Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Maura Harty Remarks at the Department of State's Intern Summit on "A Career in the Foreign Service"


AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs
Maura Harty
Remarks to the 2007 Intern Summit
“A Career in the Foreign Service”

Loy Henderson Conference Room
HST

July 30, 2007, 4:25 – 4:50 p.m.
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INTRODUCTION: A CAREER IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE

Good afternoon!  I am pleased to be here at this summit, to have this opportunity to welcome future leaders to the Department of State, and tell you a little bit about the work that I am involved in as a Foreign Service Officer, and as the head of state’s Bureau of Consular Affairs. 

I have to say right off the bat: this is a recruitment speech.  I want to recruit you for the State Department!

I have been a Foreign Service officer for 26 years, and frankly, short of being a multimillionaire, there is nothing else I would rather have done with the last quarter century.  I love this job and feel passionately about it, partly because it’s exciting, but mostly because it offers you the precious opportunity to do good and to be good.

When I joined the Department of State right out of college, I could hardly have known what adventures awaited me, or what I would be asked to do over the course of a variety of assignments.  I have had the privilege of meeting national leaders on occasion, the great, the good and the sometimes disappointing.  I’ve attended a fair number of fancy receptions, drafted classified reporting cables, and hopscotched the globe on pretty much every airline – and even air force one!  But I have also visited American citizens in foreign jails in the middle of the night.  I landed in a war zone during combat to help Americans there find their way to safety.  I went to Somalia when we still had an embassy there to conduct an evacuation exercise, and led the team that reopened our embassy in Lithuania after a 40-year absence.  I have scoured police stations and hotels searching for missing American citizens at the request of worried relatives far away.  I have secured the return of abducted children to their anxious parents – a gratifying experience that almost defies description.

As an Ambassador, I had the incredible privilege of serving as our nation’s representative to Paraguay, a fledgling democracy, and helping it find its way, despite a coup attempt and a vice presidential assassination, to a strengthened respect for its institutions of government and its constitution. 

Along the way I have been fortunate to learn priceless lessons about leadership and public service working directly for three Secretaries of State:  George P. Shultz, Warren Christopher and Colin Powell.  But I can say with certainty that the greatest privilege I have enjoyed during this career is the opportunity to help people in need. 

CONSULAR CAREERS

Since I am a Consular Officer, I’d like to talk about what Consular Officers do.  I know that the terms “Consular Officer” or “Foreign Service Officer” or “Diplomat” don’t necessarily bring to mind clear mental pictures the way “lawyer” or “journalist” or even “politician” do.  The truth is that the consular corps of the United States has a long, honorable and dramatic history of service to this nation.

We have had consuls longer than we have had presidents.  Consular officers have been serving the United States and protecting the welfare of American citizens since 1780, when the first American consul general, William Palfrey, set sail for his posting in France.  Unfortunately, he never made it.  In an early example of the risks involved in a Foreign Service career, his ship sank and he was lost at sea.  But congress quickly followed up by sending another consul, Thomas Barclay, and the Consular Service was born. 

Sadly, the Foreign Service is still dangerous.  There are plaques in the entrance hall of the State Department that list the names of over 300 colleagues who’ve given their lives in the course of duty, whether through disease, natural disaster, accidents, or terrorism.  We added the most recent name, Margaret Alexander, last year.
 
Consular officers provide services around the cycle of life, from certifying the birth of new American citizens abroad, to assisting family members when an American dies overseas.  We deal with issues that matter to people in deeply personal ways:  citizenship, international adoption, illness, destitution, international child abduction, voter registration, evacuation in a crisis – to name a few.  We work with and get to know police and social workers, search and rescue teams, hospital workers and friendly hotel owners willing to give an American a room overnight on our word that the bill will be paid.  We help our fellow citizens get through some of the most stressful or frightening times of their lives.  We provide them not only a helping hand, but an understanding word. 

We do this work around the clock, around the calendar and around the world, often under difficult and even dangerous conditions.  In fact, we often head into tough spots just as others are leaving.  We headed to Lebanon last summer to evacuate 14,870 Americans, and literally into the eye of hurricane Wilma in 2005 to help 25,000 Americans return home from the Yucatan. 

To give you an idea of what we do in a crisis, let me take the example of the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004.  Right away we stood up a 24-hour task force, staffed by people from around the bureau.  The task force answered over 35,000 telephone calls.  15,034 of those were about the welfare of a specific American citizen.  We resolved each and every one of them.  Here is a sample of the kinds of calls we got:

  • A caller who asked whether the tsunami had struck Quito, Ecuador;
  • A woman who inquired about her daughter, who was on her honeymoon in Puce, which turned out to be ground zero for the tsunami;
  • A caller who informed us that she had not spoken to her daughter in three years, but who wondered if, just maybe, the reason her daughter hadn’t called that Christmas was because she was in Thailand.

Whenever an American is in crisis abroad – be it natural disaster, war, or the individual but no less anguishing crisis of being the victim of a crime in a country far from friends and family – Consular Officers are there to demonstrate our central commitment to providing assistance to American citizens. 

I once received a note from a mother after we had helped her daughters who had been caught in a terrorist incident.  I called the woman to thank her for the note and to ask how her girls were doing.  She told me in that conversation that we had cared about her children before she knew she had to, and that she had no idea that her government would be there for her in that way.

Now I would like to turn briefly to our role in protecting our nation’s borders and facilitating international travel.  How many of you have a passport?  If you do, you obtained it through the Bureau of Consular Affairs, since we have the responsibility for determining who is entitled to receive a U.S. passport.  It is one of the most valuable documents on the planet, not only because it gains American citizens access to this country, but also because it serves as an unquestionable credential that you are a citizen of this great nation. 

Demand for passports is at unprecedented levels.  Last year we issued a record 12.1 million passports, and will probably adjudicate over 17 million this year.  The passports we issue include biometrics and data stored on an embedded microchip, making them the most advanced and secure we’ve ever issued.

U.S. visas are also valuable documents.  They allow foreigners to visit our country for a variety of reasons, including tourism, business, or study.  In the case of immigrant visas, they are the first step in obtaining permission to reside permanently in the United States.  We have the responsibility for adjudicating visa applications in a manner that protects U.S. borders while continuing to ensure that the U.S. remains a welcoming nation to legitimate visitors. 

We describe our efforts to enhance U.S. border security while encouraging legitimate travel as “secure borders and open doors.”  When we make this country more secure for American citizens, we also make it more secure for those who would visit us. 

It is essential that we continue to encourage and welcome foreign visitors to the United States – it is an investment in our national security and part of what makes the United States what we are.  The diversity we always have welcomed makes us stronger.  When we welcome people from all around the world, we learn things from them.  Millions of people study, invest, spend money here annually.  They learn what we already know – that the best commercial for America is America; and they go home with a profound, eyewitness appreciation for our country. 

On a related note, I would urge all of you to consider studying abroad in the future.  Study abroad expands not only your horizons, but also the horizons of the people you meet.  Each of you who studies abroad becomes an Ambassador for America, helping to shape foreign attitudes about the United States.  This is how international understanding is born.

A CALL TO PUBLIC SERVICE

In addition to wanting to encourage you to study abroad at some point, I hope I have given you a better understanding of the work of the Bureau of Consular Affairs and a glimpse into one aspect of the work of the Foreign Service.  You will have a panel immediately following these remarks that will go into other aspects of the Civil and Foreign Service here at state.  I hope for my part that I have given you a sense of why the Foreign Service may someday be the right career for you.    

I know you have had the opportunity this summer to hear from all sorts of people who serve in the United States government at your respective agencies.  I hope that there are many things that they have said, that I have said, to excite you about the possible ways you can serve your country.  Use the information you have heard, the experiences and possibilities that they have described, take it home with you and think about where your unique talents could best be put to use.

Not too long ago, an American organization called the Council on Excellence in Government released a study in which young people said they were not too interested in going into public service any longer.  When asked why, they responded overwhelmingly, “no one ever asked us.” 

I am taking that excuse away today.  I am asking you – all of you – to join the ranks of those who serve our nation.

Every day I do my best to lead well the part of the state department that is my area of responsibility.  We are over 9,000 strong in the consular world, working in 65 languages in 219 offices around the globe.  Together, we believe that good leadership is founded on the simple principles of common sense and hard work.  Leaders maintain the highest ethical standards.  We do what is right.  We have integrity, and model it for others.  We believe we must confront, not avoid, tough problems.  We have a personal commitment to our people and our mission. 

In his 1961 State of the Union Address, President John F. Kennedy called for a reinvigorated public service in America, urging,

Let the public service be a proud and lively career.  And let every man and woman who works in any area of our government, in any branch, at any level, be able to say with pride and with honor in future years: "I served the United States Government in that hour of our nation's need."

That need is constant and universal.  Every nation will always need leaders to continue the service to its citizens.  If you want to make a difference to your country, touch the lives of others, and develop the leader within you, I hope you will seriously consider a career in public service. 

Those of us currently in public service also have a responsibility to you, to nurture and grow future leaders such as yourselves.  I believe that all of us in public service should be dedicated to something greater than ourselves.  It is our duty to exercise leadership, and to serve with integrity, honesty and decency.  And it is our privilege to serve, not with the expectation of praise or in a quest for glory, but simply for the chance to touch people’s lives – to make a difference. 

I hope that each of you will find a purpose that excites a passion for leadership and excellence as you make your own career and life decisions.  You are already off to such an impressive start.  It is up to each one of you to determine how you can best apply your talents.  As you continue that exploration, I hope you will consider public service.

Now I would be happy to answer your questions.