fp21 Applauds Blinken’s Modernization Steps but Urges Deeper Reforms

Secretary of State Antony Blinken introduces the Modernizing Diplomacy Initiative at the Foreign Service Institute on October 27

By: Dan Spokojny | October 28, 2021

“We have a window before us to make historic, lasting change,” began Secretary of State Antony Blinken while announcing the Modernizing Diplomacy Initiative yesterday at the Foreign Service Institute.

Advocates for a strong Department of State should celebrate the Modernizing Diplomacy Initiative. This package of reforms demonstrates Blinken’s commitment to follow through on his promise to invest in the bureaucracy and reward innovation. He and his team should be commended.

Yet, taken as a whole, the Initiative feels a bit more routine than modern. While everything in the speech was positive -- there were at least 21 deliverables organized across five “pillars” for reform – the strategy may not add up to the “historic” change Blinken suggests. Let’s review his announcement:

The first pillar for reform is to build diplomatic capacity and expertise. Blinken is launching a new Bureau for Cyberspace and Digital Policy, to be led by an ambassador at large. The new bureau will enable State to play a more active role in cyberspace diplomacy, making permanent the ten-year-old Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Security at the Department of State. Separately, Blinken plans to name a Special Envoy for Emerging Technology, also report to the Deputy Secretary of State. This move deviates from Secretary Pompeo’s plan to combine Cyberspace and Emerging Technology into a single bureau that would have sat in State’s arms control under secretariat.

In addition to these new offices, Blinken said he will emphasize hiring additional expertise in STEM fields, climate change, health security, multilateral issues, and economic affairs.

The second pillar for modernization is to elevate new voices in diplomacy and encourage innovation. Here, Blinken announced a new “policy ideas channel” to encourage State Department employees to communicate with State’s leadership. The Secretary’s Policy Planning staff will vet new proposals, which must detail previous efforts to push the policy through regular channels.

Further, Blinken promised to revitalize the dissent channel, committing to read and respond to every message received. Taken together, Blinken is signaling to the bureaucracy that new ideas and constructive dissent will be welcomed, and even rewarded.

In the third pillar – enabling a diverse workforce – State is reducing the number of assignment restrictions that exclude officers from serving in countries in which they have familial ties. Blinken promised an upgraded appeals process as well for those still subject to restrictions. Employee groups have long targeted these restrictions as discriminatory and counterproductive.

Blinken announced that he is increasing the number of Senior Executive Service positions by 10 percent to provide more pathways for leadership for the Civil Service. Blinken is also seeking funding for a long-sought training float to ensure that sending officials to training will not deprive the Department from operating at normal staffing levels.

Blinken previewed that new Office of Diversity and Inclusion will release its preliminary action plan soon. State has already taken steps to bring more transparency to the bidding process for Foreign Service officers – though from what I hear from colleagues inside the Department, the assignments process this year was as confusing as ever as new workarounds were adopted to subvert well-intentioned new requirements. Finally, Blinken is creating a new retention unit in the talent management office.

The fourth pillar is on modernizing technology, communications, and analytical capabilities. It is illuminating that Blinken lumped in “analytical capabilities” with IT and communications. As I have written, it is unfortunate that the Department views analytical capabilities as a technical tool rather than a core decision-making skill. The choice to put the new Center for Analytics in the management bureau reflects this same limited thinking. Analytical capabilities belong in the “capacity and expertise” pillar.

On the positive side, Blinken’s intention to seek a 50% increase in the IT budget for State is a  vital investment in the future of the Department. The IT infrastructure at State is badly outdated, generating massive inefficiencies and dangerous security vulnerabilities.

Blinken also spoke at length about needing to invest in lessons learned processes and announced that State will be undertaking a review of the Afghanistan withdrawal. The State Department has not demonstrated an ability to learn lessons from its successes and failures, but I hope this review process will heed best practice and demand changes to processes and behaviors.

The final pillar of Blinken’s Modernization Initiative is to reinvigorate diplomacy and public engagement. fp21 has forcefully advocated upgrading U.S. public diplomacy in our recent report published the Atlantic Council. Blinken said he is asking senior leaders to prioritize domestic engagement, and that he is working with Congress to improve risk mitigation procedures that make in-person diplomacy nearly impossible in many dangerous places.

In sum, the reforms announced by Secretary Antony Blinken are a welcome step forward for the Department of State. Creating change inside the country’s oldest executive agency is an arduous process with minimal political rewards.

With that said, achieving Biden’s stated goal is of elevating diplomacy to a leading role in U.S. foreign policy is still a distant objective. Deep, structural challenges flagged by recent reviews of U.S. Diplomacy remain unaddressed: the clearance process continues to produce least-common-denominator consensus rather than maximize impact; promotion procedures that incentivize staffing up and risk aversion; a culture which makes organizational learning nearly impossible; high rates of political appointees undermine the role of professional diplomatic expertise, and; the decision-making process relies too-heavily on instincts and opinions at the expense of the best available evidence.

Much work remains to be done.