Speeches

Community Liaison Officer Training Conference
Remarks by Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold
February 27, 2006

Welcome to Singapore.  I am delighted to be here with you this afternoon to demonstrate my support for all you do.

It’s good to see so many of you here for this CLO training session; I’m confident the conference will be valuable for each of you.  You’ve picked a terrific city for this important training, and I encourage you to take the opportunity to enjoy Singapore on the margins of the conference.

As a Community Liaison Officer, each of you is an essential point of contact for employees and family members on any issue that relates to quality of life in our overseas communities.  You make a difference, whether you’re on the frontline of a crisis, dealing with the effects of a natural disaster, or assisting a professional spouse seeking meaningful employment opportunities within the Mission or on the local economy.  You will be approached to organize community activities, help with school and employment issues, and often just lend a discrete sympathetic ear.

You are also a “go-to” person through whom Mission members can voice morale concerns to post management.  Indeed, one of your responsibilities in addressing quality of life issues at post is to alert post management to specific needs.  Failure to address those quality of life issues can have long-term effects for the Mission as a whole, so we all count on you.

As the Family Liaison Office’s representatives abroad, you are a key element of the Department of State’s effort to take care of our people.  This is the most important job we do.  President Bush’s instructions to me prior to my departure for post were clear: my first responsibility in Singapore is the safety and security of Americans here.

Every Ambassador counts on the Community Liaison Office at post to help ensure this mandate is met.  Crisis management is becoming increasingly important for all of us.  The CLO plays a key role on the Emergency Action Committee in times of crisis, serving as a primary conduit of information to family members, including the important role of rumor control officer.

Evacuations happen, and they disrupt lives, interrupt school terms, and cause family separations.  The CLO is clearly on the front lines when crises occur.  When a post needs to draw down its personnel due to a non-permissive or hostile environment, the CLO is integral in the Department’s efforts to stay in contact with those away from post.  The contact information you provide for members of the Mission community forms our link to colleagues and family members who have departed for their own safety, and helps us keep them updated about events on the ground.  During the week you will learn more about the resources you have available to assist you with these important responsibilities.

Community Liaison Officers are also an integral part of the State Department’s efforts to ensure the development and retention of a strong Foreign Service workforce.  In many ways, the Community Liaison Officer serves as the first “face” of the Mission for employees.  The helpful resources of the bidding tool, the FAMER, the Overseas Briefing Center, and the Family Liaison Office, as well as direct communication with CLOs around the globe, help State Department employees determine their overseas bid lists.

After an employee is assigned, the CLO’s role in facilitating adjustment to life at post is critical to the morale of the Mission.  Our Embassies today are a microcosm of life in the United States, including employees and family members representing many different government agencies.  Each department or agency has a different culture and level of preparation for those it deploys overseas.  The welcome, orientation, and sponsor programs you organize set the tone for a smooth transition for each newcomer, especially for those on their first overseas assignment.

As the face of the Foreign Service increasingly reflects the diversity of our great nation, so too does the Mission community: we’ve expanded to include elder family members, members of household, and even boomerang kids.  One demographic I encourage you to remember in your program is our single employees, who face different challenges than employees with family members.  We want to ensure single employees feel included in our Foreign Service family.  I encourage you to meet with the single members of your communities to discuss their concerns, and to ask for their input into types of events and programs that will assist and interest them.

In your pre-course survey, some of you stated that family member employment tops the list of “burning issues” in your communities.  The Under Secretary for Management, Henrietta Fore, has made family member employment a priority of her focus on quality of life issues.  Fortunately, to assist your efforts to help spouses with employment,
FLO (‘flow’) developed the Strategic Networking Assistance Program, known as SNAP.  This program continues to expand, offering targeted employment assistance to spouses at participating posts.

There are new initiatives underway as well.  The Global Employment Initiative will assist family members through the creation of partnerships with multi-national corporations and NGOs at the corporate level in the United States.  Later in the week, you will receive information about Manpower’s training program, which is being made available to all spouses.  FLO needs your help to get the word out about this program, which we think offers great potential to address the employment issue.

We ask a lot of our CLOs, perhaps an overwhelming amount.  I’m confident that the knowledge you gain during this conference will complement the skills that brought you to this point.  I’m talking about organizational and interpersonal skills; the ability to multi-task; to be creative and sensitive; a positive attitude; and most importantly, a healthy sense of humor.

I’ll close my comments with my thanks for all your efforts and for your dedication.

I would be pleased to take any questions.    Thank you.