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Secretary Antony J. Blinken at the Opening Ceremony for A New Innovation Building at the Foreign Service Institute [ https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-the-opening-ceremony-for-a-new-innovation-building-at-the-foreign-service-institute/ ] 10/23/2023 02:38 PM EDT
Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
Arlington, Virginia
*AMBASSADOR POLASCHIK:  *Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us today.  We all know how much you have on your plate, and it says a lot about your commitment to the workforce that you made time for us today.  I’d also like to give a very special welcome to Representative Yong Kim, member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as a strong supporter FSI; Deputy Secretary Verma; Under Secretary Bass; National Defense University Plehn – sorry, National Defense University General Plehn, president; several former FSI directors, including the indomitable Ambassador Ruth Davis, who inspires all of us every day.  (Applause.) 
And all of FSI’s many partners and friends, thank you for joining us.  It is deeply appropriate that we’re dedicating Building B this month, as October marks the 30th anniversary of the formal opening of the National Foreign Affairs Training Center.  And Building B represents the completion of Secretary of State Schultz’s vision for this campus. 
Like so many things in life, it took a village to create this state-of-the-art building.  More accurately, it took a series of visionary State Department leaders and FSI directors to develop a concept, partner with Congress to fund it, and make this happen.  Former Under Secretary of State for Management Pat Kennedy, who’s here with us today, was the godfather of this project – (laughter and applause) – while past successors Brian Bulatao, Carol Perez, also with us today, and John Bass, also with us today, oversaw the launch and completion of Building B. 
The State Department’s Director of Budget and Planning Doug Pitkin was there every step of the way, ensuring we have the necessary resources.  And a series of FSI directors dreamed up the possibilities for this building and rallied State Department leadership around the vision.  Nancy McEldowney, Marc Ostfield – and most importantly, Dan Smith and Julieta Valls Noyes, who really started this, so Dan and Julieta, if you’re here, thank you.  (Applause.) 
And very special thanks go to the Bureau of Administration, led by Assistant Secretary Alaina Teplitz, for their partnership in this endeavor.  (Applause.)  Not only did the A Bureau design and manage the construction of this stunning building, but they also secured the transfer of the National Foreign Affairs Training Center from the General Services Administration to the Department of State.  And that might sound like a very complex bureaucratic endeavor, and I think, Mr. Secretary, Alaina can tell you that it was.  (Laughter.) 
And it was also a very big win for the State Department and for taxpayers, because this streamlined the processes and costs related to construction on the property.  And that makes it so much easier for us to make the changes necessary to keep FSI at the cutting edge and focus on delivering world-class training to more than 70,000 foreign affairs professionals every year. 
It’s now my great privilege and honor to introduce our keynote speaker, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.  As you all know, Secretary Blinken has a long history of public service, with multiple prior roles in the legislative and executive branches, including here in the department as deputy secretary of state.  And as the Secretary always emphasizes to our new-hire classes, he began his career, as so many of us do, in a former junior role as a special assistant. 
Since assuming his role as the 71st Secretary of State in January of 2021, Secretary Blinken has been a strong advocate for the State Department’s workforce.  Not only has he secured more resources to rebuild our numbers, but he’s also challenged us, in a very positive way, to rethink the way we develop and support our most precious resource: our people.  Please join me in welcoming Secretary of State Blinken.  (Applause.) 
*SECRETARY BLINKEN:  *First of all, whenever I hear Pat Kennedy referred to as the godfather – (laughter) – there’s a lot going on there.  (Laughter.) 
As Joan said, I’ve had the immense privilege, the great privilege of my life, to work here at the State Department or work with colleagues from the State Department for 30 years.  I started at the department in 1993, and indeed, I started as a special assistant in EUR – it was then the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs.  Nancy McEldowney was my boss, and I had an office that had, as a previous occupant, a large safe.  (Laughter.)  And that gives you some idea of the size of the office.  And as I like to say, in the space of 30 years, I managed to move up one flight and get some windows.  So not bad.  (Laughter.) 
But it’s great to be back here at the Foreign Service Institute, and especially to join you in this magnificent building. 
Joan, to you, to your team, thank you for tireless work to ensure that our foreign policy professionals are equipped to meet the tests in the 21st century.  And Joan, to you in particular, I have been so in awe of your leadership of FSI since I’ve been here.  You’ve really taken it into the 21st century.  I’m grateful to you for everything that you’ve done.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  
And to all of us here today, to all of you joining us today – whether in this room or virtually – thank you for being here.  Congresswoman Kim, I’m grateful for your presence, grateful for the strong support that Congress has shown on a bipartisan basis for our efforts to make sure that we have a workforce and an organization that is truly fit for purpose in this century. 
To our friends from the diplomatic community; representatives from State Department employee groups; FSI students, including our newest diplomats; former department and FSI leadership – it’s wonderful to see so many extraordinary former colleagues with us today, people that I have had the great benefit of learning so much from over the course of these 30 years, who have done so much to build this institution.  I’m grateful for your presence and many other colleagues from across our entire State Department family.
Two years ago, I came to the Foreign Service Institute to speak about the future of the State Department: how we can make our institution even stronger, even more effective, even more agile, even more inclusive so that we are best positioned to lead at what President Biden has called an inflection point for our country and the world.  And one of the things I said then was that this agenda, it’s not my agenda – it’s your agenda, drawing on your ideas, your partnership, your experience on the frontlines of American diplomacy.
Over the past two years, colleagues from every part of this institution – with, again, the strong bipartisan support from our Congress – worked not only to shape the modernization agenda but to implement it.
We’ve elevated critical mission areas in our diplomacy by launching and building new bureaus –  new offices for Global Health Security and Diplomacy; for Cybersecurity and Digital Policy; for Critical and Emerging Technologies – and setting up an innovative new structure, including China House. 
We’re opened embassies in the Solomon Islands, in the Seychelles, in Tonga, to enhance our diplomatic presence in a critical region vital to our interests, and more to come in the next year.
`We’re fostering innovation and initiative across the department, launching a new policy ideas channel, revitalizing the dissent channel, engaging more with the American people so that fresher and more creative thinking, from boardrooms to city halls to union halls, actually enters our bloodstream.
And we’ve significantly invested in what is the beating heart of American diplomacy: our workforce.  Our Foreign Service, Civil Service, locally employed staff, contractors, and their family members are, simply put, our greatest asset.
We’ve worked to support them in new ways: improving the technology at their fingertips, establishing a global pay baseline for locally employed staff – you all know, the lifeblood of our missions and the largest training cohort here at FSI – to make sure people are paid fairly and transparently, expanding eligible family member positions on a region-wide basis.  We’re boosting access to benefits like eligibility for student loan repayment.  We’re rolling out a retention unit – we’ve actually rolled it out – to better understand and enhance our people’s experience so that we win one of the most important competitions that we’re engaged in, and that’s the competition for talent.
Over the past few weeks, amidst the terror, the violence, the suffering that’s unfolding in the Middle East, we have seen how important a nimble, empowered diplomatic workforce is.  Our teams – from Jerusalem to Cairo, from Amman to Riyadh, in posts around the world – they’ve been working around the clock, under tremendous pressure, to shape our policy, to inform our understanding, to lead our diplomatic engagement with key partners, to advance key goals for the United States.
Supporting Israel’s defense of its people.  Helping secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.  Addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.  Leading diplomatic efforts to get civilians out of harm’s way and life-saving assistance to those who need it.  And even in the darkest hours, continuing to commit to a future in which Israelis and Palestinians alike enjoy equal measures of peace, security, and dignity.
It is essential that we empower our workforce with the skills and training that they need to operate in a crisis like this one and to meet any challenge that comes our way.  So today, I’m really happy to mark this significant step forward toward that mission: the dedication of this new, state-of-the-art wing of the Foreign Service Institute.
The institute is where the future of our diplomacy is being shaped, literally every single day.  Where our people study dozens of languages; learn about the politics, the economics, the histories, the geographies of the countries and regions they’ll serve; becoming effective managers and team leaders; and practicing the bread and butter of diplomatic tradecraft.
Now, we have come a long way from the early 1900s, when our first school for diplomats was opened.  Before then, new consuls were sent off to post with very little formal training, armed only with sage advice like “sit with your back to the light” and “try to speak the truth.”  (Laughter.)