FCI Federal

Board of Advisors

Ambassador Maura Harty | President & CEO, ICMEC

Ambassador Maura Harty is our President and Chief Executive Officer. She came to ICMEC after a career in the United States Foreign Service, devoted in large part to serving the interests of American citizens abroad. As Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Ambassador Harty directed fundamental changes in visa policies and procedures in the wake of the September 11^th attacks, prioritizing national security needs while facilitating legitimate travel to the United States..An expert in crisis management, Ambassador Harty created the Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues (OCI) to address two daunting diplomatic challenges: the abduction of children by parents across international borders, and intercountry adoptions.Ambassador Harty served in a variety of senior positions at the State Department including Special Assistant to Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Executive Assistant to Secretary Warren Christopher, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Paraguay, and Executive Secretary of the Department of State under Secretary Colin Powell.

Ambassador Harty demanded that Romania accept foreign adoption agreement, or be denied inclusion for U.S. Visa Waiver Program

A/S HARTY MEETINGS IN ROMANIA ON ADOPTIONS | WIKILEAKS 05BUCHAREST1173_a | MAY 20, 2005

SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST

1.(C) In meetings May 10 and 11 with President Basescu, Foreign Minister Ungureanu and other officials of the Government of Romania (GOR), Assistant Secretary Maura Harty found no evidence that the GOR had specific plans or strong commitment to resolve pending cases of international adoption affected by the law in place since January 1 banning adoptions out of Romania. She informed her interlocutors she would have to share that impression with American families whose petitions to adopt Romanian children were affected by the ban. She reiterated to FM Ungureanu the message given by the Secretary during his meeting with her in Washington, that establishing a road map towards eventual inclusion of Romania in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) would depend on progress towards resolving the pending cases.

2.(C) (Summary, cont,d.) After his meeting with A/S Harty, President Basescu appeared to have changed his mind and decided to take positive action on the issue. On May 12, he informed Charge d,Affaires that he had discussed the adoption issue with EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn on May 11; would instruct FM Ungureanu to write the EC expressing the desirability of putting in motion a process to resolve the cases; and that Romania would take the initiative to convince the Germans, Italians, French and others to wield their influence and urge the EC to view resolution of the cases favorably. End summary.

3.(C) Action Request: Per internal discussions during A/S Harty,s visit, post requests Department consideration of a letter from the Secretary to the European Commission urging the EC support humanitarian resolution of pending international adoption cases from Romania. End request.

COMMENT

24.(C) Post believes Basescu’s May 12 statements indicate he took to heart A/S Harty’s message and realized anew how seriously the USG takes resolution of the pending cases. His was the most forward-leaning commitment to action by the GOR leadership to date. Post will follow up with his advisors, the Prime Minister’s office and the MFA in the coming days, and continue to discreetly explore with European embassy interlocutors possibilities for their engaging the EC and European Parliament to resolve pending adoptions. End comment.