Even before her Lamar graduation, Karen Johnson
’70 knew she wanted to see the world. In 20 years
as a U.S. State Department foreign service officer,
Johnson has circled the globe repeatedly while keeping
reminders of home nearby.
“I am happy that my journey through life has exposed
me to many cultures. At the same time, I am very, very
proud to represent my roots in Southeast Texas around the
world,” said the Port Arthur native, who keeps a Texas flag
on her desk and serves Texas barbeque at official representational
events in her postings around the world.
In her current assignment as U.S. Consul General in
Hamburg, reporting to the U.S. ambassador to Germany,
Johnson serves as the chief U.S. government representative
to five north German states. She meets regularly with
German government officials to explain U.S. foreign policy
positions, listen to German concerns and relay those to
Washington. “I’m also responsible for representing
American values, providing a positive image of what
America stands for, our way of life and our approach to
international relations,” Johnson said. That is not always
easy when the two countries do not always agree on issues
of international concern. “But that is the very reason we
have diplomatic relations, to share our sense of what is the
right way forward and to listen to others,” she said. “For
example, the United States would like Germany and other
NATO countries to play a larger role in Afghanistan. I
spend a great deal of time explaining the importance of
establishing a secure environment in Afghanistan so that
meaningful reconstruction work can proceed.”
Johnson is perfectly situated to provide insight on that
issue. Immediately prior to her appointment as Consul
General, she spent a year as the Provincial Reconstruction
Team Director for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul,
Afghanistan. In that role, she managed the efforts of 22
foreign service officers working in outposts in each
province alongside Afghanis and officials from other U.S.
government agencies to bring stability and build institutions
and infrastructure in a country devastated by 30 years
of war. While larger cities like Kabul and Herat previously
enjoyed a degree of development, vast areas of this desolate
county are frozen in time. “When traveling to the more
remote provinces, it was often difficult to imagine what
century I suddenly found myself in. There was absolutely
nothing modern except the Humvee that took
me there,” Johnson said. Although dangerous,
Johnson views American work in Afghanistan as
worthwhile. Along with the initial, ongoing
mission to root out Al-Qaeda, Johnson said, the
U.S. presence in Afghanistan has a secondary
goal of facilitating human rights, particularly for
Afghani women. Overall, she sees the work as
successful though it is far from complete.
“Progress is not measured in leaps and bounds
in this country,” Johnson said. “Full development
will take many decades.”
Taking a long-term view, whether of the
Afghanistan situation or of life in general, comes naturally for a
diplomat like Johnson. Her introduction to the idea of a globetrotting
career came in the summer between her junior and senior
years at Lamar. In studying for her B.A. in sociology with a
minor in government, Johnson took German to satisfy her foreign
language requirement. She put her language skills to use that
summer by working in northern Germany and traveling around
Europe on her own. “That summer was my epiphany that there
was a big world out
there to see and
experience,” she said.
After graduation, a
Rotary Foundation
Fellowship from
Southeast Texas
Rotary Clubs
allowed her to study
in Austria for a year
at the University of
Vienna. In 1972, she
was hired by the
Department of
Defense to manage
recreational programs
for American
soldiers stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. She met and married
her husband, Michael Mitchell, in Germany, and their two sons,
Peter, 33, and Matthew, 31, were born there. She also earned a
master’s of education degree in counseling and human services
from Boston University while in Germany. Returning to the U.S.
in 1978, she taught in El Paso for a few years and worked as a
marketing and communication director for Hospital Corp. of
America. Then, after the birth of her daughter, Kate, in 1985, she
decided it was time to pursue her State Department goal.
“This is the career I always wanted. It just took time,”
Johnson said. In the early 1970s, the State Department hired
few women, and those who made the cut faced numerous
restrictions, including a mandate to resign if they married. Even
at the Defense Department, Johnson’s supervisor requested her
resignation when she married in 1973. The same supervisor was
not happy a year later when “I had the audacity to have a
child,” so Johnson took only two days of maternity leave.
“Diplomacy is what I always wanted to do. I just had to be
patient,” she said. To receive her commission in 1988, Johnson
joined a field of 10,000 people who took a once–yearly written
test, became one of 2,000 invited for interviews and was one of
200 hired that year.
Her first posting was to Seoul, South Korea, during the
1988 Olympics. As a consular officer, she made more than 300
split-second decisions daily about who would obtain visitors visas
to enter the United States. “I had about a minute and a half for
each person who stood in front of me to determine ‘Is this person
trying to immigrate illegally or are they coming back to
Korea?’” Two years later, in 1990, she and her family moved to
Munich, Germany, where she served as the management officer
for the U.S. Consulate. She coordinated the official visits of highranking
government officials, including then-President George
H.W. Bush. Later, she transferred to Geneva, Switzerland, to
work in multilateral affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United
Nations. “Negotiating with diplomats from many countries on
issues of universal concern, particularly human rights issues, was
professionally very rewarding,” she said. After 20 years and
numerous assignments, including a year at the National War
College in Washington, D.C., where she earned a master’s degree
in national security strategy, Johnson is unable to narrow the list
of most interesting or most fulfilling posts to one or two. “I have
to say all of them because each one has been very different,” she
said. “They all built on each other.”
The work representing U.S. interests as a State Department
foreign service officer also builds on what Johnson learned as a
Lamar student. “I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated my four
years at Lamar. I was active in student government and my sorority
(Kappa Delta). The leadership experiences and skills I gained
at Lamar have proven useful throughout my adult life,” Johnson
said. Her background in Southeast Texas has also given her a
ready rapport with those she meets on the job now. “The
Germans love Texas,” Johnson said. When she arrived in
Hamburg to serve as the U.S. Consul General last September,
newspaper headlines consistently proclaimed, “Texas Woman
Named Consul General,” she said. “Anybody who knows me in
Hamburg, Germany, knows quite well that I’m a proud Texan.”
