Inspection of the American Institute in Taiwan

The American Institute in Taiwan, in coordination with the Bureau of Human Resources and the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, should require officers assigned to Taiwan – including incumbents who have more than 1 year remaining in Taiwan – to receive appropriate leadership and/or management training for their positions.

The American Institute in Taiwan should require section chiefs and relevant local employees from the Taipei office to visit their counterparts in Kaohsiung on a quarterly basis, to provide guidance and mentoring.

The American Institute in Taiwan should revise and reclassify the position descriptions of the locally employed staff in the political section, giving them specific portfolios.

The American Institute in Taiwan should reallocate space to give the political section’s locally employed staff members more space and privacy.

The American Institute in Taiwan should submit periodic leadership analyses on notable individuals.

The American Institute in Taiwan should consolidate the biographic files of the political and economic sections into a single, electronic filing system that is available to all appropriate members of the mission and interested Washington offices.

The American Institute in Taiwan should regularly post biographic submissions of key political and economic figures on the Diplopedia/Intellipedia system.

The Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in coordination with the American Institute in Taiwan and in consultation with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, should revise the contract with the American Institute in Taiwan to update and redefine the respective political-military roles and staffing of the American Institute in Taiwan and the institute’s office in Washington.

The American Institute in Taiwan should designate a Leahy vetting coordinator and provide that individual with appropriate training.

The American Institute in Taiwan should coordinate in advance with the public diplomacy section on logistics, organization, and media plans for all official public events.

The American Institute in Taiwan should consolidate its public diplomacy, political, and economic media reporting into a single, comprehensive product.

Sensitive Information Redacted

The Bureau of Consular Affairs, in coordination with the Bureau of Human Resources, the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and the American Institute in Taiwan, should eliminate mid-level consular position number 77-018000 in Taipei.

The American Institute in Taiwan should limit the consular unit’s walk-in hours to one morning per week, and, if necessary, institute an appointment system for all walk-in clients.

The American Institute in Taiwan, in coordination with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, should construct a cashier booth that complies with Department regulations at the branch office in Kaohsiung.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs, in coordination with the Bureau of Human Resources, should provide the new public affairs officer being assigned to the American Institute in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung branch office with the training and designation to serve as backup consular officer.

The American Institute in Taiwan should institute a procedure to facilitate the timely reconciliation of consular receipts.

The Foreign Service Institute should change its policy with regard to training local employees of the American Institute in Taiwan, to comply with regulations identifying all American Institute in Taiwan employees as Department of State staff.

The American Institute in Taiwan, in coordination with the American Institute in Taiwan/Washington, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, and the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, should dispose of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Relations Office property.

The American Institute in Taiwan should submit documentation to the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs justifying continued eligibility for a rest and recuperation travel benefit.

The American Institute in Taiwan should include a work requirement for all supervisors, upon which they will be rated, to complete their employees’ work requirements statements, conduct employee performance evaluations on time, and submit completed evaluations to the Department on schedule.

The American Institute in Taiwan should review and, as appropriate, update all local employee position descriptions at the offices in Taipei and Kaohsiung.

The American Institute in Taiwan should determine and document whether residence-to-office transportation for employees is justified.

The American Institute in Taiwan should fully update and reissue its motor vehicle policy.

The American Institute in Taiwan, in coordination with the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, should provide the institute’s contracting officers with the proper training and authorization to sign procurement documents.

The American Institute in Taiwan, in coordination with the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, should take all necessary steps to open a diplomatic post office.

The American Institute in Taiwan should designate a team leader to oversee the implementation of eServices, SharePoint, Web sites, and BlackBerry devices.

The American Institute in Taiwan should develop an action plan to address losses at the employee association and set up procedures for submitting the association’s financial statements to the Department on schedule.