T5 B71 Misc Files Re Dos Visa Policy 2 Of 3 Fdr- Mar 84 History Of Consular Affairs 592

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THE BragMT OF CPHTStTLAR AFPAIttS

Suaaary The office dealing with consular affairs was one of the moot powerful ia eho Department of State during »11 of the taac century end for the firat quarter of thla one, but 1C faded into obscurity during cha Dapreoaion, World War IX, and lea immediate afteroath, regaining oome of lea former poaltion' in the last tvo decades, HiBtorleal Background Until che Rogers Act of 1924 combines che diplomatic ana coaaular aervlcea into ctie Foreign Service, there were far more consular officers a.ad consular poata abroad -than diplomatic, officers and missions• Tae consular role in trade promotion a ad protection gave it cp«clal favor ia che bualneaa—oriented administrations and Congresses in Washington. Tbe Consular Service was also blessed with a acrona .leader, Wilbur Carr, who headed the service from 1902 until the 1930s, Ironically, it appears that Carr'a influence in the Department eventually contributed to the eclipee of his beloved consular operation from the lace 1930s through the 1950s, In 1929 Carr was given. responsibility for the administration of toe Scate Department along with supervising consular affairs. When he left the Deparcaeac, ch-e adnlniacracive branch -virtually swallowed conaulax1 Affalxs, redueinn It to a tninor poaleloa within the AdMlni.sCrattv« Bureau. The Depceoalon and che var also diminished consular activities overseas, After World War II the consular functions of passports, visas, and citizen protective services were combinad with refugee and migration affairs, munitions coutrola, and security under the Office of Controls (CON) in the Bureau of Administration. The apparent rationale for this grouping was that the visa, passport, and migration functions were fomn of control over travel, eapecleilljr during che w«r years, and munitions control was another, somewhat similar, measure. Why the security function, was lump ad in with the r*st la* uaelear, but ch« t»e«d for octcurity investigations of mo«t paasporc and visa applicants in those days may have been the governing factor.

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la 1953 the Office of Controls (COtO becatte Che Bureau of Socurlcy end Consular Affaire (SCA), but was still subordinate co the Under Secretary for Administration. During Che 19500 the security aide of the Bureau eeeaed to predominate, especially when Scoct McLeod w*$ tha Administrator (a rank comparable to Assistant Secretary). Zc *«o A eime of partisan debate over the loyalty of Foreign Service officers, eapaoially those associated with China, and Che use of the issuance of American, passports co control the movements of citizens who were considered security risks or Just disloyal.

The Divorce of Ron-Consular The advent of the Kennedy Admialatuacloa in 1961 brought gone lonjt-neadftd adjustments to Che Buta.au of Security sad Consular Affairs. In 1962 cbe security f auction v*s transferred Co the Daputy Under Seer«t«ry for Admin* et rat ion (0) aad VSB headed by a Deputy Aaalatant Secretary for s«eai>ley (0/SY), but the word Security was not taken out of tha t£tl« of Sac'urlty and Consular Affairs for the next 15 yeara. The office of Munitions Control was alao transferred to the Bureau of Economic Affaire, leaving only the Office of Refugee and Migratloa Affairs wlchln SCA along with the traditional consular offices for viaao, passports and citizens protective services. Refugee and Migration Affairs were included under tha aegis of consular affaire because consular officers were vary ouch Involved In prae easing xafugeee who wore earning co Che. United States. The first Admlnlntraeor £or SCA under Kennedy > Abba Schwartz, took great interest In thla aspect of his responsibilities. On his departure In 1965, thara wan a drawn-out interregnum before a successor was named and during this period the Office of Refugee and Migration Affairs CORK) was put directly under the Secretary with a Special Assistant Co the Secretary in charge* The function vas later moved to Cbe Under Secretary's office, and by 1977 to the uewly-e0tabllabcd Office for Hunan Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. £.aCer ic became a full-fledged bureau (R.P)» Pfftee While SCA had been reduced to ite purely consular functions by 1966,. ic was not until 1977 that a oajor organizational weakness that bad lasted for more than JO yoara was finally resolved. Tha Passport Office bad been jLn the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs but not of IE. Slaea before the Franklin Roosevelt Administration, the Passport Office had been

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rua ty Huch Shlplay, vho waa very povorful £0. the hall« of Congrea* and even the President had beea aald to remark that he «roald not t«ngl<* vlch K««. Sfce ^aa followed, from. 1955 «o 1977, by another strong-willed chief, Franco Knight, who had tha aanie rapport with Congress. During that long period ch« Administrators of SCA or CON had limited control over the passport function, vhlch remained staffed completely by civil servants owing allegiance to the head of their office, while tbe rest of r.he consular establishment was run by a mix of Foreign service Officera (FSDS) and civil servants^ There had been plans Co put VSOs In Che Passport Office during their tours In the Department, but these attempts Co integrate the consular service vere effectively frustrated. In 1977, upon the retirement of Frances Knight, toe Passport Office finally was brought Into the consular fold and has been headed since that time by a aeries of FSOa with a mix of civil servants and FSOa la tbe management ranfca.

freaent Bra The culmination of the consular office's return from tU« vlldftrnttAS vaa in 1979 wtxen SCA becane CA, reporclag dlreccly to tha Secretary «.« do all oehei; major ture*u« . The initiative for this change in status cane fron CeBgt«o»waa Dante Faaaell and the House Foreign Affalra Conalttee with strong aapport froa the House Judiciary Committee. The Passport office was Integrated into the full scope of consular activities, and the three office directors vere made Deputy Assistant Secretaries for Paaaporta, Visas, and Special Consular Services, vith a Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary serving directly under tha Assistant Secretary for Consular Af fairs .1 Thl0 rcoufgencc • of the Bureau of Consular Affaire CCA), which had begun tn tha 1960s, can be aecvlbuCcd to several factors: the explosion of American travel abroad, Increased in. imisration aattaro by the public, attention by the media (Joneatovn. Midnight Expreaa^. Mexican prison .conditions, etc.), tbTe strong and Itjng, although iatarmittant, leadership of Barbara Watson in Che 1960s and 1970s, Innovative management techniques vlthin Che Bureau, and Congressional Initiative in atrengchlng consular operations » congreas, more than the traditional power structure of the Department, the geographical bureaus, has been the mala champion of a strong and effective coBCUlar affaire organization. ±n« groac propoaderaaee of Congresalonal corraapoodeace with the bepartmaat is over eotinulair m«ccers,

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eapecially immigration. During the 1960s aad 1970s Congreas becane avare Chat consular officers were kept from bore sealot paaifclana trithin PSO ranks, thuu cauaiag cbe bettor Junior officers to avoid * con.au2.Mfc- BpacialiasClon,. ' Congrvaa wag critical of tha apparent willingness of th« Department eo relegate the problems of American citizens and their relatives abroad to a corps of officers who were treated as inferiors by their peers in the political and economic function a aad by the top manage neat of the Department. In dealing with Congress, the Consular Bureau had an advan.ea.gc la having 8 Blugle, strong advocate, Barbara Watsaa, rcpxeaoac it off a ad on for- aootzc 12 years, while otber eleB*BC0 of the Departnent were led by an ercr «banglag acrlco of As B IB Cant Secretaries,, Ha. Watson vaa followed by Diego Aeceacio, who not only had ch« *UTS of belaa the hero of a hostage situation in Colombia, but vho also relished deallnz with Congreagional coanltteea. CA, under pressure from tha Office of Management and Budget, had developed la Che 1970s an excellent cool for obtaining funds from Congress for consular operations 4 This tool, the consular package, has been uaed and polished ever oince. Each consular office abroad reports annually on a series of work statistics., visas, passports issued, Americana arrested or helped, money collected, ate. a ad ssaesae* factors inf luancing woffVloado and the vorlc sovi toomeot La ordttr to project spaae and perootmel needs. Ct-wca cti» preaencaclon of chin k*rd data and woll avare of aonutitm»at pressures for better consular services, Congress, 0KB and the Department have lately responded in a supportive manner. In 1983 over 3,500 parsons were working on consular affaire In the United States and abroad, and the budget projection for 1985 is *58,OZ6,000.

Charlaa S. Kennedy, Jr. Office of the Historian March 1984 Wang ?0154R

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