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The US has its own peculiar way with ambassadorships

Caroline Kennedy, shown at the Democratic National Convention, has been nominated as US ambassador to Japan.Alex Wong/Getty Images/file 2012

RE “IS Caroline qualified?” (Op-ed, Aug. 7), on the matter of Caroline Kennedy’s nomination as US ambassador to Japan: The United States is the only country in the world where a substantial number of ambassadorships are held by political appointees. This reflects the US elections system, based on private donations, and US power. The United States does this because it can do so. No other country can afford to have anything less than a professional diplomat.

This does not mean that the United States does not have professional diplomats in ambassadorships, but they tend to be either in places where living conditions are difficult, such as countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, and South America, or where relations are complex, such as Egypt and Pakistan.

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The United States ameliorates the problem of the political ambassador by having a senior diplomat stationed with the ambassador as the deputy chief of mission, or DCM. These are lifelong professionals with a great deal of diplomatic experience who often know the country and region and have the language of the country. DCMs become sort of mini-ambassadors, without the title, to the country to which they are accredited.

My advice to Kennedy is to listen to her DCM, who will undoubtedly know Japan, know East Asia, and speak the language. What Kennedy has going for her, and what the Japanese will appreciate, is access to the Oval Office, which a professional might not have.

Joe Wippl
Watertown

The writer is a professor of the practice of international relations at Boston University.