The Special Forces concept has worked well for the military. Why couldn't it work as well for the Foreign Service? The State Department could recruit young men and women who want an adventurous life and train them as the Diplomatic Special Forces, a kind of Peace Corps on steroids. Put them through crash courses in local dialects and skills relevant to the areas where they will be assigned. Give them extra pay and set the bar high so they have the same elite status as the Pentagon's Special Forces.
Tom Brokaw proposes a Peace Corps on Steroids
A Peace Corps on steroids?
By TOM BROKAW
Posted: Aug. 20, 2005
With Karen Hughes moving into the post of assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy, perhaps there will be more attention from the administration, Congress and the public to the difficult mission she is taking on.
Defenders and critics of President Bush's war on terrorism agree on very little except this: There is a critical need for a more energetic, imaginative and effective campaign to promote the American ideals of democracy, tolerance, compassion and economic opportunity in the Islamic world.
It is a large and complex challenge requiring some fundamental changes. One possibility came to me during reporting trips to remote reaches of Afghanistan.
Both outfits were stationed in hostile territory doing double duty: fighting the Taliban and trying to hold the hearts and minds of Afghan locals by building schools, medical clinics and roads in their isolated villages. I worried that the two missions of the military would at some point become incompatible, even incendiary.
When the young American warriors went on patrol in their Humvees, local farmers were forced to give way on the primitive roads. The troops were always dressed in flak jackets, helmets and sunglasses as they moved into villages to confiscate guns, question locals about suspicious activity and inspect trucks and pickups before meeting with the village elders to work on health and education projects.
What image lingered, I wondered. The good cop or the bad cop?
With the increased Taliban activity in the rural areas, the U.S. military profile is not about to be lowered anytime soon. But why couldn't there be an additional American face in those areas?
The Special Forces concept has worked well for the military. Why couldn't it work as well for the Foreign Service?
The State Department could recruit young men and women who want an adventurous life and train them as the Diplomatic Special Forces, a kind of Peace Corps on steroids.
Put them through crash courses in local dialects and skills relevant to the areas where they will be assigned. Give them extra pay and set the bar high so they have the same elite status as the Pentagon's Special Forces.
My guess is that it would be an appealing prospect for members of the younger generation who want to serve their country but not necessarily in military uniform.
A Diplomatic Special Forces could become another face of America in the Third World, a face not encased in a Kevlar helmet and wraparound sunglasses.
Tom Brokaw is the former anchor of "NBC Nightly News" and is a special correspondent for NBC. This article first appeared in The Washington Post.
