The venerable U.S. Foreign Service Act of 1980 is showing its age. The landmark piece of legislation “is not adapted to today's society or people's expectations as employees and, in my view, it needs to be replaced,” said retired ambassador Deborah A. McCarthy, a 2020 Fellow at the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative.

McCarthy, an expert on U.S. foreign and national security policy with more than 30 years of diplomatic experience, has the background to realize changes are needed in the U.S. diplomatic service. She credits ALI with providing insight on how she can get it done.

Through conversations with her “absolutely fantastic” group of fellows, ALI core courses on social change and exchanges with key Harvard professors, she is gaining valuable perspective on how to build a coalition to pass new legislation. Previously, she has contributed to amendments to the Foreign Service Act but now her goal, going forward is to help push for a major revision to bring the US diplomatic service into the 21st Century. “It is going to be a heavy lift. It’s going to take several years,” she said. “You can't do it from the outside. You need people inside to also help. But with a growing group of stakeholders and certain people in the current administration, we can begin the process.”

McCarthy brings a lifetime of experience to the effort. She served as the deputy ambassador in Greece and Nicaragua and was the U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania (2013-2016). She has worked on economic and terrorism issues in Washington D.C. and has served in Venezuela, Canada, Haiti, Paris, Rome, and the Dominican Republic. After retiring in 2016, she joined the American Academy of Diplomacy and became the host and producer of the National Security Podcast series “The General and the Ambassador: A Conversation.” Since its launch in 2018, the podcast has presented 56 episodes featuring senior US military leaders and diplomats who work together on international crises and major foreign policy challenges. The podcast is now produced in partnership with UNC Global at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The University aims to expose and teach their student body about the importance of international engagement and public service.

McCarthy said she joined ALI to “renew my intellectual capital. Our diplomatic service does not give many opportunities for US diplomats to return to school, go to a think tank, take some time off to think the big thoughts about where our country is headed on national security.” Secondly, she wanted to explore the nature of modern leadership. “We learned about leadership many years ago -some of those rules don't apply today,” she said. The hierarchy of traditional organization is giving way to more open, consensus-building models.

Harvard’s coursework has given her insight into the complicated machinations of the legislative process. “I took a course on how Congress works today… it was very humbling in terms of our project [for Foreign Service reform]. At first, I thought a change in the law was a shoo-in. The cause was good. It would be easy. Everybody would rally around it. Well, maybe not. You know, you have the passion, you have the desire, but this program shows you the ins and outs. Here's how Congress (really) works. Here's how you make the system work.”

McCarthy plans to parlay her new connections and insights into building a coalition that can update the legislation governing the organization of the country’s diplomatic service to reflect new realities and make it more diverse and inclusive. “I worked in an organization that tries to change the world, and now my focus is how to change our system so we're more effective in changing the world, or at least influencing change in the world,” she said.