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Report
from The U.S. State Department to
March 12 2004 On October 1, 2003, I began my Fellowship at
the U.S. State Department with the SMART project, a major initiative of
the Secretary of State under the Under Secretary for Management.[1]
On Monday, October 20, I began working with the Office of eDiplomacy in
the Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM). When interviewing for
an assignment in Main State (the Harry S. Truman Building at 2201 C St
NW), found many opportunities in various bureaus. To have the broadest
exposure at State for both me and IEEE, I chose these two shops, since
their missions embrace all of State, and are not restricted to one bureau. The U.S. State Department’s alias "The Foggy Bottom" is apt. Nothing is as it appears. But then, again, it is. It is
an institution with sprawling interests and influence. Management scope
tends to be vertical, bureau by bureau, and rarely State-wide. With each
foreign post essentially a kingdom unto itself, the lines of authority are
complex and often difficult to discern. For such a decentralized
organization, much is expected for a relatively small investment. Foremost in authority and influence are the Foreign
Service Officers, or FSOs. They rotate assignments every two years,
leaving little time before seeking their next assignment. Associations run
deep. Knowing the thread of the FSO’s career – where and what type of
postings – can tell much about the direction of policy and style of
management. The written word is the currency of the Department.
The more formal the document, the more cherished the word. Inevitably,
these formal records are often the product of policy decisions. The number
of approvals required for formal documents are notoriously high and
difficult to obtain. Some documents require as many as 52 clearances. The SMART project is designed to simplify the
clearance process as well as many other manually intensive processes. My
task is to chronicle the project’s innovations. Elevated from project status to a full-fledge
program in September 2003, the Office of eDiplomacy helps bridge the gap
between the technologist and the business user. This past week the
office staged a two-day conference in support of the virtual task force
recently created to unite diplomats who are using technology to make
diplomacy more efficient and effective. The Office is lead by a senior FSO
who has started up three previous offices at State and just finished a
tour of duty as the chief operations officer for a 300-person bureau. With
a small staff of detailees in addition to one Engineering Fellow and one
Science (AIP) Fellow, each of us has sought out our own activities that
best support the Office. Mine include the following: The following activities are related to IEEE and
IEEE-USA specifically: I am deeply thankful for the opportunity and eager
to answer any questions you may have. Sincerely, Emily Sopensky Notes [1] The
following Tuesday I headed for Shanghai – not under the Department’s auspices,
but instead for a prior commitment to the IEEE ITS Council. On my way
back, I stopped first in Austin, Texas for a few days because I chaired
the IEEE-USA & Central Texas Section Technology Policy Forum: "Globalization
& Technology: A Dialogue on Policy Issues." Held on October 17, 2003, the forum was content-rich, full-day of
speakers and panelist discussing major issues of importance to U.S. engineers and policymakers. [2] SIPRNet is a DoD-sponsored web-based portal for classified information. Through the Office of eDiplomacy, posts are encouraged to use
a homegrown tool to set up a SIPRNet website as a means of easily accessing such information and most importantly sharing this strategic
data with others who need such information for analysis. [TOP] [FELLOWSHIP ALUMNI] [ENGINEERING
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