ACSC builds AF partnerships with State Department through Embassy Immersion Program

Maj. Elisabeth White, pictured with the U.S. ambassador to Estonia, Jeffrey Levine, is one of the 70 Air Command and Staff College students who participated in the college’s Political Affairs Strategist Program and one of 14 who were assigned to U.S. embassies worldwide with the PAS-Embassy Immersion Program. (Courtesy photo/cleared)

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ACSC builds AF partnerships with State Department through Embassy Immersion Program

Published June 15, 2015
By Contributed

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- A group of Air Command and Staff College students from the Political Affairs Strategist and Language Enabled Airman programs participated in a six-week embassy immersion exchange with the Department of State to build partnerships and improve interagency relationships on behalf of the Secretary of the Air Force, International Affairs Office.

For the ACSC class of academic year 2015, 14 of the 70 officers in the PAS Program, from a wide variety of career fields and varying language proficiency, participated in the Embassy Immersion Program, March 20-May 1. The embassy locations were selected based on their strategic importance.

"The ACSC-PAS Program develops officers with international skills to fill senior leadership positions requiring international expertise," said Lt. Col. Ronald Betts, PAS course director. "ACSC-PAS graduates strengthen the bridge between military and civilian actors and decision-makers in geographic combatant commands, major commands, U.S. embassies, the Pentagon, the Department of State, and elsewhere around the world."

The officers were immediately injected into embassy operations promoting U.S. national security interests by delivering Department of State demarches on high-priority issues, serving as control officers for senior-level diplomatic events and developing focused research papers influencing future U.S. policy.

The program prepares officers to live and work at the strategic level, where national security policy meets the military operational environment.

"Up until this point in my career, diplomacy was a mystery," said Maj. Elisabeth White, who served at the embassy in Estonia. "The Department of State is really America's other 'army.' Diplomats affect Americans every day by promoting security and our interests abroad through another instrument of power."

Cultural education also played a key role in the officers' experience.

"The embassy immersion certainly opened my eyes to cultural differences between the Department of Defense and State Department and is valuable at teaching interagency operations," said Maj. Tyler Robertson, who served at the embassy in Mozambique. "I realize that we as the DOD do not do 'hearts and minds' as well as some other departments might, and that only through interagency cooperation will we be able to meet many of the security challenges of the next century."

Interagency cooperation is critical for 21st century globalization. The United States must play a leading role. The ACSC-PAS program focuses on interagency relationships and processes, whole-of-government approaches to achieve national security objectives and political-military aspects of international relations.

The Department of State lauds the program.

Matthew Weiller, a career diplomat who is currently serving as the foreign policy advisor to the international affairs office, said, "The military loves to talk about interagency relationships, and this Embassy Immersion Program provides a real opportunity. It does not get better than this. Department of State is a small department, and it is important for others to understand our mission."

Officers selected for the political affairs strategist path will serve in one international political-military affairs assignment on their first or second assignment after completion of ACSC-PAS. For their assignment, officers may be assigned to the Air Staff or Joint Staff, a geographic combatant command, an embassy or another high-priority international affairs specialist billet.

The other ACSC students in the Embassy Immersion Program and their locations included:
Maj. Tracy Daniel - Vietnam
Maj. Kevin Dewever - Netherlands
Maj. Charlie Grover - Qatar
Maj. Mike Holdcroft - Czech Republic
Maj. Brian Holt - Finland
Maj. Ted Kim - Japan
Maj. Jose Lasso - Nicaragua
Maj. Dallas Mikaelsen - Brazil
Maj. Shyam Munshi - Turkey
Maj. Dale Sanders - Mali
Maj. Jake Sotiriadis - Germany
Maj. Helen Stewart - France