Glen, I think you are looking at it through a different lens. You are proposing a results-based strategy. A foreign service wasn't efficient, same with a foreign update, so you eliminated both. Hileville (and others) are proposing an objectives-based strategy. They believe that we need a distribution network (the foreign service), so whether it is 100% effective at drawing attention or not isn't that relevant as having one. Ultimately, it depends on what kind of outlook you have for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Personally, and being the last Minister to have fully staffed the foreign service and distributed updates throughout his whole term, I can say that being an ambassador is extremely unrewarding and offers you no actual experience in foreign affairs. So if someone thinks reviving ambassadors will help newcomers get involved, they can stop believing that right now. If they believe that a distribution network is needed anyways, then that's another matter, but I still don't think we need a whole bureaucracy to do something one or two people (a Minister and a Deputy) could do in a few minutes.