Q&A > Tom Armbruster

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How did you promote diversity and inclusion in your Mission or your office? 

Great question. Three examples:

#1—I was State's Diplomat in Residence at the City College of New York in Harlem for two years. I was able to select six priority interns from the states I recruited in, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. The interns I chose were minorities or second generation Americans. It was great to send a student from Queens to Vladivostok, Russia. Another intern joined the Foreign Service.

#2—We invited an African-American astronaut to Russia to open a documentary film. He appeared on stage with his Russian cosmonaut colleague. No offense to rock stars, but astronauts are loved by even more people than guitar legends. That Public Diplomacy program highlighted America's diversity and the talent all people can bring. We also had a hip hop group come to Vladivostok. A babushka said, "I didn't want to come, I just had to babysit my grandkids, but I love those guys!" Another real people to people connection.

#3—I nominated Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, a Pacific Islander, to be the Civil Society Speaker at the Climate Summit in New York. Rather than an old gray beard professor explaining why climate change and sea level rise is important, here was a young brown woman telling her story and moving the General Assembly to their feet in the first standing ovation since Nelson Mandela addressed world leaders there. 

How did you and your team respond to “fake news” or disinformation?

In Russia there is a constant barrage of fake news. You can't counter it all, and in fact the Embassy is not always the most credible counter. Better to invite independent journalists and speakers from America to give their views. They won't always coincide with the US official position, which is great. Case in point, Rock Brynner, son of actor Yul Brynner. Rock gave a series of lectures at local universities on the influence of rock music on American politics. No one in the Embassy could have had the same impact. He reached students and gave them historical context about America's values and motives through the turbulent 1960's, offering a real master class on race relations and the anti-war movement sparked by Vietnam. It was all there in American music. 

Who was your “brain trust” or sounding board, and when would you go to them for guidance? 

I really liked it when I could reach out to peers, for example there was a regular discussion among the CG's in Mexico about trade, drug violence, and immigration. Mexico City would throw out a theme and we would all chime in. Same in the Pacific where the Ambassadors from the Marshall Islands, Fiji, Palau, and Micronesia would chat informally. Peer to peer from another mission is the best.

What tips do you have for the “tough talk” on performance management, counseling, and honest feedback (for FSOs, Civil Service employees, and LES)?

Some FSOs are too conflict averse and can't do tough talk. Some only do tough talk. You have to find some harmony. If someone is on a performance Improvement Plan, make it very pragmatic, take the emotion out of it, and talk about how to get the results you need, not the shortcomings of the individual.

How did you build resilience in your team and yourself?

I like a positive atmosphere no matter what the challenges are. If you can personally set an upbeat tone, staff often follow. During one extended period of midnight calls, exhumations of murdered Americans and other narco-violence I took to closing my door for 15 minutes and closing my eyes. It was enough to regroup. 

What are your best practices for crisis management?

Believe it or not there are some excellent State Department checklists that help you determine what threat level you are at and the tripwires for action. They work even during the crisis. We had a credible threat of an attack in Dushanbe, closed the Embassy for a day and sent the LES home. The Americans stayed behind and went through the check list. I felt pretty good at the end of it that we were doing everything we could.

What tips do you have for first-time mentors? For establishing a mentoring program at a Mission or an office?

Everyone will find their own way to do this.

How did you adapt to hostile or unforgiving environments? (eg, authoritarian host governments, high-risk security situations, aggressive foreign media, etc)

Try not to take it personally. I had blood put in my hotel sink, dog crap put under my car handle, and aggressive agents followed me in Cuba. It was just part of the job. We knew they would target someone for harassment every few months. When it was your turn it was your turn.

How did you manage transitions—between administrations, between senior leaders (Ambassador/DAS), or during extended staffing gaps of key personnel?

Be creative in tasking and use everyone as fully as possible.

How did you form and manage coalitions for policy advocacy (within the USG interagency, with like-minded partners, or through multilateral institutions)?

Within the USG the best thing in the world is a Presidential visit. It brings all stakeholders together and forces deliverables. Otherwise the UN can be a great convener and working with partners on development builds trust. Example, we would build running tracks and basketball courts and the Japanese put in solar lights. Win win.

Mid-career entry is a hot topic. Good or bad? Advantages and disadvantages? How do we sell this to FSOs facing slow promotion rates?

Bad. This is a job you learn by doing. Starting on the visa line, learning the local language, talking to everyone including students, farmers, businesspeople, you name it, and working on American Citizen Services and seeing the importance of helping Americans overseas is a prerequisite for success. Mid-level entry is bad for morale and bad for the service.

How do we improve relationships between political appointees and career officers? Is the era of majority political appointees here to stay?

The Ambassadorial Seminar and Chief of Mission conference are the two best venues to share views. I don't know if majority political appointees are here to stay.

Is it time to get rid of the cones system?

I came in as an Admin Officer, switched to the Environment, Science Technology and Health cone while it was available, and when that closed became a Political Officer. I did Consular and Econ tours if you think of the EST job (Moscow Nuclear Officer) as Econ. So a multi-functional cone or no cone would have been fine with me.

How did you encourage creativity and generate ideas from your staff?

Encouragement. Saying yes to ideas that I thought were maybe too ambitious for us. For example, we invited a youth orchestra with some 90 players and parents to come to Russia to play a concert series in the Far East. Then we have to find host families for all of them. Very ambitious but it worked and I'm glad we did it. It was a local staff initiative. So was inviting Alice Cooper to a Consulate picnic with 100 Russian musicians. Long shot, but it paid off.

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