The Blood Telegram.

• Author: Dorschner, Jon P.
• Position: Book review

The Blood Telegram (Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide) by Gary J Bass, Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2013, ISBN 0307700208, 537 pp., $30.00 (Hardcover), $11.99 (Kindle).

It has been a long time since I have read a book that has spoken as powerfully to me as The Blood Telegram. The relevancy and power of this book stems from the basic moral dilemmas that it addresses on practically every page. Every person planning to join the United States Foreign Service, or already serving should read this book.

The Foreign Service is not just another job. It is not a line of work that should be entered into lightly. It can be a career that challenges the moral center. Every person who enters the United States Foreign Service must determine how he/she will respond to orders that run counter to personal morality. American military personnel are taught specifically that they must refuse an immoral order and are provided assurances that the military will back them up if they do. American diplomats are not provided the same training or reassurances.

The moral dilemma of American diplomats is compounded by the power structure behind the formulation of American foreign policy. Except for a tiny handful of individuals, Foreign Service Officers are not policy makers. We all hope our input will have some influence on how foreign policy is formulated, but in actuality, the State Department has largely been pushed aside in the foreign policy arena, and more cynical pundits would argue that the Secretary of State himself is often ignored.

The real power centers lay elsewhere, in the White House, Congress and the Pentagon, and in the hundreds of powerful lobbies and political action groups whose influence over government continues to expand as that of the State Department's shrinks. In the push and pull of a normal career, this can lead to frustration, a feeling of powerlessness, and nonexistent morale. But many issues that Foreign Service officers deal with are not mundane. At times, we deal with issues that involve profound moral choices.

Rather than making foreign policy, Foreign Service Officers implement decisions made by others. They obey directives issued by policy makers. How do officers respond to orders that counter their basic morality? The State Department is not known as the home of rabid individualists and eccentrics. Foreign Service officers are dedicated and have internalized the maxim never to rock the boat. Careers can be made or broken by a...