Embassy Hanoi and Consulate General Ho Chi Minh - OIG - US ...

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED
Informal Recommendation 4: Embassy Hanoi should hold a missionwide
economic section offsite and follow it up with programs designed to strengthen
Foreign Service national relationships across agency, section, and post lines.
Public Diplomacy
Embassy Hanoi’s public affairs section does not pay enough attention to relationships
with the embassy front office. For example, a review of front office taskers
reveals missed deadlines. More responsive, efficient service is essential to adequately
support the Ambassador.
Informal Recommendation 5: Embassy Hanoi should make greater use of
written memorandums between the public affairs section and the front office to
coordinate actions and requests and achieve better understanding.
Embassy Hanoi’s public affairs section has urged everyone at post to participate in
public diplomacy activities through e-mail and announcements at country team
meetings. Too often however, opportunities are missed and coordination with
other sections poor because officers do not think to involve public diplomacy in
their work. By including a public diplomacy element in work requirements statements,
officers will have more incentive for action and will demonstrate the front
office’s commitment.
Informal Recommendation 6: Embassy Hanoi should add a public diplomacy
element to mission officers’ work requirements statements.
The Embassy Hanoi public affairs section uses four separate databases/systems for
contacts management. One database accessible to the entire staff would be more
efficient. Embassy Hanoi has already purchased the Bureau of Information Resource
Management approved software. GoldMine is a sophisticated tool capable
of manipulating data and providing many types of reports. However, the use of
GoldMine is not self-evident and does require training.
Informal Recommendation 7: Embassy Hanoi should install GoldMine on
OpenNet+ for public affairs use and provide training on it for the section’s staff.
Embassy Hanoi’s public affairs section files are not maintained in compliance with
Records Management Handbook standards.
Informal Recommendation 8: Embassy Hanoi should review the public affairs
section’s filed materials, properly arrange them, and discard obsolete items.
64 . OIG Report No. ISP-I-05-28A, Inspection of Embassy Hanoi and CG Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, September 2005
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED