DiploJournal
Schizophrenia, Prison Visits, and the Morgue
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I was thinking after last week’s Non-Immigrant Visa exam that the tough part of ConGen was behind us and that we’d have a relatively easy final two weeks focusing on American Citizen Services. I obviously didn’t look too closely at the syllabus. American Citizen Services, or ACS, covers all of the areas in which the consular section helps U.S. citizens abroad. Unlike visa adjudication, the answers to each question are not necessarily laid out in the Immigration and Naturalization Act or the Foreign Affairs Manual.
Consular officers tend to either love or avoid ACS work. It is by far the most emotionally charged and it requires the most improvisation. Physical and Mental Illnesses, Victims of Crime, International Child Abductions, Arrests, Destitution, and Deaths are just a few of the problems we will have to address.
This week we’ve been doing a lot of ACS exercises. Although the vast majority of my legal career focused on intellectual property and antitrust litigation, while doing pro bono work in Boston, I visited a few clients in prison. The exercise, however, was something new. While others watched (and later evaluated), I spent a 1/2-hour session in a prison cell interviewing a schizophrenic who alternated between incoherent shouts at phantom voices with pleas for the return of his guitar apparently lost on a train after he was arrested for riding without a ticket and resisting arrest. Apparently, a number of U.S. citizens in prisons abroad have some struggle with mental illness so the scenario is not very far-fetched. It was just an exercise, but I was exhausted afterwards.
Today, we spent the morning working on telephone exercises in which we had to notify husbands, wives, and parents that their spouses or children had been killed during a vacation abroad. I’m very glad to have had the experience of doing it in a controlled environment (and watching others) dealing with grief, denial, and anger. I don’t think anyone is prepared to do that the first time, but practice definitely helps.
In the afternoon, we had our last field trip, traveling to the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. We met with grief counselors and learned about the autopsy process so we can explain to our clients (not nearly as glamorous or sterile as CSI). Like the exercises, they also wanted us to see a dead body up close here, before we have to deal with it in the field. Nothing like a trip to the morgue to lighten things up before the week-end.
Tags: ACS, congen, consular, Foreign Service, foreign service institute, FSI, training
Telling When Someone is Telling a Lie
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I’ve spent a lot of hours trying to figure out when people are lying to me. As a litigator, one of the real challenges is leading a witness into a lie and then exposing it in front of a jury with other evidence or, preferably, the witness’s own prior conflicting testimony on video. Under the pressure of testifying in open court, some witnesses exaggerate to support their case. Most outright lie. In poker, one of my favorite pastimes, success depends on one’s ability to lie convincingly and to detect when others are lying.
We’ve been focusing this week on interviewing techniques and fraud detection.
While playing poker, I try to avoid playing any meaningful hands for the first hour, particularly when I don’t know how the others at the table play. I spend that time watching and establishing a baseline of behavior for each opponent. People have different body language when they have a big hand, when they are bluffing, and when they are not sure where they stand. I don’t just focus on the face. Good poker players are very good at not giving anything away from their facial expressions and it is too easy to get false tells. Instead, I get more useful information by watching other details: how they move their chips when they bet, body position, hand shakes, gum chewing patterns, foot tapping, etc.
I’ve heard about micro-expressions, mostly from watching the TV show ‘Like to Me‘ a few times. I have never given it much thought, but it turns out to be a very useful tool. Not dispositive in the way it appears on the show, but definitely worth developing as a skill. Aside from my fundamental skepticism about lie detection, I initially assumed that the myriad of cultural differences I will encounter in the foreign service makes the practice useless. Paul Ekman, one of the principal researchers in the field (and the scientific advisor for the TV show) did an amazing study of the isolated Fore tribesman in Papua New Guinea. What emerged was a common set of universal facial expressions: Anger, Disgust, Fear, Happiness, Sadness, and Surprise.
You don’t need to be a Fore tribesman to interpret what emotions that person is feeling. We all unconsciously make these faces, sometimes blatantly, but most of the time in a flash of a second. With practice, however, you can start to see those flashes. Everywhere. Now there’s no facial expression for “I’m lying,” but those that are skilled in reading micro-expressions can quickly spot when they don’t match the words being spoken.
After the public admission last month, the New York Times ran a piece in which Dr. Ekman analyzed a 2007 Alex Rodriguez interview during which he denied using steroids, what we now know to be a blatant lie. We used the video in class, first listening to it without watching the video (ARod’s voice was strong and he sounded genuine, albeit coached). We then watched the video and had a very different reaction.
I’m not sure it’ll make me a better poker player or a better foreign service officer, but I’m going to put in some practice time.
Tags: congen, consular, Foreign Service, foreign service institute, FSI, lying, Poker
Adapting to the Extraodinary
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It’s funny how even a relatively short amount of time can make an extraordinary change feel like routine. From time to time, I find myself stopping mid-stride, looking around, and wondering as David Byrne wrote 30 years ago: “Well, how did I get here?”
I had a lot those moments living my two-year sports photographer fantasy. Walking through the on-deck circle at AT&T park as I passed the dugout. Laying on my stomach shooting the 49ers while they celebrated a touchdown. Tossing a mis-hit ball back to Venus Williams while kneeling next to the net. These were all surreal moments for me after years of office and courtroom work. I had another moment today.
Nothing dramatic. Just another day of training, more lectures on adjudicating non-immigrant visas, a computer applications class, some role play exercises, and a case study review. Once again, however, I found myself reflecting on how quickly a daily routine has developed from something I never thought I’d have the opportunity to pursue.
I start each morning walking from my apartment near the Virginia Square metro to the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center, the campus that houses the Foreign Service Institute (affectionately known as FSI). It’s a great 25-minute morning walk, despite the cold (20-30 degrees seems very cold for a Californian), that takes me down major thoroughfares, side streets, alleys, an office building parking lot, and an underpass walkway before coming back above ground at the FSI front gate.
The security guards check identification for everyone passing through, whether traveling by car or by foot. Like just about all of my fellow officers, I wear my credentials around my neck. The veterans typically have a post-issued lanyard proclaiming exotic embassies or consulates while us newbies have a plain metal chain. The campus itself feels like a small boarding school or college, except it is completely surrounded by a 20-foot fence of vertical metal bars. I enter the grounds through a one-way turnstile after inserting my identification into a slot, inputting a digital code, and receiving a satisfying mechanical clang.
Once through the turnstile, immediately to my right, there’s an impressive light-yellow colonial building with 40-foot columns of the sort modern suburban McMansions fail to conjure. The building used to house Arlington Hall, a 1927 girl’s school, but now carries the less-distinguished moniker of E Building. Walking past E Building, I soon come to a small quad with a bronze statue of a sitting Benjamin Franklin, our nation’s first diplomat. In addition to providing a bit of history, Ben keeps the smokers company in between classes.
The ConGen mock embassy and classrooms reside on the third floor of F building, in the left wing of the building that wraps around the quad. I drop off my lunch in a small fridge and head into a long room filled with computer workstations. It’s an incredibly collegial place. Despite all of our lives being upside down, it’s been a real comfort to share the experience with a steady group of like-minded people. Maybe it’s the fact that we are all about scatter to the four corners of the globe, but I haven’t heard a single argument since I’ve been here.
After checking email, it’s off to the first class. Every day is a different schedule so it never gets to be too routine. Lunch varies depending on the schedule. If we have a lot time, a group will often go grab a bite off campus. The cafeteria, downstairs and through a maze of hallways, has row-after-row of long tables with chairs like an elementary school’s cafeteria. It is here, amongst the flat screen monitors showing CNN, BBC, and the day’s class schedule, where the various classes mix and mingle. You can overhear conversations in over a dozen languages, discussions about the issues of the day (or the latest episode of Jersey Shore), and colleagues running into each other years after they left for their first posts.
I tend to come down to the cafeteria to eat my sandwich and catch up with my former-A-100 colleagues that are now in language study before heading back up to do some work on the computer and prepare for afternoon classes. Today, I stopped for a minute to ponder. I’m not sure how I got here, but I’m glad I did.
Tags: A-100, congen, consular, Foreign, foreign service institute, FSI, FSO, training
iPhone Apps
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I’m a complete gadget fanatic. Growing up in the heart of Silicon Valley made it easier as it is a very common affliction. Walking down University Avenue in Palo Alto, you’ll marvel at the latest, greatest phones, e-readers, and other electronic gizmos on display, in use by patrons of the numerous coffee shops and sidewalk cafes. The iPhone seems to have become ubiquitous just about everywhere now and I’m one of those folks that have 4+ screens of icons, filled with little time-savers (which, of course, require so much MORE time to play with and maintain).
Some apps are kind of useful or fun, but not critical to my day-to-day life (FML, Yelp, and Fandango fall into this category). Others actually make life easier or more pleasant. I tend to use these core apps daily or as part of my regular routine as I try to maintain some semblance of regularity despite living 3,000 miles from home. Here’s a quick summary:
USAA: Other banks have iPhone apps and some are just starting to implement the same technology, but USAA was I believe the first bank to offer a “deposit by iPhone” feature. I didn’t believe it when I first read about it, but it’s been fantastic. One you log in, you can deposit a check (up to $5,000/day) directly through the iPhone. After entering the amount of the check, the app prompts you to take a photo of the front and (endorsed for deposit only) back of the check. A few seconds of processing and, voila, the deposit is made. Void the check and keep it for a record. For those of us banking long-distance (or abroad), this is a revolutionary tool. For those in, or about to join, the foreign service, definitely check out USAA. It is a bank dedicated to serving U.S. military and a few select federal agencies, as well as their families. The service has been unbelievably good.
Words Free: Really great Scrabble game that allows you to play with other iPhone users even if you are not both in the app at the same time. It prompts you when the other person makes a move so that a game can go on for a week or more with turns going back and forth whenever time allows. It also has a nifty built-in chat feature. E and I always have a game going — just one more way to stay in touch.
Path Tracker: I hate going to gym, but I love to walk. Pathfinder is essentially a fancy pedometer, but it maps your wanderings on a live GPS map, tracking your distance and speed. You can save each walk to an online site for free.
NPR News: Great free app that keeps me up to date and allows me to select which stories to hear when I can’t catch All Things Considered or Morning Edition in their entirety. It also has links to most public radio stations around the country, include my beloved KQED in San Francisco so I can listen to a live stream, as well as on demand streams of a huge list of NPR shows.
NYTimes: I dearly miss my paper NYT every morning, but this app is the next best thing. It allows me to save stories to read later, even if on the metro cut off from any signal. I use it, in particular, for long features from the Sunday Times.
Lose It!: Amazing free app that helps record what I eat everyday and how much I burn from exercise. It’s the only method I’ve found that works for me to lose weight consistently. Once you’ve done a week, it really isn’t that hard to keep up with because you can quickly duplicate entries from prior meals. It also has a pretty large database and a very easy method of providing the caloric, fat, carb, etc. data that’s on every label.
ESPN ScoreCenter: Best sports info app (although a tad slow to load). It allows me to configure it so I get updates tailored to my favorite teams (Giants, 49ers, and Sharks).
Metro Map: It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in Washington, and having an easy-to-find metro map is a necessity.
GroceryIQ: Much easier than having scraps of paper grocery lists, this app keeps track of what I need to buy, with separate lists for different stores. When something is running low, I just add it to the list so on the weekend, when I’m out and about, I can always detour on the way home and pick up what I need without having to make a special trip or having to try to reconstruct on the fly what I need for the upcoming week.
Let me know if you have your own daily-use treasures.
The Urban Loft Fantasy
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For the vast majority of posts, foreign service officers live in government-owned or government-leased housing. Depending on the location, we get assigned an apartment or house, in town or in a compound. Canadian posts, it seems, are among the few that do not have dedicated housing for diplomats. Instead, we receive a Living Quarters Allowance to find our own housing arrangements.
Despite the time pressures of the holidays, the folks in Ottawa have been very helpful. I received a complete run-down on the neighborhoods closest to the Embassy and referral to a local realtor to help me find a suitable rental. Most, I’m told, live in a hotel for a few weeks while looking for, leasing, and furnishing a more permanent place to live. Although a long shot, I was hoping to be able to avoid that interim move if possible.
Compounding my challenge was that most leases run from summer to summer to coincide with the school holidays and the weather. Most places come unfurnished and require a trip to the furniture rental place. As a result, there are very few available places to lease. It seems there are not too many people who move to Ottawa in the middle of winter!
Although I’m not quite sure why, I’ve always had pretty good real estate karma. Years ago, moving from Boston to California, we managed to find in two days a reasonably priced rental house a half-block from our kids’ new school despite everyone telling us we were nuts to even waste time looking there. When we were forced to evacuate, along with dozens of other families, after a 50-year flood hit Palo Alto several years later, we managed to lease one of two rental houses on the market the next day. We bought our first and only house at the right time, and I found a great temporary rental place from which to do my A-100 training in Arlington.
Thankfully, my real estate karma seems to be intact. Before the foreign service became a reality, E and I have long talked about living in an urban loft. We since relegated that particular ambition to a retirement plan, some 20 years down the line. While my new place in Ottawa isn’t a completely open plan loft, it comes close.
We found a brand new condo in a building just completed in the past year. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, double the space of my current place in Arlington, a granite/stainless open kitchen, A/V equipment in the open den and both bedrooms, brand new modern furniture throughout, an expansive view of the ByWard Market and the city beyond from the large balcony, and a short walk from the embassy. After some quick turn-around from my realtor, the owner, and the embassy staff, I now have a place to live when I get to Ottawa in mid-February.
Immigrant Visas, check
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This afternoon, we finished the second segment of ConGen, focused on the law and procedure for accepting, approving, and adjudicating immigrant visas. As one would expect, it is granular stuff. We now have a grasp of over 30 classifications of potential immigrants. We know how to handle international adoptions, how to operate an alphabet-soup of computer applications, and how identify a myriad of fraud schemes. How firm a grasp we have on these and scores of other things we digested is questionable.
During the last two weeks we’ve completed lectures, computer practicums, case studies, mock interviews, and, today, our examination. Now it’s on to non-immigrant visas, a subject that will make up a great deal of my two years in Ottawa.
Tags: congen, consular, Foreign Service, foreign service institute, FSI, training, Washington DC
ConGen
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As foreign service officers, we are all generalists. Under the terms of my commission, I am deemed to be world-wide available and suitable for any job. Thus, although the State Department hired me as a political officer, I can be assigned any job anywhere in the world. Just about all officers, regardless of background or cone, will serve at least one post as a consular officer. My first assignment falls under this category. I will be a consular officer in Ottawa, Canada, serving for a two-year tour.
Notorious for having the best stories to tell, Consular Officers are responsible for providing all of the client services at every U.S. Embassy and Consulate. They adjudicate non-immigrant and immigrant visas, and they deal with a huge variety of emergencies that befall American citizens abroad. Since completing the A-100 course, about two dozen of us from the 149th, along with a few officers from earlier classes, have been immersed in the law and procedure that forms the foundation for work in the consular section.
The Consular Training course, dubbed ConGen, lasts 6-7 weeks and feels a bit like a law school class interspersed with computer applications classes and some live fire simulations. ConGen takes place in relatively small classrooms, a state-of-the-art mock embassy, and a jail cell (where we meet with our American citizen clients). Not only do we learn the finer points of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (which comes conveniently in a 2-1/2″ thick book) and the Foreign Affairs Manual (affectionately known as the FAM), but also the legal and social structure of the Republic of Z, the fictitious country we use for all exercises.
We cover one large topic a week, concluding with a three-hour exam. The exams are not as bad as they sound, but we need to pass each one with a score above 80%. There are several different sections at ConGen working on different parts of the curriculum. On Christmas Eve, for example, while I was doing some light studying on the immigrant visa ineligibility standards, I could hear another section in the embassy dealing with a mock-Christmas Eve airplane crash. The phones were ringing off the hook. The televisions had updated news reports. Officers checked off priorities, dealt with relatives of those on the plane, and efficiently coordinated with the task force in DC. Not exactly a relaxing half-day, but crises will occur. Even on holidays.
After weeks of orientation in A-100, it feels good to be learning actual on-the-job skills that I’ll be using in a month and a half.
Happy New Year
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I haven’t really subscribed to the whole new year resolution thing in the past. Given all the changes over the last few months, however, I’ve developed some bad habits that the new year might just help resolve. Nothing earth shattering, but each change would make me much happier in the long run.
1. Eat better. I’m living alone for an extended period for the first time in a quarter-century and my diet has certainly suffered as a result. Too much eating in restaurants or take out. As much as it is a pain, I’m back to recording what I eat, a technique which has helped immensely in the past. I will give myself one day a week off, but otherwise record my daily intake. I’m also going to shoot for preparing and bringing my lunch three days a week which should also help.
2. Exercise more. More than zero can’t be that hard, can it? I really do have no excuse with additional time, less responsibilities, and a fully functional gym two floors below. I hate using gyms, though. I’m going to try a few things to see if some combination works for me. I’m going to walk to the Foreign Service Institute (about 25 mins. each way) rather than drive. I’ll try to get to the gym a couple times a week. I ordered a TRX for use in the condo. I really liked it at my last gym and is easy to use at home for the years ahead.
3. Listen to more music and watch less TV. The TV is on a lot. I spend very little time actually sitting on the couch watching, but it is on almost all the time as background noise while I work, eat, read, etc. I’ve found a solution to routing music from the computer to the living room so iTunes and Pandora can now be heard where I spend most of my time. Exceptions: sports and while using the TRX (i.e., resolution 2 trumps resolution 3).
4. Update the blog more. I’ve been slacking, I know. I’ll aim for shorter, but more frequent, posts.
I’ll revisit each resolution in a couple of months and see how it’s going.
