U.S. Ambassadors talk ‘scarcity’, East Asia

Students interested in foreign affairs had the chance to meet two United States Department of State diplomats on Friday.

Former U.S. Ambassadors Hans Klemm and John Nay, who served in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the Republic of Suriname, respectively, visited the sixth annual Spring Conference for the International Public Affairs Association, a student-led organization for graduate students at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Klemm, an IU alumnus, delivered the keynote speech.

“We’re really proud to have him back on campus,” said Jacob Surface, a second-year graduate student who helped organize the event. “It’s great for SPEA students to see, because that’s what we aspire to.”

The conference’s theme was “Policy Challenges in a Period of Scarcity.” Klemm, who now serves as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the state department’s Bureau of Human Resources, discussed hiring trends in the Department of State and how the current financial situation could affect those trends.

“It’s not a smooth line by any means in how many people we hire each year,” Klemm said.

He said the Department of State currently employs roughly 70,000 workers, the majority of whom are foreign nationals who work in consulates and embassies abroad. He said approximately 14,000 people work as foreign service officers overseas, and approximately 11,000 people work as civil service officers in the U.S.

Although hiring trends are currently unsteady, Klemm said the number of workers employed does not detract from the department’s goals.

“Our mission is to promote the national interests of the U.S.,” he said. “That mission by any means has not shrunk.”

Klemm said roughly 400 employees leave the department each year. This attrition rate has remained relatively stable, he said. 

However, he said the number of employees hired each year has varied during the last 20 years.

Klemm said in the 1990s, the attrition rate was higher than the hiring rate, but in 2007, hiring and attrition rates were about even.

This year, he said, attrition will once again exceed hiring. He said four major areas determine these rates: the Bureau of Human Resources, the department’s regional bureaus for the different geographic regions, the Office of Management and Budget and Congress.

Klemm said Congress plays the most important role because it determines financial resources for the department and determines the number of positions available for workers. This is especially difficult, he said, given the current budget negotiations.

“Without Congress’ actions, we wouldn’t be able to hire anybody,” he said. “We’ll just have to see the outcome of the (Obama) administration’s negotiations with Congress in the coming years.”

After discussing these hiring trends, Klemm discussed how they could affect future U.S. work overseas, specifically in the Asia-Pacific region.

He said the U.S. is experiencing a “pivot to Asia,” meaning that more foreign policy priorities are focused on East Asia and less on the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe.

Klemm said this area is an important focus because it is the world’s fastest-growing economy.

“If we are to participate in this very vital and strong area of economic growth, the U.S. has to be there,” Klemm said.

He said another reason Asia is important is because North Korea poses a threat to security for the U.S. and its allies.

The military has taken action in the Pacific by deploying 2,500 Marines to Australia, Klemm said. He said the U.S. also has troops stationed in Korea, Japan, Hawaii and Guam.

Klemm said America’s economic presence amd cross-border investments in the region have also increased during the last few years since President Obama created an initiative to double U.S. exports around the world.

He said one aspect of U.S. relations with Asia, however, still needs improvement.
“The area that still needs to see more significant action is in our diplomatic profile in Asia,” he said. “Given the importance of this rebalancing to Asia, we hope that Congress will allow us to put additional personnel in the region.”

Klemm and Nay said they hope some of the future personnel will come from IU.
Nay, who serves as the diplomat in residence for the Midwest, is a foreign service officer stationed in Chicago who helps recruit new employees for the Department of State. His region includes Indiana.

“We want the foreign service to be drawn from people from all over the U.S. and people of all backgrounds,” Nay said. “This is one of the most active student bodies in the Midwest.”

Klemm said more than 220 IU graduates work in the department, including four current ambassadors.

He said recruiting more IU students to work in the department will help resolve some of the hiring problems he discussed during his address.

“Given that Indiana is such an important supplier of personnel for the State Department, we think it’s important for us as recruiters to maintain a presence here and try to find ways to strengthen that partnership,” Klemm said. “We’re looking for an innovative and diverse workforce, and we need Hoosiers to be part of it.”