play in U.S. foreign policy, adding that the U.S. foreign affairs community should confront the problem of Americaís linguistic limitations. ìLanguage training is time consuming, expensive, difficult and the resulting proficiency is fragileóuse it or lose it.î Peterson said the immediate challenge for U.S. diplomats in the post-Sept. 11 world is to have sufficient language skills to persuasively convey Americaís message to often skeptical and even hostile foreign audiences, as well to understand the positions of both allies and adversaries and advance U.S. policy goals and interests. ìWe want our people to be able to go on Al-Jazeera and be able to do a ëCrossfireí or ëMeet the Pressí show in Arabic,î she said. Peterson is a passionate advocate for the Foreign Service and said it remains a top-flight organization despite the damage inflicted by a hiring freeze in the mid-1990s. For several years, more than twice as many people left the Foreign Service as were hired. ìThatís a great way to save money over the short term, but for an organization that is up or out, thatís a long-term disaster,î she said. ìLike the military, in the Foreign Service you need a certain amount of experience to be effective.î Powell launched the so-called Diplomatic Readiness Initiative in 2001, which brought in more than 1,000 new Foreign Service officers over three years. Peterson said this infusion of new talent has been very important, as was Powellís conviction that skills must be constantly upgraded. ìI feel Powellís most significant legacy is the cultural change in the [State] Department to embrace training as a regular part of a career. Thatís been a really important change,î Peterson said. ìWe now have mandatory leadership and training courses throughout peopleís careers. You develop leadership skills that you can use throughout your career. The junior and mid-level people love these mandatory courses because their supervisor canít say no.î Petersonís life as the director of FSI is packed with management meetings, program development projects, travel, and public events. She meets each week with the deans of FSIís various schools and the undersecretary for management, who is her direct boss. She also has a monthly meeting with the director-general of the Foreign Service. Peterson tries to address all of the courses that FSI conducts with Foreign Service officers brought back to Washington. She also makes it a point to participate in special events at FSI such as swearing-in ceremonies for new employees, awards ceremonies, special programs at the schools, orientation programs, and policy roundtables. She sits on a number of State Depar tment working groups, such as the Board of Foreign Service, the Domestic Emergency Action Committee, the National Security Education Program Board, and the eGovernment Program Board. An informal mentor to many Foreign Service officers, Peterson keeps an open-door policy at her office, so people can stop by to discuss their career options. She also travels to visit posts abroad and attend regional conferences sponsored by various bureaus. Peterson said she has loved all the jobs sheís had in the Foreign Serviceóboth in Washington and overseas. ìI have been very fortunate to have already had my dream jobóthis oneófor four years. I would like to serve abroad again. Representing the president and the American people is a huge honor and privilege.î John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.