Embassy New Delhi, India and Constituent Posts - OIG - US ...

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED
also meets weekly with his security/counterterrorism staff. The DCM chairs a monthly meeting
of the counterterrorism and law enforcement working group, meets every 1 to 2 weeks with
individual sections and agencies in their offices, and hosts weekly digital video conferences
(DVC) with the consulates general. During the inspection, the Ambassador created “fusion
groups” on counterterrorism, export promotion, and education, which he will chair.
Some agency and section heads have less contact with the Ambassador than they have
had in other embassies and during the first 12 months of the Ambassador’s tenure. This is in part
because the Ambassador has restricted participation in the daily small group and has also
reduced the frequency of his one-on-one meetings. The willingness of those in the small group
meetings to brief their colleagues on issues of interest to them has somewhat mitigated concerns
over less frequent access. The three new fusion groups should increase the Ambassador’s contact
with some country team members. Also, the DCM proposed, after an off-site to kick off
preparation of the Mission Strategic and Resource Plan (MSRP), to arrange additional issueoriented
meetings for the Ambassador with individual or small groups of country team members.
These two positive initiatives should help improve communication between the Ambassador and
the senior staff. The OIG team also suggested that the small group be expanded somewhat at
least 2 days per week.
Communication and coordination could be improved further if the Ambassador could,
whenever possible, include an embassy officer in meetings with senior host government officials.
There are, of course, some meetings which have to be one on one due to host government
sensitivities.
During the inspection, the front office committed to make decisions on staff proposals
and taskings more timely, clear, and consistent and to hold sections accountable for making
proposals in proper form and context and for meeting deadlines. A daily tasking list, a welcome
procedural reform, reinforced the commitment.
The Indian Government’s capacity to engage the United States is limited, making it
difficult to resolve important issues at middle levels of government. Often decisions are made at
the ministerial level, and only ambassadors can intervene with ministers. Thus, there is a greater
demand in the embassy for the Ambassador to provide advocacy at the top levels of government
than he currently has time to meet. He is viewed as a very effective advocate. He masters his
brief and conveys it convincingly. The question for him and his senior staff is how best to
allocate his time.
Rather than acting primarily on individual requests and proposals, the Ambassador,
DCM, and senior staff should develop a comprehensive strategy setting out how they can best
divide responsibilities to engage with senior-level Indian officials and politicians and members
of the private sector in furtherance of mission objectives. This strategy could include an
assessment of how hard to push the host government on key issues and how to go about it,
including how extensively to involve Washington agencies directly in this process. If the
Ambassador needs to devote more time to this part of his responsibilities, a determination needs
to be made of what responsibilities could be cut back; for example, embassy leadership might
determine that the time dedicated to public diplomacy could be reduced. The DCM could play a
major role in organizing this process, developing a strategy with specific proposals for the
Ambassador’s decision.
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SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED