Asia Foreign Area Officer Conference in Seoul

By LTC David W. Shin, USA

In coordination with the Foreign Area Officer (FAO) proponent office (DAMO-SSF), G-3, U.S. Army; FAO assignments branch, U.S. Army Personnel Command; and Plans Policies and Operations Department, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Defense Attache Office (USDAO) Seoul hosted the first Asia FAO In-Country Trainee conference in Seoul, Korea from 6-9 May 2003. The core audience was the U.S. Army and Marine Corps FAO In-Country Trainee community in Asia. Approximately 30 U.S. Army and Marine Corps officers from Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh attended the conference. In addition, U.S. Air Force FAOs training in Korea, U.S. Army FAOs serving in Korea and Japan, and the U.S. Army Attache from Japan, COL Patrick Oyabe, also attended the conference. The purpose of the conference was to provide an opportunity for Army and Marine Corps Asian FAO In-Country Trainees to meet, discuss, share, and learn. Taking full advantage of the geographic location of the conference in Seoul, Korea, the conference drew on regional resources to provide each attendee with first-hand background on one of the most important areas of U.S. military commitment now and in the foreseeable future. It was also a venue for FAO In-Country trainees to meet with senior leaders in the FAO community to discuss the direction of the FAO functional area and seek opportunities for professional development. During the conference, senior representatives of U.S., Korean, and international organizations spoke to the FAO In-Country Trainees about their challenges in the region. Also, representatives from G-3, Army and Headquarters, Marine Corps addressed the state of their respective service FAO programs.
Figure 1 - ASIA FAO Conference Attendees: 7 May 03, UNC Officers Club

The Asia FAO conference began in the morning of 6 May 2003 with personal career interviews with the FAO assignments officer, PERSCOM, and it included both Asia FAO In-Country Trainees and FAOs serving in Korea. Personal interviews were scheduled for the entire day, followed by an informal reception at the U.S. Defense and Army Attache', COL (P) John Adams' quarters in Yongsan, Korea. On 7 May 2003, the conference began with welcoming remarks by COL (P) Adams, followed by a group photo session at the United Nations Command (UNC) Officer's Mess. The day's itinerary included briefings by LTC Vasilios Fotopoulos, 48 D/F/H/I program manager at the Foreign Area Officer (FAO) proponent office (DAMO-SSF), G-3, U.S. Army and the 48 D/G/H/I FAO assignments officer, US Army Personnel Command, Major Clayton Holt.

LTC Fotopoulos mentioned that this year the proponent only accessed 115 Captains into FAO but expects to keep a maximum of only 60 during CFD, down from the 80-90 in previous years. He stressed that FAO proponent is doing all it can to ensure that those officers who successfully complete their FAO training and remain competitive for promotion remain as FAOs during the Career Field Designation board. In past years, a fairly large number of our FAO trainees were returned to their basic branches. FAO proponent is working to prevent this situation in the future. Furthermore, FAO proponent intends to document FAO training, in effect certifying FA 48 Officer's ability to serve as FAOs. Finally, LTC Fotopoulos emphasized that in addition to being proficient in at least one regional language as well as the region's, history, culture and society, FAO's must also master the English language to be successful in their FAO and Army career.
Figure 2 - Conference Attendees at Conference Row, Joint Security Area, Panmunjom, 8 May 04

Major Holt, the Asia and Middle East FAO PERSCOM assignments officer, indicated that FAOs are in greater demand than ever before from the Joint Chiefs of Staff down to combatant commands and below. He noted that while this is welcomed by FAO branch, in some cases this has caused FAOs in-training to be pulled out of training to fill immediate personnel requirements and some FAOs are even being asked to deploy out of their area of concentration. Although this is a recent development, it seems to indicate that the Army is not averse to deploying FAOs out of their region of expertise when the Army needs officers with general FAO skills for operations in complex international environments. The assignment officer also reminded all conference attendees that he is not the only one making assignment decisions at FAO branch. There are layers of officers involved in the process at PERSCOM to ensure that the needs of the Army and, when possible, the needs of the individual officer are balanced to place the right officer in the right job. He also mentioned that FAO assignments branch has begun to discuss the idea of bringing another assignment officer. Major Holt discussed officer promotions and generally noted that if an officer has more above center of mass (ACOM) officer evaluation reports (OER) than center of mass (COM) OERs, then the officer should have a good chance for promotion. However, he noted that every FAO year group and AOC are different in terms of population size and file strength. The kind of file it takes to get a YG 87 48H promoted may be different from that which gets a YG 92 48D promoted. When describing OERs, Major Holt mentioned that quantifying the officer's performance is crucial -- "1 of 5", "top 10 percent", etc - and concise wording is better than someone attempting to fill the evaluation block with insignificant, vaguely worded achievements. He also advised officers to inform non-FAO senior raters that FAO's career goals should be commensurate with FAO career progression (e.g., Chief of Joint U.S. Military Affairs Group (JUSMAG) or Defense and Army Attache, rather than battalion command.) Major Holt further encouraged FAOs to regularly read military personnel messages to keep track of important events and suspenses, such as for promotion and senior service college boards. He noted that failure to keep abreast of suspenses can affect the officer's chances for promotion. Finally, Major Holt advised officers to always follow-up on completed OERs to ensure that they are processed timely by the local personnel service center and placed in records so that the officer is always prepared for the file to be reviewed.
Figure 3 - General (Ret) Paik, Sun-Yup briefs Conference Attendees about the Korean War and its personalities, 9 May 03

The rest of the first day included briefings by representatives of Naval Forces --Korea, U.S. Forces Korea, a U.S. Embassy Joint/Interagency roundtable (representatives from several agencies on the U.S. Embassy Seoul Country Team), Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, Joint U.S. Military Affairs Group -- Korea, and a reception in honor of the Asia Foreign Area Officers at the Ambassador's residence. On 8 May, Assistant Secretary, United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC) escorted the conference attendees to the Joint Security Area (JSA) for a tour of Conference Row, JSA, followed by an UNCMAC Brief and a visit to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) Camp. After the NNSC-hosted luncheon, the conference attendees visited the Bridge of No Return and Observation Post Dora overlooking the Western Transportation Corridor being constructed in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) to reconnect the rail and road links between South and North Korea. Upon return to Seoul from the JSA and the DMZ, the U.S. Forces Korea International Relations Officer and a FAO from USFK J-5 Strategy Division presented current and long-term issues for the ROK-U.S. Alliance. The discussion highlighted the new U.S. military strategy and the challenges the U.S. faces in convincing allies of the strategy's viability and ultimately integrating them into our strategy.

This briefing was followed by Marine Forces -- Korea and U.S. Marine Corps International Affairs Officer program briefings. The latter brief noted two separate but interrelated specialties of the Marine IAO program. The one is the traditional FAO program and the other is the Regional Affairs Officer (RAO) program. The Marine FAO spends a year at Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), followed by language and in-country training. The RAO only receives 18 months of graduate studies at NPS prior to a utilization tour. However, both specialties must balance primary branch and FAO assignments to be competitive for promotion, similar to the way the Army managed its FAOs under the old personnel system. On 9 May, Conference Attendees visited the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff and received a briefing about the ROK JCS, the ROK military, the North Korean threat, and discussed issues ranging from ROK participation in peacekeeping operations to the future of the U.S.-ROK alliance. After the visit to the JSA, Conference attendees made an office call on General (Retired) Paik, Sun-Yup, former ROK Army Chief of Staff and current Chairman of the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee. General (Retired) Paik took time out of his busy schedule for an office call with the group and briefed key events and personalities during the Korean War.
Figure 4 - Major Dawn Rodeschin, Japan-based FAO trainee briefs U.S.-Japan security relations, 9 May 03

After the visit with General (Retired) Paik, the group received a guided tour of the Korean War Memorial. The tour guide escorted the group through the memorial hall honoring Korea's war dead and the war history rooms highlighting artifacts from the pre-historic age to the Korean War. After the visit to the War Memorial, the conference attendees returned to the UNC Officer's Mess for a serious of briefings presented by FAOs from Korea, Japan, China, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Korea-based 48Hs briefed the history of the ROK-US Alliance from the Korean War until today. They focused on the political, economic, social and military factors that have influenced ROK-U.S. relations in the past and discussed current issues affecting the future of the alliance. Major Dawn Rodeschin, a Japan-based 48H, briefed U.S.-Japan Security Relations by highlighting the alliance's history, components of the alliance, dangers and challenges, accomplishments and trends, and the future of the alliance. Captain John Schurtz, a China FAO, briefed the regional strategic appraisal for China noting U.S. national interests in Northeast Asia, factors affecting U.S. interests in the region, U.S. regional policy trends and objectives, and potential risks. Finally, FAOs from South Asia briefed political, social, military and economic issues concerning Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India and several other countries in South Asia.

At the conclusion of the conference, most agreed that it was worthwhile for Asia FAOs to get together periodically somewhere in the region to discuss country specific issues, broad regional issues and other professional agenda items. More importantly, many realized that this kind of forum can be crucial in times of crisis because it encourages FAOs to become experts in their country or region while promoting a more regional approach to being a FAO. Although this task is challenging, it is likely to become more relevant as FAOs are asked to work out of their area of concentration and when the nature and intensity of crisis calls for FAOs to serve anywhere in the world. Furthermore, judging from the interaction of the attendees and the exchange of ideas and experiences, the conference served its main goal -- to bring FAO trainees together to meet, discuss, share and learn. At a time when Asia is clouded with nuclear proliferation uncertainty, filled with terrorism threats, plagued by disease epidemics like SARS and AIDS, and coping with economic and political instability, the conference was a great forum for future attaches, security assistance officers, and political-military advisors/analysts to meet and exchange their views. LTC Fotopoulos, in closing, indicated that he will begin work promptly upon returning to the Pentagon to plan for next year's Asia FAO conference.

2004, Foreign Area Officer Association
Herndon, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org