PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION NOVEMBER 2019 EAST MEETS WEST: 1989 IN PERSPECTIVE REVISITING TEHRAN FOREIGN SERVICE November 2019 Volume 96, No. 9 Focus: The Fall of the Berlin Wall 24 A Time of Hope JAMES TALALAY JAMES and Optimism The stunning fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 heralded a series of events that transformed the postwar world. Here is a view from Washington. By Eric Rubin 30 A Gift of Peace The popular quest for freedom and self-determination brought down the Berlin Wall, ending an era. By James D. Bindenagel 36 1989: Seen from Yugoslavia Though the Berlin Wall’s collapse left hardly a ripple on the surface of Yugoslavia’s day-to-day turmoil, it decisively affected the underlying course of events. By Louis D. Sell 40 Feature Remembering 1989: Berlin Wall Stories Diplomats reflect on the events 83 that dramatically reshaped the postwar world. A Lingering Poison Tehran, 40 Years Later: What Have We Learned? 80 Events of four decades ago Looking Back on continue to cast their malevolent a Divided City— shadows over a relationship From the that should have long since become more productive. FSJ Archive By John Limbert WIKIMEDIA COMMONSWIKIMEDIA THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2019 5 FOREIGN SERVICE Perspectives Departments 7 110 10 Letters President’s Views Local Lens We Defend the Foreign Service Lithuania 11 Letters-Plus By Eric Rubin By James Talalay 15 Talking Points 9 97 In Memory Letter from the Editor The Wall, Then and Now 101 Books By Shawn Dorman 20 Speaking Out Preventing Domestic Violence Is Marketplace Our Shared Responsibility By Leslie Bassett 103 Real Estate 109 106 Classifieds Reflections 108 Index to Advertisers A Past Not So Distant By Amy Cragun Hall TALALAY JAMES AFSA NEWS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION 89 TSP Rule Changes and New Tax Law: An Expert’s Take 92 AFSA Governing Board Meeting 89 Support AFSA’s Legal Defense Fund 93 FAS VP Voice—The Trees or The Forest? 90 State VP Voice—One Foreign Service 93 AFSA Congratulates Job Search Program Graduates 91 USAID VP Voice—Workforce Planning: 94 Where We Stand—Rejecting Retreat The Horse That Should Pull the Reorganization Cart 95 FS Retiree Outreach and a Return to Chautauqua 92 FCS VP Voice—The Commercial Service at 40? 95 What’s New at DACOR? Actually, It’s Been a Bit Longer… 93 On the Cover—West Berliners perched on top of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate taunt the East German police, Nov. 10, 1989. Photo by then-junior FSO Mike Hammer from on top of the wall. 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL PRESIDENT’S VIEWS We Defend the Foreign Service BY ERIC RUBIN here are many reasons to be a history to derive lessons that can help us Service, it gained the power to protect member of the American For- respond to the very challenging times that members of the Service against harass- eign Service Association. AFSA face us today. ment and retaliation—not just as a matter Tadvances the cause of diplo- In the difficult early days of the of professional integrity, but also as a macy, lobbies the Congress for resources Cold War, Foreign Service officers who matter of employee rights. for foreign affairs and foreign assistance, reported accurately on the likely collapse This legacy is part of our history, and and offers a wealth of benefits—from of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist govern- we need to remember it and draw lessons The Foreign Service Journal and the daily ment in China and the probable victory from it. Our message must be simple and AFSA Media Digest to topical program- of the communists were pilloried in clear: We have your back, and we will ming on a host of subjects. the press and dragged through lengthy assist and defend you when you need AFSA has another important role, congressional hearings. Foreign Service help. Nothing we do is more important. however, one that is especially important Officers O. Edmund Clubb, John Paton We also must maintain AFSA’s impar- today. As the legal bargaining representa- Davies Jr., John S. Service and John Carter tiality and non-partisan, non-political ori- tive of all Foreign Service professionals Vincent were forced out of the Foreign entation. We don’t take sides in political in six U.S. government agencies, our job Service. or policy battles. We support the funda- is to work to improve working conditions During the worst days of Senator mental vision of a Foreign Service that is and policies on employment, promotion, Joseph McCarthy’s rampage against committed to the success of the policies discipline and retirement. alleged Soviet sympathizers in the U.S. established by our elected leaders. This role comes with an important government, AFSA did little to defend There are, however, two sides to imperative: We defend our members, and members of the Foreign Service who were that coin: We expect our elected and we defend the Foreign Service as a whole. unfairly accused of being “fellow travel- appointed leaders to respect the career When you join AFSA, we take on an obli- ers” or Soviet sympathizers and also did professionals of the Foreign Service and gation to defend you when you need us. little to protest raids on U.S. Information to recognize their commitment to serving Several hundred members a year turn to Agency libraries overseas that sought to the United States and to honoring their us for individual support, and our team of purge them of “disloyal” books. oath to the U.S. Constitution. lawyers, labor management advisers and Other members of the Foreign Ser- We also expect them to refrain from grievance counselors goes to bat for them. vice were driven out during the 1950s equating well-considered dissent for AFSA also helps arrange outside expert “Lavender Scare” purge of suspected gay disloyalty. Constructive dissent must be support when needed. In recent months, employees, a campaign that the Secretary confidential, never public; and dissenters we have had to ramp up our support to of State formally apologized for on behalf must accept that at the end of the day our members in the wake of the political tur- of the State Department in 2017. policy will be set by our elected leaders. bulence that has affected too many of our During the tumultuous years of the To achieve good policy decisions, however, colleagues. Vietnam War, AFSA members trans- it is critical that our expert career profes- As we approach formed our association from a partner sionals have a role in policy formation. the 100th anniver- with management to an independent That is the vision of the Foreign Ser- sary of the modern advocate for the U.S. Foreign Service and vice Act of 1980, which puts the Foreign Foreign Service and its employees. In 1973 when AFSA, long Service at the heart of our nation’s foreign of AFSA, it’s worth a professional association, became the policy decision-making. That is the vision looking back on our official bargaining agent for the Foreign that inspires our work. n Ambassador Eric Rubin is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2019 7 FOREIGN SERVICE Editor-in-Chief, Director of Publications Shawn Dorman: [email protected] www.afsa.org Senior Editor Susan Brady Maitra: [email protected] Managing Editor CONTACTS Kathryn Owens: [email protected] AFSA Headquarters: ADVOCACY Associate Editor (202) 338-4045; Fax (202) 338-6820 Director of Advocacy Cameron Woodworth: [email protected] State Department AFSA Office: Kim Greenplate: [email protected] (202) 647-8160; Fax (202) 647-0265 Publications Coordinator USAID AFSA Office: BUSINESS DEPARTMENT Dmitry Filipoff: [email protected] (202) 712-1941; Fax (202) 216-3710 Director of Finance and Facilities Business Development Manager— FCS AFSA Office: Femi Oshobukola: [email protected] Advertising and Circulation (202) 482-9088; Fax (202) 482-9087 Manager, HR and Operations Molly Long: [email protected] Cory Nishi: [email protected] GOVERNING BOARD Controller Art Director President Kalpna Srimal: [email protected] Caryn Suko Smith Hon. Eric S. Rubin: [email protected] Administrative Assistant and Office Manager Editorial Board Secretary Ana Lopez: [email protected] Alexis Ludwig, Chair Ken Kero-Mentz: [email protected] Hon. Robert M. Beecroft Treasurer COMMUNICATIONS AND MEMBERSHIP Daniel Crocker Virginia L. Bennett: [email protected] Director of Communications and Membership Joel Ehrendreich State Vice President Ásgeir Sigfússon: [email protected] Harry Kopp Thomas Yazdgerdi: [email protected] Senior Manager of Programs and Member Jess McTigue USAID Vice President Christopher Teal Engagement Jason Singer: [email protected] Joe Tordella Christine Miele: [email protected] FCS Vice President Vivian Walker Manager of Outreach and Internal Hon. Laurence Wohlers Jay Carreiro: [email protected] Communications Dinah Zeltser-Winant FAS Vice President Allan Saunders: [email protected] Michael Riedel: [email protected] Online Communications Manager Retiree Vice President Jeff Lau: [email protected] THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS John K. Naland: [email protected] Coordinator of Member Relations and Events PROFESSIONALS State Representatives Ashley Baine: [email protected] The Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), Joshua C. Archibald 2101 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is Coordinator of Member Recruitment published monthly, with combined January-February Matthew Dolbow and Benefits and July-August issues, by the American Foreign Service Holly Kirking Loomis Perri Green: [email protected] Association (AFSA), a private, nonprofit organization. Kristin Michelle Roberts Material appearing herein represents the opinions of the Retirement Benefits Counselor writers and does not necessarily represent the views of Tamir Waser Dolores Brown: [email protected] the Journal, the Editorial Board or AFSA.