Four Involved in State Department Study

Four Dartmouth graduates turned Foreign Service officers, one of them the United States Ambassador to the Organization of the American States, are among the authors of a major study designed to modernize the State Department's policy-making and personnel system. Joseph John Jova '38, George S. Springsteen Jr. '44, Everett Ellis Briggs '56, and John J. Youle '60 helped formulate the "reform from within" plan under mandate from Secretary of State William P. Rogers and his Deputy Under Secretary for Administration, William B. Macomber.

The study is called "Diplomacy for the Seventies," and is based on the Department's own conviction that the growing complexity of American diplomacy requires a new breed of diplomat-managers, backed by a Department of State organized on modern management principles and armed with modern management tools. Under the premise that those most qualified by knowledge and experience to carry out this reform effort were the working professionals themselves, 13 task forces made up of some 250 outstanding officers and personnel of the State Department, at all levels, were assigned to the task. They consulted widely with authorities, both in government and in private life, heard testimony and collected data, and drew on an arsenal of ideas contained in still relevant studies by outside groups as far back as the Hoover Commission. Their exhaustive and objective look at themselves and their institution resulted in more than 500 recommendations for modernizing the Department.

Ambassador Jova was chairman of the task force concerned with "Performance Appraisal and Promotion Policies." His credentials include more than 23 years in the Foreign Service with experience in several foreign posts, including that of Ambassador to Honduras from 1965 to 1969. He has been U. S. Ambassador to the OAS since 1969.

Mr. Springsteen was chairman of the task force concerned with "Management Evaluation." He entered the Foreign Service in 1966 following a number of years as a senior economist and financial officer with the State Department. He is presently serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs.

Mr. Briggs was a member of the task force concerned with "Career Management and Assignment Policies." Since joining the Foreign Service in 1956, he has held posts in Bolivia, Germany and Portugal, and is currently serving as Country Officer for Portugal. He is the son of former U. S. Ambassador Ellis O. Briggs '21.

Mr. Youle was a member of two task forces, "Personnel Training" and "Management Evaluation." After entering the Service in 1963, he received a fellowship to attend the School of International Affairs at Columbia University and was awarded a Master's degree in International Affairs in 1965. Since then he has been stationed in Santo Domingo and London and is now Special Assistant to the Department's Executive Secretary.

In accepting the plan and directing that work begin immediately on implementing it, Secretary of State Rogers said that the changes it proposes "will greatly strengthen the Department of State and make possible more effective management of our foreign relations."