A Push for More Career Ambassadors

What's the proper ratio of career ambassadors to those who are political appointees? Since the Kennedy administration, about a third of ambassadorial appointments have gone to non-career folks. Now the American Academy of Diplomacy is making the case that 10 percent is a more appropriate figure.

In a letter to presidential standard-bearers Barack Obama and John McCain, the academy's chairman, Thomas Pickering, and its president, Ronald E. Neumann, argue for a higher percentage of career ambassadors, saying, "too often ambassadorships have served as political rewards for unqualified candidates."

Pickering and Neumann recommend that all ambassadors meet a defined set of criteria, including "unquestioned integrity, personal discretion and self-discipline," "demonstrated interest and experience in foreign affairs," and "efficiency as a leader, manager and executive, reinforced by sound judgment and strength of character."

The academy is made up of 200 highly experienced retired diplomats. Both Pickering and Neumann are accomplished former career foreign service members.

(Hat tip: Al Kamen's "In the Loop" column, Washington Post)