Demise of the Defence Attache

[Cumbrian Fell]

I hope some of you have read the following:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/08/nattache08.xml
This is, I believe, a serious loss for the services and the UK as a whole. The DA and his staff perform a myriad of duties (and I can assure you it's not just organising cocktail parties) and I am surprised that this issue hasn't gained more traction. Comments?

[MechGov]

Maybe if they paid rent on their quarters it would save enough money to keep a few posts going.

[Strictly Jungly]

Another sad sign................

[Cumbrian Fell]

At present they do not pay for their quarters and many of the costs associated with the running of the properties is met from the public purse, in recognition of the fact that the Residence is used for official duties (hosting, accommodation and general schmoozing). Collecting an element of SFA rent would be a v small drop in the bucket. When considered against the hardships some of our DAs (and their staff and families) have to face (and a not in considerable risk to their personal security), a free house is small recompense.

[Ali Barber]

All they would save is the rent on their accommodation and possibly a car. Do they think reducing the Embassy strength by one is going to seriously reduce their administrative costs? We are talking about the Foreign Office for goodness sake - they invented administrative burdens!!

[WhiteOvies]

Sad to say but it appears to me to be another sign of this Governments lack of interest and understanding in the Armed Forces. Searching for the mythical 'Peace Dividend' still whilst undercutting any hope of having a credible impact on the world stage. The fact is that the PM says one thing about having all these capabilities whilst his ministers refuse any finances to make it happen. Lack of UK interest? - absolutely right.
Another disappointingly shortsighted decision!
:*

[philhird]

As someone who had the pleasure of being an DA's assistant during a holding job, I can say, without question, that this would be bad move. Until I worked in the arena, I had no idea how much is gained from defence diplomacy. Our opinion still matters to many countries around the world, even if our reputation has been damaged in recent years by our close association to the Americans and our actions in Afghanistan and more particularly Iraq.
The Attache's role extends far beyond cocktail parties (which themselves are very useful). His/her influence over international relations is not to be underestimated. This is on top of assisting UK operations and exercises within the host country, looking after visiting UK troops, and enhancing defence exports. Ask an Air Transport man how often the DA has smoothed over an incident or helped out with a last minute diversion... In times where we are relying heavily on foreign allies, this relationship is both difficult and essential.
I know it can seem like a jolly, especially in a benign country, but it is a very taxing role in fact. The DA I worked for looks after two fairly small EU countries and the travel and overtime burden is considerable. Meetings and presentations make up most of the week, and the social functions often come on the back of a long day. These functions themselves are not purely social as there are often objectives to be met, even at a cocktail party.
In recent years the FCO has had numerous and extensive cutbacks. Most of these have resulted in the same job being done with considerably poorer resources. Circumnavigating the stringent financial regulations only adds to the admin burden. (For example, money left over in travel budget, due to no time for travel, whilst official ents budget is running dry. Powers that be refused to let money be transferred, so some events had to be cancellled whilst unused travel money was returned to the treasury..) And my experiences don't even extend to the further security difficulties of working in a hostile country....
Even given the fairly low-key status of my particular host country, most countries of the world have military representation. How can we justify not being represented at meetings which attract such worldwide interest? In these pressing times, we should be using defence diplomacy to explain to sceptical nations what we are trying to achieve in Iraq and Afghanistan, not withdrawing to our own little island and pulling up the drawbridge....
Lets not forget that the cutbacks would make it more difficult to become one :hmm:

[BleepBleep]

Here we go again - a couple of individuals how have been in post just over 5 mins and think they know all about how there respective departments function to the full!!! DAs have a mryiad of functions, as very well described by philhird, plus a number of other duties depending on where they are. Plus I don't for a minute believe that if they remove the DA they will leave the DA staff alone as well.

Do those muppets in the FCO as well as our home grown buffoon (and former right-hand man of arch-buffoon Brown) not realise the amount of money that is contributed to the MOD coffers from overseas military students on a raft of course across the board as well as related sales and activities through Defence diplomacy efforts. None of which would happen if we didn't have a representative on the ground to press the flesh and ensure that our (UK PLC) interests are looked after. Often aided by the fact that the senior military bod from the host nation may have been on ASC or other similar courses with them.

All in all yet another example of the arrogant, "nanny knows best" mentallity of these f*ckw*ts who have totally lost contact with reality.

End of rant... for the time being!!

[Blacksheep]

We had a Military (or Defence) Attache in the local High Commission. A full RN Captain no less. Given that the entire Embassy has been a complete waste of space over the past twenty years, I'm perfectly happy to see him go. The members of the local Gurkha battalion's OM will be the only people affected by his departure.

Other countries use their diplomatic missions to promote trade but Britain's foreign service still live in the glorious days of our (largely imaginary) empire. Since independence, British trade and influence in Borneo has dwindled away to almost nothing while the French and Germans, who had no presence whatsoever in 1984, have taken over international trade in a big way. Even the Australians do more business here than Britain.

[Cumbrian Fell]

Blacksheep

It sounds like your DA was the 'Hail fellow - well met' sort of chap. All I can add is that there has been a progressive change in the role of the DA ever since the endof the Cold War - a significant changes since 9/11 (and, arguably, 7/7). The age and calibre of chaps selected for Def Dip duties has improved considerably and I can name about 1/2 dozen States where the DA is the absolute key to international relations in that area.

Furthermore, there are people (civil service, in particular) in the MOD who are also happy to see the DA role diminish, based on the politics of envy; ie envious of the package that the DAs receive. Nonetheless, I have yet to visit an overseas mission where the DA is a key member of Chancery, supporting the Head of Mission (ie Ambassador or High Commissioner) as well as proving a useful conduit for the MOD. In many countiries the DA is the only link to the local uniformed services (ie police, Interior Ministry Gendarmeries, as well as the armed services); diplomats simply don't get a look-in.

[GANNET FAN]

My father was Naval Attache in Copenhagen in the early 60s. Perhaps not the most demanding of jobs all the time but I can vouch for the fact that he worked immensly hard and as far as I can judge from comments at the time, was bloody good at his job.

I think it would be a very real loss and I agree totally with Ali Barber's comments, just a minimal saving.

JC

[Jimlad1]

You can look at this two ways. Firstly it will impact on representation in some of the smaller countries - BUT how much do we really do with a lot of these countries anyway. Take a look at the hansard answer that this document stemmed from and theres some pretty obscure places that warrant a small defence team.

Secondly how much worth do the DA's bring to the party? I'd argue that its very personality driven. I've worked in posts where some are first rate and a credit to their service. Others are frankly more concerned with where the next cocktail party is and getting ideas above their station about their place in the system (thinking of one particularly obnoxious example here).

If they're switched on, willing to do a myriad of tasks and capable then yes, they're a loss. Otherwise its a good way of saving some money.

[Cumbrian Fell]

Representation in smaller countries will suffer; Howeover I understand that the study does not consider the representation of those countries in London, which will be a bit of a diplomatic snub for some, to say the least.
Jimlad, I agree that the quality of the DA will affect the performance in post and there has been a fair share of DAs misbehaving over the last few years. It should be borne in mind that the approval is still utlimately decided by the FCO, and by the HOM in particular. Accepting that selection and training has improved over the last few years, the point that I am making is that when the UK needs all the friends it can at the moment, and in countries where the importance of uniform and prestige is paramount, isn't UK plc making the impression by reducing its diplomatic presence?