DS:GETTINGTHE WHOLE (PERSON)STORY I MADRAS, 1956

AFSA ANNUAL REPORT INSIDE

$3.50 /MARCH 2009 OREIGN ERVICE FJOURNAL STHE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS

GOING IT ALONE How the Foreign Service Copes with Separation

OREIGN ERVICE FJOURNAL S CONTENTS March 2009 Volume 86, No. 3

F OCUSON Going It Alone

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION / 18 By Steven Alan Honley

SUPPORT FOR UNACCOMPANIED ASSIGNMENTS / 20 The Family Liaison Office and other State Department elements offer help to Foreign Service families before, during and after unaccompanied tours. By Bridget Roddy

COPING WITH SEPARATION:TANDEM COUPLES / 29 Besides the obvious personal difficulties, separated tandem couples face an expensive tour with minimal financial aid. Cover and inside illustration By Annie Simpkins by Jeff Moores AN EVACUATION SURVIVAL GUIDE / 31 Chances are that most Foreign Service families will undergo an ordered departure. Here are some tips on how to make the best of it. By Kelly Armstrong

PRESIDENT’S VIEWS / 5 INSIGHTS FROM THE FIELD / 36 To Your Health AFSA members and their families share their By John K. Naland experiences managing long-term separations. By Steven Alan Honley SPEAKING OUT / 13 Twelve Recommendations to Improve the Security F EATURE Clearance Process By Daniel M. Hirsch THE LEPROSY CLINIC:MADRAS, 1956 / 43 REFLECTIONS / 76 More than a half-century before the term “transformational diplomacy” Precious Time was coined, it was the norm for American diplomats in the field By John K. Naland to be engaged in changing lives. By Susan Ingraham

LETTERS / 6 AFSAN EWS CYBERNOTES / 10 AFSA WELCOMES SECRETARY CLINTON TO STATE / 49 MARKETPLACE / 12 PRESIDENT OBAMA AND VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN VISIT STATE / 49 NEWS BRIEFS / 50 BOOKS / 69 VP USAID: THE FOREIGN SERVICE’S POOR COUSIN / 51 INDEX TO VP FAS: WHY FAS ADOPTED THE FOREIGN SERVICE SYSTEM / 52 ADVERTISERS / 74 SEC.CLINTON ADDRESSES USAID EMPLOYEES / 53 AFSA ANNUAL REPORT 2008: TURNING THE TIDE / 54 CLASSIFIEDS / 67

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 3 OREIGN ERVICE FJOURNAL S

Editor STEVEN ALAN HONLEY Senior Editor SUSAN B. MAITRA Associate Editor SHAWN DORMAN AFSA News Editor FRANCESCA KELLY Ad & Circulation Manager ED MILTENBERGER Business Manager ALICIA J. CAMPI Art Director CARYN SUKO SMITH Advertising Intern HANS MULDER

EDITORIAL BOARD

TED WILKINSON Chairman JOSEPH BRUNS STEPHEN W. BUCK JULIE GIANELLONI CONNOR JIM DEHART JEFF GIAUQUE GEORGE JONES LAURIE KASSMAN YVETTE N. MALCIOLN DAVID MCFARLAND AL PESSIN

QUESTIONS? Not sure whom to contact? THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 LETTERS TO MEMBERSHIP E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is THE DITOR For changes of address and other published monthly with a combined July-August E issue by the American Foreign Service Associa- Printed letters may be edited for questions about AFSA membership, tion (AFSA), a private, nonprofit organization. space. E-mail to [email protected] or e-mail [email protected]. Material appearing herein represents the opin- ions of the writers and does not necessarily rep- mail to FSJ, 2101 E Street NW, resent the views of the Journal, the Editorial Washington DC 20037. Board or AFSA. Writer queries and submissions

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4 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 PRESIDENT’S VIEWS To Your Health BY JOHN K. NALAND

Availability for worldwide MED does have some health the persistent disconnects between service is a defining characteris- promotion efforts, they are not MED and the Bureau of Human Re- tic of the Foreign Service. Of comprehensive, are not well sources when it comes to assigning em- course, not all employees can be publicized, and primarily ben- ployees with medically restricted avail- worldwide-available at all times efit only domestic employees. ability. AFSA frequently hears from during their career. Like every- • More recently, I attended members frustrated when MED vetoes one else, Foreign Service mem- the Army War College, where assignments based on criteria that bers can have bad luck with accidents students are intellectually prepared for members do not understand or do not or disease. Nevertheless, without a senior leadership. Students also benefit agree with. large enough corps of diplomats and de- from an executive health and fitness pro- President Barack Obama has pledg- velopment professionals available for as- gram aimed at ensuring that middle- ed to expand America’sdiplomatic pres- signment at locations with difficult aged officers are physically able to con- ence “in difficult corners of the world.” climates and rudimentary medical facil- tinue to serve the nation. The program For that to be possible, increased focus ities, our nation could not consistently seeks to reduce the risk of cardiovascu- must be placed on making sure there are staff our 267 embassies and consulates lar disease by helping participants im- enough Foreign Service members who around the globe. provenutrition,managestress,stopsmok- are physically available for such assign- Thus, it has always surprised me that ing, lower blood pressure and increase ments. the State Department, through its Of- flexibility, strength and aerobic fitness. Toward that end, MED should in- fice of Medical Services, has not done State offers no comparable program. vest in prevention, early detection and more to promote health and wellness. • It has been a decade since MED education. MED and HR should bet- Let me give some examples: stopped the longstanding practice of ter coordinate the assignment of em- • Early in my career, I did a Corpo- requiring full medical examinations ployees with limited medical clearances. rate Exchange Program detail assign- prior to all overseas transfers. While the And State should establish fitness cen- ment with a large U.S. manufacturer. current policy of self-certification may ters at overseas posts where commercial The company had just finished a major be appreciated by those of us who dis- facilities are inadequate or unsafe. cost-cutting exercise, but still offered its like physical exams and prefer to ignore I am not a health expert. However, employees a comprehensive and well- new aches and lumps, one wonders if were MED to survey the best practices publicized health and wellness pro- there has been a drop in the early de- from elsewhere in government and the gram. The program included regular tection of medical conditions among private sector, I have no doubt that a individualized assessments to identify Foreign Service members. If so, that world-class wellness program could be health risks. It also provided health club would result in more serious illnesses crafted. Such a program would benefit discounts, medical Web search tools and increased numbers of disruptive not only individual employees, but and information, and weight loss and medical evacuations from post. would also assure that our foreign affairs smoking cessation programs. While • A January article in the Foreign agencies have sufficient numbers of Service Journal describing problems worldwide-available employees to meet John K. Naland is the president of the with Class 2 clearances (i.e., post-spe- the foreign policy challenges of the American Foreign Service Association. cific assignment limitations) highlights coming years. I

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 5 LETTERS

Thirty Years Ago in Kabul sources and better strategies are need- out-of-touch decisionmakers’ illusions Feb. 14, 2009, marked the 30th an- ed to improve the lives of Afghans and can be implemented. But they gener- niversary of the kidnapping and mur- cement our diplomatic ties. Although ally have no idea as to why and how the der of U.S. Ambassador Adolph “Spike” three decades have passed, we do not new staffing programs evolved. Shawn Dubs at the Kabul Hotel in the center seem to be much closer to a stable gov- Dorman’s “Global Repositioning in of the Afghan capital. It was the worst ernment and a prosperous country. Perspective” (January FSJ) masterfully day in my Foreign Service career, for I This dismaying situation would trouble explains the many ways the global knew him and served as his press and Amb. Dubs just as it does many of us repositioning initiative failed to meet information officer. It was a time of who know the people and the country. its goals and why the idea of American great vulnerability for the American We who have served there know Presence Posts could not be realized. diplomatic community as the stability that most Afghan people are friendly The eloquent testimony of Ralph of the Marxist Taraki regime seemed and peaceful and would rather build Falzone and others in the field shows very shaky. Subsequent events would up their country than live under the why almost none of the program’sgoals prove that it was indeed destined for yoke of another repressive regime. could be achieved without being sub- destruction. This has been the aim of American and stantially modified, as they were in In- In the years since Amb. Dubs led international leaders and military and donesia. Anyone hankering to imple- our mission in Kabul, the Afghan peo- civilian forces in the country. Let us ment staffing changes should be re- ple have been beaten and displaced re- hope that in 2009 we will achieve quired to read this very useful article. peatedly, first by Soviet military forces greater progress with our Afghan allies State needs to decide whether it is occupying their country, then by vi- and so honor the memory of all those going to do more abroad than serve cious and bloody fights among com- Afghans and Americans who, like high-level visitors and provide and peting factions for power inside the Spike Dubs, have lost their lives in maintain facilities for the agencies that country, and now by resurgent Taliban service to our country and to the operate overseas. If so, it will need to forces and their allies in Pakistan and Afghan people in the quest for a bet- secure funding to allow personnel to elsewhere who want to impose their ter day for Afghanistan. leave mission fortifications and engage totalitarian version of Islamic law. The Bruce K. Byers local populations. A first step to get U.S. decision to withdraw its diplomats FSO, retired State employees outside the walls more from Kabul after the Soviet withdrawal Reston, Va. often would be to provide funding so of forces in 1989 proved to be very posts can establish dedicated units that costly. Beyond Hotel Services? deal with all aspects of visitors’ pro- U.S. efforts in Afghanistan since State employees are accustomed to grams save note-taking. 2001, when we reopened our embassy, living with the consequences of sudden To achieve meaningful change, have greatly expanded, but the overall decisions on overseas staffing that re- however, future staffing initiatives need situation remains fragile. More re- quire them to pretend that high-level, to provide for five or 10 times the 285

6 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 L ETTERS
positions encompassed in the GRP ini- abroad through the barrel of a gun, turn of honest debates, dispassionate tiative, as well as adequate funding for much less when you undermine it at decisionmaking, transparency, the rule support and training. Otherwise, like home. The best public diplomacy is of law, checks and balances, and fiscal transformational diplomacy and global doomed to fail in promoting democ- responsibility. What a shame that, repositioning, they will be remem- racy if we’re seen violating our consti- given our recent history, this return to bered only as confusing slogans. tutional guarantees of due process, our founding principles represents Hollis Summers suppressing dissent, politicizing the ju- “thinking anew.” FSO diciary, issuing flimsy signing state- Tim Lattimer Washington, D.C. ments to thwart congressional intent, FSO and unilaterally trashing international Embassy San Jose Lessons Learned? conventions. Such hypocrisy fools no President Obama and Secretary one and merely emboldens autocrats Iran, 1979: Clinton have promised a foreign policy elsewhere. A Well-Planned Takeover “based on a marriage of principles and 3. You can’t promote prosperity I have thoroughly digested Ambas- pragmatism, not rigid ideology” and through reckless fiscal policies. A dog- sador Bruce Laingen’s January letter “on facts and evidence, not emotion or matic fixation on tax cuts took us regarding the opportunity for a diplo- prejudice.” quickly from record budget surpluses matic healing between the United Let’s hope it’s not too late to undo to record deficits. The Bush adminis- States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. the damage wrought by the Bush ad- tration would not likely have met its However, I am compelled to disagree ministration’s foolish rule by dogma: a own Millennium Challenge Corpora- with his assertion that the U.S. embassy tragic war of choice based on lies; tion’s standards for developing coun- was overrun by “students” on Nov. 4, broader and deeper antipathy toward tries regarding adherence “to policies 1979, because he persuaded Ambassa- the U.S., particularly in the Muslim that promote political and economic dor Mehdi Bazargan and National Se- world; hollowed-out military and freedom, investments in education and curity Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski to diplomatic capabilities; record fiscal health, the sustainable use of natural meet. To believe that a minor oppor- deficits and the worst economic down- resources, control of corruption, and tunity to meet in a faraway capital turn since the Great Depression; the respect for civil liberties and the rule would precipitate the takeover of the erosion of democracy in our backyard; of law.” U.S. embassy leads me to believe that and reversals of environmental protec- 4. “Science-based decisionmaking” perhaps a bit of ego, along with diplo- tion and worsening global climate must be just that, not a thinly veiled matic insider information, is involved. change. dodge to avoid hard choices on issues As a communications officer in the If nothing else, perhaps we might such as energy and climate change. telecommunications unit of the em- learn the following lessons: Over the past eight years, non-expert bassy in 1979, I certainly was not privy 1. An “edifice complex” does not ideologues systematically suppressed to all of the information that Amb. make us more secure. The nonparti- or altered scientific reports that ran Laingen had. However, all electronic san “Commission on the Prevention of contrary to the administration’s pre- communications passed through our Weapons of Mass Destruction Prolif- conceived notions. If only they had unit. eration and Terrorism” recently con- shown the same disregard to peddlers Upon my arrival in Tehran on Oct. cluded that “our margin of safety is of bogus intelligence on Iraq that they 19, 1979, just after clearing immigra- shrinking, not growing.” This, despite had for reputable climate scientists. tion and customs (both civil and our $50 billion-per-year Department Beware of dogma. As Abraham Komiteh, the armed Islamic revolu- of Homeland Security, the Defense Lincoln said in 1862, “The dogmas of tionary groups) at Mehrabad Interna- Department’s$800 billion “Global War the quiet past are inadequate to the tional Airport, I was met by my on Terror,” $50 billion spent on Iraq’s stormy present … so we must think supervisor, who told me that my tim- reconstruction, and our $600 million anew, and act anew. We must disen- ing was impeccable. President Jimmy embassy in Baghdad. thrall ourselves, and then we shall save Carter had announced that day that 2. You can’t promote democracy our country.” I look forward to the re- he was allowing the former shah of

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 7 L ETTERS

Iran, Reza Pahlevi, to seek cancer U.S. No one anticipated the act that lieve that the meeting between Bazar- treatment in New York City. My su- eventually occurred, nor do I believe gan and Brzezinski had little or noth- pervisor also stated that this could re- that anyone believed such an event ing to do with the U.S. embassy take- sult in trouble for the U.S. embassy. possible. over. This plan was well thought out I was informed during my embassy Upon being taken hostage on Nov. and well executed, meaning (in my orientation that the Ayatollah Ruhol- 4, 1979, at about 3:15 p.m., I was in- humble opinion) that the students were lah Khomeini was unhappy that Pres. formed, after considerable intimida- supported by Pasdaran and Komiteh Carter was allowing the shah into the tion, that the shah must be returned to elements. U.S. and that Iran would “retaliate” in Iran to stand trial, and that was why the Clair C. Barnes some manner. I was told that this re- embassy was overrun. We — at least Foreign Service Staff Officer, taliation could take the form of con- 15 embassy employees seated around retired tinued harassment of embassy person- or near the dining table in Amb. Lain- Leland, N.C. nel, possible assassination of individu- gen’s residence — were told that we als (considered extreme) or the hijack- would be held hostage until the U.S. Diversity and the Pale Male ing of an embassy van with all on board complied with this demand. The letter in the December 2008 to be held as hostages. The “students” (I use that term Journal lamenting the 12-year hiatus I was further informed that this loosely because several were in fa- since the last white male Secretary of assessment had been forwarded to tigues and were carrying automatic State truly amazed me. Over 200 years Washington prior to the president’sde- weapons as well as side arms) chose passed before the first female or Afri- cision to allow the former shah into the the only day and time of day when al- can-American was appointed to that most everyone who worked or had any esteemed position. That unbroken business on the embassy compound succession of “pale males,” as Teresa would be within the embassy walls, Chin Jones put it, was treated as nor- Sunday morning. In the Islamic world, mal. Sunday is akin to Monday in the West, Yet she seems to suggest that it is the first business day of the week. I do abnormal and, to some extent, defi- not believe that this entire episode was cient to have a stretch where eminently the result of an encounter in Algiers qualified women and members of mi- three days earlier. nority groups have been selected to I will grant that during the first two serve as Secretary of State. At a time weeks after the takeover there was when the first African-American has mass confusion on the part of our cap- been elected president of the United tors, and they took full advantage of States, we can only hope that such a keeping us off-balance and afraid. I, trend would continue. for one, was handcuffed for the first The author also labels as racist a re- two weeks or more, after which these mark by former Secretary Condo- were intermittently replaced with hand- leezza Rice noting the rarity of seeing ties. (My hands were eventually un- “somebody who looks like me” in her tied in February 1980.) meetings around the department. We were not allowed to speak to During my own career at State, I had each other until March 1980. We were occasion to hear several so-called “pale permitted only to speak to the guards male” Secretaries of State make similar and only to request permission to go to comments regarding the absence of di- the bathroom and so forth. Every time versity. Should their observations also I went to the bathroom I was blind- be considered racist? folded for the duration. While we have come a long way as My own experience leads me to be- a democratic society, we have hardly

8 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 L ETTERS
reached the point where 12 years of di- to stale bromides when she proposes rescue AIG from its wayward ac- versity is a threat to white males. If it retraining programs and wage insur- counting and its greedy bets on de- is, then we have not accomplished very ance as the way to help the “losers” rivatives, it is disconcerting to learn much at all. from our trade policy. that Hills served on the committees John W. H. Gravely Most American workers would be overseeing the company’s auditing Department of State, surprised to learn from Hills’ statistics and governance. I retired that “the past 60 years of international Dennis J. Ortblad Washington, D.C. trade has made average American FSO, retired households richer by $9,000 per year.” Seattle, Wash. Hills on Trade Most feel a lot poorer — especially in It was disappointing that Carla Hills recent years. was tapped to contribute an article to The timing for the article was par- Send your the Journal on trade policy (December ticularly awkward in light of this past letters to 2008). There are exciting opportuni- fall’s debacle in our financial markets. [email protected]. ties for a new U.S. approach, but Hills A Google name check reveals that seems wedded to the past. Hills served on the board of the Amer- She correctly acknowledges that ican International Group until the end “the gains from trade do not make of 2006. Given that taxpayers have every citizen a winner.” But she turns provided more than $125 billion to

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 9 CYBERNOTES

“Do More with Less” Mantra On the Way Out? his is going to be a challenging time, and it will require 21st-century tools Tand solutions to meet our problems and seize our opportunities. I'm In a Jan. 13 article, ProPublica pointed to the State Department’sGlo- going to be asking a lot of you. I want you to think outside the proverbial bal Repositioning Program as a “half- box. I want you to give me the best advice you can. I want you to under- baked fiasco,” a “troubled” program stand there is nothing that I welcome more than a good debate and the kind that the new Secretary of State would of dialogue that will make us better. www.propublica. have to deal with ( — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at her welcoming ceremony in the org/article/the-foreign-services-half- State Department, Jan. 22, www.state.gov/video/?videoid=8794088001 baked-fiasco-0113). The nonprofit online newsroom spotlighted FSJ Associate Editor Shawn that it did not find easy cuts to make). when Congress included funds for 101 Dorman’s comprehensive analysis of “If repositioning becomes regular- new position in the Supplemental Ap- the GRP,“Global Repositioning in Per- ized,” the OIG concludes, it should be propriations Act of 2008. spective,” written in October 2008 and done “largely through additional rather Because no single federal agency published in the January issue of the than repositioned personnel.” Is State has all of the relevant expertise, the Journal (www.afsa.org/fsj/jan09/glo moving toward a new mantra — “Do CRC is a partnership of eight depart- balRepositioning.pdf). A key feature more with more; and if you have less, ments and agencies: State, the U.S. of former Secretary of State Con- then do less”? Agency for International Develop- doleezza Rice’s transformational diplo- ment, Agriculture, Commerce, Health macy strategy, in effect its bureaucratic Civilian Response Corps and Human Services, Homeland Secu- expression, the GRP holds many les- Gears Up rity, Justice and Treasury. sons — not the least of which is that the Recruiting for some 250 Foreign Besides the full-time “active com- longtime State habit of agreeing to “do and Civil Service positions in the Civil- ponent,” or CRC-A, the Corps has a more with less” may be obsolete. ian Response Corps, based in the State standby unit and plans to create a re- In late November, the State’s Office Department’s Office of the Coordina- serve unit. S/CRS expects to receive of the Inspector General issued its own tor for Reconstruction and Stabiliza- additional funding in the Fiscal Year interim review of the GRP. The un- tion, is now open (www.crs.state.gov). 2009 budget to expand the CRC-A to classified summary of OIG Report ISP- Formally launched on July 16, 2008, 250 and standby forces to 2,000. The I-09-09 is available (http://oig.state. by former Secretary of State Condo- reserve unit will consist of another gov/documents/organization/112 leezza Rice, the CRC is the expedi- 2,000 volunteers from the private sec- 492.pdf). tionary, interagency civilian reconstruc- tor and state and local governments. Significantly,the OIG acknowledges tion and stabilization component of the CRC-A officers train for, prepare that the effectiveness of the new posi- S/CRS mission (http://smallwarsjour and staff reconstruction and stabiliza- tions was “limited” by a lack of re- nal.com/blog/2008/07/civilian- tion operations and conflict prevention sources and that posts that lost existing response-corps-launch-1/). Though and mitigation efforts all over the positions also lost their ability to ac- under discussion for several years, the world. They must be prepared to de- complish necessary work (OIG notes Corps’ creation was made possible ploy on 48- to 72-hour notice and will

10 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 C YBERNOTES
focus on critical initial interagency lected tropical diseases can be a vital people living on less than $1.25 per day. functions in response to specific crises. weapon in the effort to combat terror- They include ascariasis, trichuriasis, They may spend up to 60 percent of ism, former Health and Human Serv- lymphatic filariasis, trachoma and on- their time in conflict areas on deploy- ices Secretary Tommy Thompson told chocerciasis, and not only promote pov- ments averaging three months, and will an audience at the Center for Strategic erty but also destabilize communities. attend up to eight weeks of training and and International Studies’ Global In “Waging Peace through Neg- exercises each year. Health Policy Center on Jan. 27 (www. lected Tropical Disease Control: A U.S. See the S/CRS Web site for infor- csis.org/component/option,com_csi Foreign Policy for the Bottom Billion,” mation on the Corps’ history and mis- s_events/task,view/id,1874/). published Jan. 30 in the open-access sion. Office of Reconstruction and In his capacity as global ambassador journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Dis- Stabilization Coordinator Ambassador for the Global Network for Neglected eases, Thompson and Hotez detail their John Herbst’s Feb. 18, 2008, official Tropical Diseases, Sec. Thompson in- case. briefing also provides extensive back- vited the public health and foreign pol- They define medical diplomacy as ground (www.crs.state.gov/index.cfm icy communities and the new admini- “the winning of hearts and minds of ?fuseaction=public.display&short stration to embrace medical diplomacy people in the Middle East, Asia, Africa cut=4ZM4). The role of the U.S. Insti- as a critical piece of the foreign policy and elsewhere by exporting medical tute for Peace in the Corps’ creation is agenda. care, expertise and personnel to help described in the institute’s newsletter, Thompson was joined by Sabin Vac- those who need it most” (http://dx. Peacewatch (www.crs.state.gov/index cine Institute President Peter Hotez, a plos.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000 .cfm?fuseaction=public.display&sho distinguished professor of microbiol- 346). rtcut=CJRF). ogy,immunology and tropical medicine In many nations considered diplo- at The George Washington University matic “hot spots,” they say, up to 50 A Renewed Call for Medical School of Medicine. percent of the population suffers from Diplomacy Neglected tropical diseases, also one or more NTD. A vigorous effort to control neg- known as NTDs, affect some 1.4 billion Medical diplomacy is also cost-effi- cient. “The entire at-risk populations of war-torn areas and areas of conflict in Site of the Month: wikiHow sub-Saharan Africa could be treated for The next time you have a random question about how to do something, you one year at roughly the cost of one or might want to start your Web research at www.wikihow.com. two F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets,” A less well-known member of the “wiki” community, wikiHow was launched in Thompson and Hotez point out. 2005 by Jack Harrick, with the goal of creating a massive how-to manual with ac- Thompson first launched the cam- curate, up-to-date instructions on every imaginable topic in multiple languages. paign in 2004, following an eye-open- Currently, the site contains more than 50,000 articles written by volunteers on ing visit to Iraq, Afghanistan and topics that range from repairing a broken scuba mask buckle or adding a picture to Africa. As the FSJ observed in its De- a MySpace page to becoming a bounty hunter or crocheting a cat hat. cember 2004 focus on the topic, glob- The site is both fascinating and practical. “How to Take a Good Picture on Your alization and the breakdown of Camera Phone,” for example, is a lucid and succinct tutorial, while “How to Get Rid barriers to trade, commerce and mi- of Cockroaches” gives you everything you need to know to eliminate the pests. Al- gration have helped make it an idea ternatively, you might enjoy learning to draw a manga dog or play all the major whose time has come. chords on the piano. wikiHow is free of cost and its owners are committed to its remaining so. The Darfur: Escalation or site is financed, in its managers’ words, by “tasteful, non-obnoxious” advertising. Resolution? It is pleasant, easy to navigate and transparent. As the crisis in Darfur smolders on, And, of course, wikiHow is also interactive: you can contribute your own ex- the International Criminal Court’s up- pertise to the collective effort. coming ruling in the case against Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, its first

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 11 C YBERNOTES

50 Years Ago... arly in his career every young officer should become Eacutely aware of the importance of establishing and maintaining mutual respect and understanding between Americans and permanent local employees. … The morale and effi- ciency of many a post are directly affected by the sincerity and smooth- ness of this relationship. — Editorial: “Essential Continuity and the FSL,” FSJ, March 1959

against a head of state, may constitute a The United States, which has desig- turning point. nated the Arab-dominated Sudanese Last July, after three years of inves- government’s actions against the Fur tigation, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno- and other African tribes in Darfur as Ocampo charged Bashir with 10 counts genocide, nonetheless remains reluc- of war crimes and genocide in Darfur. tant to push for an arrest warrant, both The court’s pretrial chamber now has because it does not recognize the ICC to decide whether to issue an arrest and it is not a signatory to the Rome warrant. Statutes (wwww.ipsnews.net/africa/ Speculation is rife concerning the nota.asp?inews=43234). possible response should an indictment Meanwhile, the violence in Darfur be forthcoming. “Anything is possible,” has intensified, with threats of possible reports IRIN, the news and analysis of- Darfur rebel attacks against cities and fice of the U.N. Office for the Coordi- oil installations and a continuing offen- nation of Humanitarian Affairs (www. sive by government forces. The crisis irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Report that began in 2003 as a revolt against Id=82508). the Arab-dominated Sudanese govern- Backers of the ICC move insist that ment and the government-controlled removing Bashir will clear the way for Janjaweed militia has since seen hun- peace negotiations. He has categori- dreds of thousands killed and millions cally rejected the charges and made displaced. clear that he has no intention of bow- For further news and analysis, see ing to international pressure. the All-Africa news service, www.all The Sudanese president is also tak- africa.com or the BBC (http://news. ing advantage of the fact that the ICC’s bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7871138.stm). actions are as vexing for the U.N. Se- For detailed background onDarfur, see curity Council as they are for him. the International Crisis Group’s report Among council members holding a (www.crisisgroup.org/home/index. veto, only France and Britain unequiv- cfm?id=3060&l=1). For an extensive ocally support the ICC. directory of online resources on Sudan With huge investments in Sudan and the Darfur crisis, go to Acade- and also a nonsignatory to the Rome micInfo (www.academicinfo.net/hist Statutes, China is opposed to further africasudan.html). I ICC action. And both the Arab League and the African Union urge postpone- This edition of Cybernotes was com- ment of the decision, as well. piled by Senior Editor Susan B. Maitra.

12 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 SPEAKING OUT Twelve Recommendations to Improve the Security Clearance Process

BY DANIEL M. HIRSCH

s someone who has used com- Some of those officials are on record as puters for more than 25 years, The way the Bureau saying things that demonstrate that AI consider myself an expert on of Diplomatic they view the process through a law- those programs I need to do my job. Security conducts enforcement or disciplinary optic But aside from a vague notion that in- rather than as the unique process it is formation is changed into a binary security clearance meant to be. This lack of understand- form that corresponds to the opening adjudications raises ing has caused irreparable damage to and closing of circuits, I have no idea serious concerns. the careers and lives of many FSOs — how a computer actually works. and also, arguably, to our national se- Until a few years ago, that was anal-
curity, when innocent people, experts ogous to my knowledge of security in their fields, have been removed clearances — something I suspect is from service for unjustified reasons. true of most Foreign Service person- employees of the foreign affairs agen- Executive Order 12968 defines a se- nel. We know that clearances are cies working to promote fairness, due curity clearance as a decision that the based on the results of background in- process and compliance with govern- personal and professional history of an vestigations into whether we follow the mentwide standards for security clear- American citizen indicates loyalty to the rules. But beyond that, we don’t think ance adjudication (www.worldcrafters. United States, strength of character, much about them. com). As a member of its executive trustworthiness, honesty,reliability,dis- For me, that situation changed in committee, I have spoken to dozens of cretion and sound judgment, freedom 2003 when the clearance I had held for State Department employees whose from conflicting allegiances and poten- more than 20 years was suddenly sus- clearances were at one time suspended tial for coercion, and willingness and pended. Abruptly, I was brought face or revoked, and have read whatever ability to abide by regulations governing to face with an issue that potentially af- documents related to their cases those classified information. There are 13 fects all of our careers. employees were allowed to have. I can “adjudicative criteria for review” that Over the past six years, I have de- now call myself a well-informed ama- must be considered when evaluating a voted my spare time not only to read- teur scholar of the subject. person’s eligibility for a clearance. ing the applicable laws and regulations, The evaluation should include “the but also to talking to experts. These A Unique Process careful weighing of a number of vari- range from lawyers who specialize in The first thing I learned is that the ables known as the whole person con- the subject and academics who study whole process is poorly understood — cept. Available, reliable information it, to people in State, the Central Intel- not only by most FSOs but also by sen- about the person, past and present, fa- ligence Agency and the departments of ior employees of the very entities vorable and unfavorable, should be Defense, Justice and Homeland Secu- within the State Department charged considered in reaching a determina- rity, as well as members of Congress. with overseeing it, such as the Diplo- tion.” I am also a founding member of matic Security and Human Resources In a disciplinary or law enforcement Concerned Foreign Service Officers, bureaus, the Legal Adviser’sOffice and case, the focus is on a person’s actions. an association of current and former the Office of the Inspector General. Has someone broken a rule or a law?

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 13 S PEAKING O UT

What did they do? But in a security clearance adjudication, the goal is not to decide whether an act was commit- ted, but to develop and analyze a “whole person” picture of everything, good and bad, that is known about the individual, as indicators of integrity, honesty and trustworthiness. The key components of this process are: an objective investigation that col- lects positive information, not just derogatory; a whole person evaluation that considers all information, positive and negative; and a requirement that factors forming the basis of a decision be “reliable.” Unfortunately, good people some- times do bad things. They break rules, either inadvertently out of ignorance, or on purpose but for a very good rea- son. Or they do bad things during a wayward youth, becoming more trust- worthy when they get older. The task of the adjudicator is not merely to de- termine whether or not a piece of derogatory information is true, but whether it creates unmitigated doubt about a person’s loyalty, integrity or susceptibility to outside pressure. In a disciplinary matter, even igno- rance of the rules is no excuse. If a rule was broken, even inadvertently, the in- fraction must be punished. But in a se- curity clearance determination, that should not be the case. Accidentally breaking a rule, in ignorance, is hardly evidence of innate dishonesty.

Causes for Concern We in the Concerned Foreign Serv- ice Officers organization have serious concerns about the way the Bureau of Diplomatic Security currently con- ducts the process. We would note that some 90 percent of all U.S. govern- ment security clearance adjudications are performed either by the Office of

14 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 S PEAKING O UT
A time of service…a time of need Help for Seniors May Personnel Management or the De- partment of Defense. Both agencies use specially trained personnel who are Be Just a Phone Call Away— not criminal investigators or law en- The Senior Living Foundation may be forcement personnel to conduct back- able to help you or someone you know. ground investigations. These agents Some examples of assistance are: conduct the process entirely outside N Home Health Care the employee’s chain of command and usually beyond the influence of the N Adult Day Care & Respite Care head of the employing agency. N Prescription Drug Copayments OPM and DOD’s clearance proce- N Transportation to Medical Appointments dures are identical and based on the N Durable Medical Equipment Adjudicative Desk Reference, which is publicly available. Appeals are re- For more information, please contact the corded, and those heard by the De- SENIOR LIVING FOUNDATION fense Office of Hearings and Appeals OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE 1716 N Street, NW N Washington, DC 20036-2902 are publicly available. A key compo- Phone: (202) 887-8170 N Fax: (202) 872-9320 nent of the appeal process is a “state- E-Mail: [email protected] N Web Site: www.SLFoundation.org ment of reasons” informing the em- SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION ployee of the exact concerns support- ing a negative decision, providing the affected employee the right to respond directly to those concerns. In contrast, DS overseas back- ground investigations are usually con- ducted by special agents whose pri- mary focus is on law enforcement and the development of a criminal indict- ment. In adverse action cases, DS fre- quently bases adjudications on investi- gations originally conducted to develop a criminal or disciplinary case. These fail to meet the requirement to collect positive information in addition to any that is derogatory, as well as other ele- ments of a personnel security back- ground investigation. Most cases we have seen show no evidence of the required “whole per- son” review. Many appear based on cherry-picking of derogatory informa- tion — contrary to the whole person concept. We have also seen cases where decisions appear to be influenc- ed by ethnic background, sexual orien- tation or mental health counseling. It is not unusual for DS to reopen a

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 15 S PEAKING O UT
disciplinary case as a security clearance the subject of the investigation; but case, leading to the termination of an signed statements should still be avail- employee who would otherwise have The deliberations of able to cleared reviewers or other par- received nothing more than a letter of ticipants in the process authorized to reprimand or oral admonition. Many State’s Security Appeal review such information. cases involve rules like contact report- 5. DS should create a competent ing requirements, which are unpub- Panel are not recorded mechanism to review investigations lished and which the employee could and pursue allegations of investigative not reasonably be expected to know. and not available for improprieties, and should allow OIG A particularly bothersome issue is to periodically inspect the investigative the apparent failure to follow up on consideration as function. The scope of such a review reports of investigative misfeasance should not be limited to the report of by DS agents who have allegedly precedents. investigation, but should include seized personal property without a source material and secondary inter- warrant, falsified information, delib- views of sources. erately excluded exculpatory infor- 6. To reduce the risk of bias, DS mation and positive interview results should establish broader mandatory from their reports, and even used the training related to diversity and proce- unregulated investigative process to for that purpose. They should not be dures to review and enforce compli- settle personal scores. based on the results of a search for mis- ance. Such procedures should not only There is no doubt that most DS in- feasance or malfeasance. Derogatory seek to prevent bias based on race, but vestigations are conducted properly, allegations should, of course, be con- also bias based on gender, religion, sex- and investigative misfeasance is un- sidered — but only in the context of a ual orientation and other differences. usual. But even so, the failure to inves- whole person review. 7. Where DS recommends a revo- tigate such charges is disturbing. Nearly 2. That review should be docu- cation of security clearance, it should every person we have interviewed has mented and the file should record not provide the employee with a clear complained that statements made to only the derogatory information relied statement of reasons that not only DS investigators were not recorded ac- upon, but also all positive information specifies the criteria relied upon, but curately, were taken out of context or considered, as well as a summary of the also lists the reasons DS believes that, were distorted in written reports. deliberation weighing these elements. in light of the criteria, the employee is Unlike the deliberations of OPM, 3. Personnel security background no longer eligible for clearance. DOD and the Foreign Service Griev- investigations should be performed 8. The decision to revoke a security ance Board, those of the State Depart- solely by people trained and employed clearance should be based on the same ment’s Security Appeal Panel (the to perform that function. PSBIs standard of reliable evidence that the senior board of appeal) are not re- should not be performed by employ- Defense Department and the Office of corded and not available for consider- ees who also perform other types of in- Personnel Management apply in their ation as precedents. vestigations. If DS does not want to respective investigations. hire full-time background investiga- 9. DS should accept adjudicative Improving the System tors, then it should create rotational precedents established by DOD and With that background in mind, I positions for agents who, while in that OPM, as well as earlier precedents es- offer the following recommendations position, will only perform PSBIs. tablished by the State Department’s for reforming the security clearance 4. DS should adopt the practice, al- own Security Appeal Panel. adjudication process. ready generally used by OIG, of re- 10. All proceedings of the SAP 1. Security clearance adjudications quiring all sources interviewed to sign should be recorded, and a written should be based on a “whole person” statements confirming what they said. summary of deliberations and findings, review of the data gathered during a Where sources request anonymity, sanitized as might be appropriate, background investigation performed their identity could be withheld from should become part of an official,

16 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 S PEAKING O UT
transparent and accessible record. 11. DS should not base security clearance determinations on regula- tions that the employee cannot be rea- sonably expected to know. If rules are unpublished, or otherwise demonstra- bly unavailable to the employee, fail- ure to abide by them should not be interpreted as evidence of dishonesty or unreliability. 12. With rare exceptions for the most egregious of cases, the depart- ment should choose only one path for handling any given allegation. It should decide either to treat the case as a criminal matter to be referred for prosecution, as a disciplinary matter to be handled by HR, as a medical issue to be handled by MED, as a suitability issue to be handled by HR, or as a se- curity clearance issue. Whatever route it chooses, it should not seek more than one bite of the apple. The security clearance process is vital both to the security of our nation and the efficiency of the Foreign Serv- ice, yet it is also non-transparent, poorly regulated and easily abused. Because of the severe impact on the careers and livelihoods of government employees, it is imperative that adjudi- cations be conducted fairly and equi- tably to protect the interests of all concerned. I

Daniel M. Hirsch, a Foreign Service of- ficer since 1985, is the director of the State Department’s Overseas Motor Vehicle Program He has served in Praia, Bamako, Maputo, Belgrade, Bis- sau, Tashkent, Abuja, Calcutta, Bish- kek, Ashgabat and Washington, D.C. Mr. Hirsch is a founding member of Concerned Foreign Service Officers, an organization which promotes fair- ness and due process in the security clearance function.

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 17 F OCUSON G OING I T A LONE

GOING IT ALONE: EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION Jeff Moores

lthough nearly every issue of the Foreign Service Journal in recent years has de- scribed the impact of increasingly dangerous assignments on Foreign Service members and their families, the last time we devoted a focus section to the subject was February 2003. Understandably, our coverage then reflected the still-pro- found reverberationsA of the 9/11 attacks, as well as widespread anxiety over the Bush administration’s preparations for the invasion of Iraq. But in covering the challenges of living and working in danger zones, we mainly highlighted the

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growing prevalence of evacuations. The number of Many of these programs and ini- Indeed, in my introduction to that tiatives stem from collaborative ef- focus section, I speculated that the unaccompanied positions forts by various offices within the first decade of the 21st century might department, including the Family Li- one day come to be known as the has shot up from around aison Office, and from posts overseas. “Era of Evacuations.” Advocacy groups like Associates of Happily, I was wrong in making 200 to more than 900. the American Foreign Service World- that prediction! Evacuations still wide (formerly known as AAFSW) occur, of course, and I certainly do not mean to minimize and AFSA, to name just two, have also played important their impact. But it turns out that a different phenome- roles. The lesson is clear: Both as an organization and as non developed after 9/11, one that fundamentally altered a community, we all have to work together to continue to the nature of diplomatic service and appears to be per- adapt to the changing Foreign Service. manent. A subset of the unaccompanied tour conundrum that Many if not most of our overseas posts have always sometimes is overlooked is the situation of tandem cou- been in remote, unhealthy locations, and travel to and ples assigned to separate posts. Making matters worse, this from them was often time-consuming and dangerous. most often happens to entry-level families, who tend to (Examine the hundreds of names and causes of death en- be less familiar with how the “system” works (or does not) graved on the AFSA Memorial Plaques in the State De- and the support mechanisms that are available. First-tour partment’s C Street lobby if you have any doubts on that FSO Annie Simpkins tells her own story and offers prac- score.) Nor are armed attacks by terrorists, rebels and tical tips for “Coping with Separation: Tandem Couples” even host governments anything new to American diplo- (p. 29). Many of her pointers are equally applicable to mats, alas. other members of the Foreign Service community. Even so, only a handful of posts were designated for I’ve already alluded to the special challenges that evac- unaccompanied service on an ongoing basis — until 9/11. uations pose, but FSO spouse and former FSO Kelly Since that tragic day, the number of unaccompanied po- Armstrong gives us a comprehensive “Evacuation Survival sitions has shot up from around 200 to more than 900, and Guide” (p. 31). Even veterans of ordered departures will more than 20 posts are currently on the list of fully unac- find useful information therein. companied missions. Last but certainly not least, we are pleased to present Despite the best intentions, the State Department was a set of vignettes and reflections contributed by Foreign slow to respond to this sea change — and even slower to Service personnel and their families who have served un- devote appropriate resources to the Family Liaison Of- accompanied tours, in response to our AFSAnet appeals fice (which itself only came into existence 30 years ago) for individual stories (p. 36). These accounts of prolonged and other offices tasked with assisting Foreign Service separations due to, in the famous phrase, “the needs of employees and their families affected by prolonged sep- the Service,” run the gamut from lessons learned (and arations. not) to pleas for more attention to the issue and some Still, there has been progress, as Bridget Roddy, FLO’s poignant memories. unaccompanied tour support officer, explains in her More than two centuries ago, Benjamin Franklin fa- overview of the department’s “Support for Unaccompa- mously observed to his fractious colleagues in the Conti- nied Assignments” (p. 20). For example, her position was nental Congress that “If we do not hang together, we shall established in 2005, and FLO added a full-time unac- most assuredly all hang separately.” He was warning of companied tour program assistant last year. In addition to the consequences of military defeat, of course. But those two positions, other portfolios in FLO also support Franklin’s metaphorical point about the importance of employees and family members before, during and after unity, and the need to support each other, also applies to an unaccompanied tour. In this regard, a key objective is today’s Foreign Service — whether we are serving along- to work with the regional bureaus and human resource side our families or are living and working thousands of officers to encourage and facilitate Eligible Family Mem- miles away from them. I ber hiring at unaccompanied posts, where possible. — Steven Alan Honley

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 19 F OCUSON G OING I T A LONE

SUPPORT FOR UNACCOMPANIED ASSIGNMENTS

A DETAILED LOOK AT JUST WHAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT CAN DO TO HELP.

BY BRIDGET RODDY

he face of the Foreign Service available to their family members, who not only feel dis- has changed profoundly since the 9/11 attacks: Most cur- connected from their loved ones, but who could also ben- rent members can expect at least one unaccompanied as- efit by a community of others in a similar situation. signmentT during their career, generally lasting a year or Many of these programs stemmed from collaborative longer. In 2001, the number of unaccompanied, or par- efforts among various offices within the department, in- tially accompanied, Foreign Service positions was about cluding the Family Liaison Office, and overseas posts. 200; now there are over 900. Both as an organization and as a community, we all have While most of these jobs are at posts in Iraq, to work together to continue to adapt to the changing For- Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, there are 12 other eign Service. posts designated as partially accompanied: either adult El- igible Family Members (over 21) only or adult EFMs and Meet FLO children under 5 (see p. 26). The Family Liaison Office was founded in 1978 to pro- The State Department is constantly looking for the best vide advocacy, programs and services for direct-hire U.S. way to support unaccompanied posts’ missions, their em- government employees and family members who are serv- ployees, and family members affected by the separation. ing, have served or will be serving under chief-of-mission In particular, we strive to establish effective support struc- authority. In the context of providing FLO’s services to tures, not only at these posts but also for each employee’s families of employees serving in unaccompanied tours, in onward assignment, whether to another overseas post or a particular, we define the term “family members” very lib- domestic office. We also try to make adequate resources erally to include spouses, partners, members of household, parents, tandems, siblings, fiancés, adult children, and any- Bridget Roddy is the Unaccompanied Tours Support Offi- one else who is important to the employee. If they are im- cer in the State Department’s Family Liaison Office. The portant to you, they are important to us. daughter of a Foreign Service officer,she has lived in Abid- There are two positions in FLO solely devoted to sup- jan, Vienna, the Hague, Taipei and Ottawa. She was on porting employees and their family members before, dur- the “family” side of two unaccompanied tours while her fi- ing and after a UT. The Unaccompanied Tours Support ancé served in Doha and Baghdad. Officer position was established in 2005, and a program

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assistant position was added in 2008. We offer support lated allowances and benefits. For those families opting for through a range of services and mechanisms. These in- boarding school, the EYO offers consultation on appropri- clude: 1) direct phone, e-mail or in-person contact with ate placement. Long-term separation from parents, espe- one of the two FLO unaccompanied tour staff; 2) brief- cially if coupled with high anxiety, culture shock or re-entry ings, gatherings and training sessions; 3) information- problems, can have both immediate and delayed conse- sharing via FLO’s Internet site and the HomeFrontUS quences for children. FLO’s Education and Youth Officer Yahoo group; 4) Web-based training and information ses- offers guidance and referral on these topics. In addition, sions; 5) help from MHN, a contracted health services FLO also provides resources for families of special needs company; 6) liaison with other offices and bureaus; and, and gifted children. 7) advocacy to improve or expand department services and resources. Where Should the Family Live? We also hope that all employees and family members Each individual’sreasons for taking an assignment to one on unaccompanied tours will look to FLO as a source of of the 21 fully or partially unaccompanied posts are a mix confidential communication to answer questions on regu- of the personal and professional. But whatever the moti- lations and allowances and as a point of contact on unac- vation, it is important that employees and their families un- companied tour–related issues. derstand the ramifications of such an assignment — and In addition to the UT officer and program assistant, have realistic expectations of what support is available. other portfolios in FLO support employees and family Even a one-year separation has a long-term impact on one’s members affected by an unaccompanied tour. Our em- career, family relationships and, in some cases, physical and ployment team consists of five staff members who provide mental health and well-being. support and services to family members for employment To help the family decide where to live during the em- inside the mission, on the local economy and in the U.S., ployee’s tour (and also to assist the employee in under- primarily the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. They standing the allowances based on how he or she is work with family members of UT employees to assist them assigned), FLO has created a decision tree that people can in their unique circumstances, to identify potential em- use to identify and compare locations based on various fac- ployment and training opportunities. tors. These include proximity to friends, family and support At some unaccompanied posts, once the employee is as- systems; the current and prospective job situation for the signed, his or her spouse may apply for jobs designated for spouse/partner; children’s ages and school considerations; Eligible Family Members there. FLO works with the re- and health issues. gional bureaus and human resource officers at post to en- For example, foreign-born spouses may wish to reside courage and facilitate EFM hiring at unaccompanied posts. with their family in a country where they know the language FLO’s naturalization specialist can assist State Depart- and have a support structure. Other family members may ment employees’ non-U.S. citizen spouses seeking expedi- wish to remain in, or travel to, Washington, D.C., where tious naturalization. In some situations where the em- they can avail themselves of FLO’s services and programs, ployee goes on temporary duty to an unaccompanied post research an onward assignment at the Overseas Briefing and the spouse remains at the post that the employee left, Center, or participate in gatherings. They can also access the spouse does not lose eligibility. And our Crisis Man- services of the Bureau of Medical Services that may be agement and Support Officer provides information about available to them, including confidential counseling by the the post and guidance on dealing with personal challenges Employee Consultation Service and Deployment Stress such as evacuations, elder care, separation/divorce and Management Program. Still other families may prefer to other work/life issues. These issues often become even reside elsewhere in the U.S., near relatives or friends. more complex during an unaccompanied assignment, and the CMSO stands ready to provide added support. The Allowances Quagmire FLO’s Education and Youth Officer assists families in The allowances and regulations applicable to employ- navigating the complex educational options for children — ees serving in unaccompanied positions and their eligible especially those that have been made more complex by an family members vary greatly, depending on the method by unaccompanied tour — and provides information on re- which the employee is assigned (via permanent change of

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station or temporary duty) and whether he or she is com- 262.2).” Involuntary SMA is “for the convenience of the ing from overseas or Washington. But all Foreign Service U.S. government when dangerous, notably unhealthful, or employees serving PCS in unaccompanied positions may excessively adverse living conditions warrant the exclusion apply for a Separate Maintenance Allowance to support of family from accompanying an employee to the post of their EFMs in maintaining a separate household. assignment (DSSR 262.1).” There are two types of SMA — voluntary and involun- ISMA is most often sought when an employee PCSs to tary. Voluntary SMA is “for special needs or hardship prior an unaccompanied post. In conjunction with ISMA, em- to or after arrival at post for reasons including but not lim- ployees are also eligible for a Transitional Separate Main- ited to career, health, educational or family considerations tenance Allowance when the family members occupy for the spouse, children or other family member (DSSR commercial quarters upon arrival at their ISMA location

Helping Couples Make Sense of Unaccompanied Tours By Ray Leki he Foreign Service world is changing, and so are the of- through very similar situations. We are experiencing things fices within the department. Unaccompanied tours are as a Foreign Service family that we have never experienced in Ta new reality. War-zone deployments are putting cou- the past, and we have to accept new ways of dealing with ples in a situation they may be ill-prepared to deal with. The those things.” Foreign Service Institute’s Transition Center, which works Watching the film with a spouse, a partner or any family closely with Foreign Service officers and their families member can bring an uncomfortable, though essential, dis- through all phases of their careers, has made a new connec- cussion out into the open, and catalyze the process of build- tion with the implementation of the High-Stress Assignment ing resilience into the relationship. “I have loaned [the DVD] Outbrief Program, conducted jointly by the Transition Center to two separate couples who are preparing for upcoming un- and the Office of Medical Services. accompanied tours,” says participant Jane Petitt. “Both re- As part of this program, the Transition Center released an ported being moved by the frank honesty and comprehensive unusual DVD this year that provides advice for couples. Mak- nature of the interviews. Lending out my copy of the DVD ing Sense of Unaccompanied Tours: Insights for Couples in- was an easy way to open real conversation about this difficult terweaves stories from six couples, who share strategies for topic.” navigating through the many phases of long-term separa- Instructors at FSI have used this training tool to gain ad- tions. Each couple’s decision to participate in the film demon- ditional perspective and compassion for the colleagues they strated a belief in the value of shared experiences to under- instruct and mentor. For those students not inclined to speak stand evolving realities. The couples highlight the many dif- about their unaccompanied tour situations, and those in- ferent options available for dealing with issues in an effective, structors not inclined to ask, the film provides a valuable op- poignant and meaningful way. portunity to look behind the scenes of an officer’s professional This unique training tool frames stories through critical life to the personal realities he or she is living. analysis of the larger issues encompassing an unaccompa- “I often believed that I was the only person who wished, nied tour. What goes into making the decision? What are worried and wondered. It is comforting to know that I was the challenges for each person in his/her respective location? not alone in that,” says Petitt. “Despite my extensive experi- How to communicate? How did each party anticipate the em- ence with unaccompanied tours, even I found the DVD inter- ployee’s return home? What were the physical and emotional esting. There is no substitute for experience, and people can components of the return home, and how did they reconnect? be wonderful resources for each other.” What expectations did the couple have of each other, and The culmination of two years in production, Making Sense what things surprised them about integrating back into a life is available in every CLO resource library worldwide. Copies now different than they had left? for those contemplating or going through an unaccompanied “I’ve never been a person that would sit down and speak assignment may be obtained from the Transition Center at with someone about something touchy-feely,” film partici- FSI (e-mail Natalya Pestalozzi at [email protected]). pant Bill Miller admits. “But now I will very readily sit down and listen to someone and share experiences, because I know Ray Leki is director of the Foreign Service Institute’s Transi- it’s good for them to understand that others have gone tion Center.

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and when they prepare to depart that There are two types companied tour so that we can offer location for the employee’s next foreign them support and services, or help or domestic accompanied post (DSSR of SMA — voluntary them identify other resources. Where 260). ISMA rates were increased in possible, we contact them at the time March 2008, and the allowance is non- and involuntary. of assignment to explain our services taxable. and assist families in deciding where to There is also a mandatory 15 days of reside during the tour, if it has not been home leave (or transition leave in the case of a domestic determined. employee serving overseas) after the employee completes We rely on employees to fill out the Employee and a tour at one of the posts “experiencing extraordinary cir- Family Member Contact Information Sheet to provide us cumstances.” These include posts in Iraq, Afghanistan, family member e-mail addresses, the primary way in which Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, as well as Banja Luka, Bosnia we communicate with them. When we receive ISMA no- and Herzegovina, and Juba, Sudan. This provision also ap- tification cables we e-mail the employees to ask that they plies to employees serving a 12-month TDY to Iraq and complete the form, although doing so is voluntary. In ad- Afghanistan. dition, when I brief all outgoing personnel to Iraq during the mandatory Foreign Affairs Counterterrorism area stud- Forging a Sense of Community ies course, I always stress the importance of the contact The first major hurdle the FLO Unaccompanied Tour form. The FLO director does the same in ambassadorial Support Team faces is identifying and reaching out to all and DCM/principal officer seminars, and at management employees and family members experiencing an unac- officer conferences.

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 23 F OCUS

Our second major hurdle is to cre- The allowances and each other. People also get in touch ate an unaccompanied tours commu- through events sponsored by FLO. nity when families are scattered not regulations applicable to Families in the D.C. area, for example, only throughout the U.S. but through- attend an annual fall gathering and con- out the world. Only about 25 percent employees serving in tinue to stay in contact with one an- of the family members (including other. spouses, partners, adult children, par- unaccompanied positions FLO is exploring several other ways ents, siblings) on our contact list reside to connect this geographically dispersed in the Washington, D.C., area. Fami- and their family community. Among the ideas we are lies residing at an overseas post during considering are: a SharePoint site, a the separation may already have that members vary greatly. family-to-family (as well as peer-to- sense of community, but even they are peer) mentoring/sponsorship program, not always prepared for the challenges an unaccompanied and an expansion of MHN services to better utilize avail- assignment poses. able technology. We hope to launch some of these initia- So how does this community connect? One mechanism tives during 2009. is the HomeFrontUS Yahoo group. This is intended as a means for family members with a loved one serving at a Support for Families with Children high-threat, unaccompanied post to communicate with oth- Two initiatives that have received rave reviews from ers in a similar situation. Members include parents, part- parents and children alike are our workbooks and medals ners, spouses, fiancés, “friendly exes” and adult children, as programs. Through a generous donation from the Una well as veteran UT employees. When new members in- Chapman Cox Foundation, FLO has developed age-ap- troduce themselves, they will often include their city and propriate handbooks for children with an employee par- state; this allows group members in close proximity to find ent on an unaccompanied assignment. We have sent out

What Is MHN? ue to the geographic dispersal of many Foreign Service ing, MHN has a network of counselors throughout the United employees and family members, FLO and CLO may States who will see a family member up to three times per pre- Dhave limited direct contact with clients. The Web and senting issue at no charge to the family. These services are telephone services offered through our contract with MHN, a meant to supplement the confidential counseling the State De- health care network, are available to employees and family partment already provides through Employee Consultation members worldwide to meet their potential needs. This is the Services, which is staffed during Washington, D.C., work third year that the company has had the contract to provide hours. Some individuals may rely on family, a clergy member, supplemental resources and support to the community be- good friends, their long-time doctor or a combination of these fore, during and after unaccompanied assignments. to meet their counseling needs and may not seek network as- With a password provided by FLO, MHN’s portal is acces- sistance. Regardless of the source, it is important that people sible from any computer — either in the quiet of home or at receive the support they need. work — to learn about emotional health, health and fitness, Approximately six times a year, we offer a joint FLO/MHN and family and work issues. The site is available in English orientation session to familiarize employees and family mem- and Spanish and contains interactive self-assessments, arti- bers with the services offered. To accommodate the varied cles and exercises to help manage stress, insomnia, depres- time zones and locations of our clients, we offer the session in sion and other reactions to an unaccompanied tour. There is the FLO offices (for those in the D.C. area) and also by simul- also a specific section devoted to managing an unaccompa- taneous webcast and conference call dial-in that are free for nied tour. participants. We use this same format for training sessions For those who may wish to actually speak to a counselor, throughout the year, most recently the “Coping with the Stress the toll-free, 24/7 MHN hot line offers assessment and refer- of Change” program offered in December 2008. Other popu- ral in more than 160 languages. For Eligible Family Members lar sessions have been “Parenting in a Time of Crisis” and and Members of Household who prefer face-to-face counsel- “Building Healthy Families.”

24 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 F OCUS

more than 100 books since the program began in June Community Liaison Office to facilitate the presentation of 2008. the medals to the children (at the request of the parent) at The handbooks, available as downloadable PDFs on our an awards ceremony or holiday gathering. It’s a small ges- intranet site, were written in collaboration with a contrac- ture, but one that puts a smile (or an occasional tear) on the tor who is a Foreign Service spouse and mother with a doc- child’s face. torate in clinical psychology. The handbooks are ac- We also invite all children who have received these companied by a CD-ROM for the parent at post and an- medals throughout the year to attend the annual Foreign other for the parent/guardian “at home,” and contain edu- Service Youth Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C., in cational information and activities to complete separately July to be recognized by the department. or interactively as a way for families to maintain communi- cation and document the events that occur while one par- Community Liaison Office Coordinators ent is away. At more than 200 posts, the CLO works with manage- When parents at posts are preparing for the end of their ment and the community to maintain high morale through assignments, we encourage them to request Medals and orientation activities, cultural and recreational programs, Certificates of Recognition for their children. These dissemination of information, counseling and referral, and medals and certificates are the department’s way of saying assistance with security, education and employment for “thank you” to the children for their sacrifice during the family members. Their services are especially important at separation. Since the program began in May 2006, close to high-stress, unaccompanied posts. 800 children have been honored. At many embassies, the There are CLOs at 10 of the 21 fully or partially unac- deputy chief of mission or ambassador works with the companied posts. FLO is working to establish a CLO po-

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 25 F OCUS

sition at all unaccompanied posts where FLO is always looking management, published a booklet, it is feasible. A CLO must be a U.S.- “Support for Families Experiencing an citizen eligible family member of an for ways to connect this Unaccompanied Tour,” outlining the employee assigned to post and, in the services and support available to sepa- case of CLO positions at unaccompa- geographically dispersed rated families remaining at post. Fami- nied posts, may only apply for the job lies can use this to identify points of once the employee has been assigned community. contact and procedures for assistance to post. pertaining to medical needs, financial Presently, under certain circumstances employees on services, mail, telephone, computer access, visas, family TDY to Iraq and Afghanistan may elect to have their fam- member employment, travel, shipping, customs, residential ily members remain at their overseas post of assignment furniture and appliance service, and housing. Parallel guid- during their absence. When this can be arranged, the ance is issued to each management office that continues to CLOs at these posts ensure that support, services and, in provide support and assistance to the family. some cases, supplemental outreach go to families separated In addition to the booklet, CLO Cairo runs a support by the assignment. Remaining at post often minimizes dis- group called “Who Moved My Spouse?” and facilitates dis- ruptions to the family,allowing working spouses to maintain semination of FLO information via conference calls and their employment status, ensuring that school-age children training webcasts. The CLO also maintains a list of UT have educational continuity, and enabling families to con- families in Cairo and ensures that they remain a part of the tinue to reside in embassy housing. Families with an em- mission community. FLO has shared both the booklet and ployee on TDY should be treated no differently than if the the concept of a post-based UT support group with all direct-hire employee were physically residing at post. CLOs around the world as a “best practice.” In the fall of 2008, the CLO in Cairo, in collaboration with If a family resides on the local economy at a post to which the employee is not assigned, embassy support is limited by List of Unaccompanied Posts regulatory and legal constraints. Nevertheless, CLOs in- (as of Feb. 1, 2009) clude these family members on newsletter distribution and Fully Unaccompanied invite them to participate in mission activities when possible. IRAQ: Baghdad* I recently heard from a family member living on the local AFGHANISTAN: Kabul* economy about an hour from an embassy. He mentioned PAKISTAN: Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar* how lonely it was not feeling part of that embassy commu- SAUDI ARABIA: Jeddah nity. He contacted the CLO and offered to assist in planning SUDAN: Juba outings. He gained a community and the community gain- Adult EFMs Only ed a valuable member. SAUDI ARABIA: Riyadh, Dhahran BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: Banja Luka Other Support Mechanisms KOSOVO: Pristina The Foreign Service Institute has developed new train- LEBANON: Beirut ing sessions and enhanced existing courses. With the Of- LIBERIA: Monrovia fice of Medical Services, the FSI Transition Center offers REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Brazzaville a High-Stress Assignment Outbriefing Program that is SUDAN: Khartoum mandatory for employees returning after serving more than CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Bangui 90 days in Iraq or Afghanistan. “Working with Employees COTE D’IVOIRE: Abidjan from High-Stress Posts,” offered by the Leadership and CHAD: N’Djamena Management School, is a briefing for the colleagues of re- Adult EFMs and Minors under Age 5 turnees. It is available in three formats: classroom, video- YEMEN: Sanaa (no school-age children accompaniment) conference and webinar. ALGERIA: Algiers In addition to FSI’s new DVD, Making Sense of Unac- *Adult EFM accompaniment authorized pending Under Secretary for Manage- ment’s approval on a case-by-case basis (must secure employment at mission) companied Tours: Insights for Couples, families can request individualized, age-appropriate children’s handbooks with

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Resources FSI Making Sense of Unaccompanied Tours: For information on training such as FACT Insights for Couples Afghanistan and FACT Iraq DVD available for couples considering Family Liaison Office Web site: www.state.gov/m/fsi/ (Internet), or or serving an unaccompanied tour. Phone: (202) 647-1076, or (800) 440-0397 http://fsi.state.gov/ (Intranet) To obtain a copy, contact Natalya Pestalozzi E-mail: [email protected] or at (703) 302-7272 or e-mail her at [email protected] (for unaccompanied FSI Transition Center [email protected]. tours-related questions) To access the Destination Iraq site, Overseas Web site: www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/ Briefing Center post information and family Assignment Iraq and (Internet), or member training courses, go to: Assignment Afghanistan http://hrweb.hr.state.gov/prd/hrweb/flo/index www.state.gov/m/fsi/tc/ (Internet), or Web sites on HR intranet .cfm (Intranet) http://fsi.state.gov/fsi/tc/ (Intranet) Office of Allowances (A/OPR/ALS) FLO Decision Tree Training Division: Phone: (202) 261-8700 Available on FLO Internet site: Phone: (703) 302-7268 E-mail: [email protected] www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/c23112.htm E-mail: [email protected] Web site: http://aoprals.state.gov/ Children’s Handbooks and Medals and Overseas Briefing Center: Employee Consultation Service (MED/ECS) Certificates of Recognition Phone: (703) 302-7277 Phone: (202) 663-1815 Contact FLO: Phone: (202) 647-1076; E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Career Transition Center: Deployment Stress Management Program HomeFrontUS Yahoo Group Phone: (703) 302-7407 (MED/DSMP) E-mail HomefrontUS-subscribe@ E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (202) 663-1903 yahoogroups.com to join E-mail: [email protected]

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 27 F OCUS

accompanying parent CDs from FLO. Reuniting with family families with issues unique to the un- The Office of Medical Services accompanied tour community. The recently established the Deployment can be difficult, but with transition into a less high-threat work- Stress Management Program, within its ing environment may come with chal- Office of Mental Health Services. This time and patience on all lenges — a feeling that work is menial, program provides screening for Post- trouble with focusing, tiredness — not Traumatic Stress Disorder and assists sides, a new “normality” to mention potential family reintegra- Foreign Service Medical Practitioners tion issues that may have an impact not in arranging specialized care. Currently can be found. only on an employee’s work perform- two mental health providers are sta- ance, but on the well-being of individ- tioned in Baghdad, and another awaits clearance for assign- ual members of the family or the family as a whole. ment to Kabul. Regional Medical Officer/Psychiatry pro- During the course of the assignment, a spouse or part- viders are located in 15 countries and offer a variety of fam- ner may have had to assume additional responsibilities; ily and children’s services. And the Employee Consultation very young children may not recognize the parent who was Service, a part of MHS, provides confidential consultations away; and it may take some time to adjust to living in the in person and by telephone. family unit. Just making the physical move can be tiring! Some people may transition with ease, but for those who Assignment Iraq, Assignment Afghanistan need extra time or support, it is important for supervisors, The five-day Foreign Affairs Counterterrorism area colleagues, friends and family members to keep an eye and studies course is mandatory for all employees serving in ear out for any noticeable changes that may require atten- Iraq, and is held almost every week. A parallel course fo- tion. cusing on Afghanistan is also available to employees; the Many employees moving on to a post overseas or to a first session was held in January. In addition, State’sHR in- domestic assignment find it helps to talk to a colleague who tranet resources have expanded to include two country- has “been through it,” or to ask for extra leave before jump- specific sites: Assignment Iraq and Assignment Afghani- ing right back into work. Due to the number of UT posi- stan; FSI also has the Destination Iraq site. tions and the frequency of the assignment cycle, family New positions to boost morale and welfare at unac- members will often find others at post who have been on companied posts include Embassy Baghdad’s first CLO the family side of an unaccompanied tour; and it may help coordinator position, created in the spring of 2008 to pro- to talk to them about life at post and reintegration issues. vide support to the more than 1,000 employees working Remember, what works for one couple/family may not in the embassy and on Provincial Reconstruction Teams. necessarily work for another. Even months after the as- Embassy Kabul also has a CLO coordinator, who serves a signment is over, the family may still be feeling the impact community of close to 400 employees. In addition, Bagh- of the separation, and it may be helpful to take time to re- dad has two full-time social workers at post, and Kabul is flect on the experiences — share them with a colleague or also now hiring a social worker. bring them to the CLO’s or FLO’s attention if you can sug- In 2007, State initiated an annual season’sgreetings pro- gest ways of improving the support offered. gram coordinated by FLO, to send donations of books, Both sides of an unaccompanied tour come with chal- CDs, DVDs and games, along with banners signed by em- lenges, but these can build stronger family relationships, ployees, to colleagues in those two countries. This was a growth, and career fulfillment. The department has come way for all department employees to show their apprecia- a long way in addressing these challenges. We hope to tion for the sacrifices made by the Foreign Service and reach, support and elicit feedback from everyone who has Civil Service staff in those two war zones. experienced unaccompanied tours to help us identify the best ways to support our employees and families. After an Unaccompanied Assignment Will we get there? I sure hope so. And when we do, it Just as FLO’s support includes that needed after an un- will be in no small part due to the collaborative efforts accompanied assignment, CLOs at the onward-assignment throughout the department and the valuable feedback re- receiving posts may need to assist employees and their ceived from those who have “been there.” I

28 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 F OCUSON G OING I T A LONE

COPING WITH SEPARATION: TANDEM COUPLES

BESIDES THE OBVIOUS PERSONAL DIFFICULTIES, SEPARATED TANDEM COUPLES FACE AN EXPENSIVE TOUR WITH MINIMAL FINANCIAL AID.

BY ANNIE SIMPKINS

here’s a type of family sepa- Alas, while Poland and Portugal are both excellent coun- ration that is not talked about as much within the Foreign tries in which to live (and alphabetically close), they are Service as that necessitated by unaccompanied tours and situated at opposite ends of the European continent, with evacuations,T but still has a profound impact on many peo- no direct flights between them. ple: tandem couples serving at separate posts. Most com- As a consequence, our two teenage daughters live with monly faced in first tours, this situation sometimes forces me and only see their father on occasional long weekends tandem officers to make difficult decisions when the needs and holidays. Luckily, they have been military “brats” their of the Service, the jobs available and family or school re- entire lives, so having their father absent for long periods quirements don’t all coincide. of time was not as hard an adjustment for them as it might Joining the Foreign Service is already a complex be for their civilian counterparts. process, and when a husband and wife both try to join at Still, even though my husband had been on quite a few the same time — especially when one is a specialist and nine-month deployments while serving in the U.S. Navy, one a generalist, like us — it is even more difficult to se- we weren’t prepared for just how expensive it would be to cure assignment to the same post. In addition, when you maintain two households and make regular visits to each are new to the inner workings of the Foreign Service, you other. usually don’t have the skills, the contacts or the knowledge to “work” the assignment system as skillfully as your more Staying Together experienced colleagues. Now that we’ve been there and done that, we appreci- We are a first-tour, second-career couple just finishing ate the importance of striving to avoid having to serve at a challenging and expensive two years of service at separate separate posts in the first place. So here are some tips for posts. We knew when we signed on the dotted line to join getting posted together: the Foreign Service that we would not always be able to • Work with both of your career development officers live in the same city, but were hoping at least to be close. early and often in the bidding process, and try to get them talking to each other as soon as possible. Annie Simpkins is a first-tour consular officer in Warsaw; • Do your homework on the jobs that might be coming her husband David is a first-tour specialist in Lisbon. up as far in advance as possible — especially if, like us, you

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 29 F OCUS

are a specialist/generalist couple that might have problems separated tandems and should be changed: matching up your posts. • R&R. If one spouse is at a post that entitles him or • Explore the possibility of additional flexibility in as- her to go on R&R, while the other is at a post without signments from a decision by one of you to shift to a dif- that option, the non-qualifying spouse cannot accompany ferent career field with greater availability. Obviously, this the rest of the family without paying out of pocket. is not possible for everyone, but it can be worth exploring. Children of separated couples get one trip paid each • If one of you is eligible for leave without pay, consider year to visit the other parent, but separated tandem hus- that option to avoid separation. Unfortunately, those For- bands and wives do not get any allowance for visiting eign Service families that can afford to give up an income each other. Depending on how far apart you are and the for a year or two tend to be more senior and therefore less airline connections, this can amount to thousands of dol- likely to need to take such a drastic step. lars if you choose to visit each other on a regular basis. • Children. Because children cannot be on both tan- Managing Separation dem spouses’ orders, they have to choose which parent’s If you can’t avoid separation, or if you make a career orders to be be on (usually the one serving where the choice to serve separately, here are some tips to help your children will attend school). If the children have to travel families cope: to their post at the start of the assignment with the non- • Visit each other as often as you can afford. Make air- carer parent, things get very complicated and cost con- line Web sites your friend to familiarize yourself with the struction is usually more expensive than just buying the various deals available and, if you can, book flights early. plane tickets yourself. (And then you have to navigate • The absent parent usually travels more than the other, the complicated process of trying to get some of these but it is important for the other one to take the children to costs reimbursed.) the other post as well, to “see what dad’s house is like” or • Separate Maintenance Allowance. There is no to “check out where mom works.” SMA for separated tandems, so you have to operate two • Every time you get together as a family, hold a meet- households, keep two cars, have lots of extra insurance ing and plan the next few months. and buy two of almost everything. • Make sure the absent parent knows about all major A final note: If you are serving your first tour apart, school events so they can, perhaps, plan some visits around the second tours are also directed and you get no prior- them. ity for bidding if you are serving at non-hardship posts. • Make sure school e-mails and grade reports are sent Although the CDOs do their best to work with you, to both parents. there is still the stress of not knowing if you will serve • Get Vonage or Skype and call often! Video phone together at your second post. This is despite the fact calls are a great, inexpensive way to keep in touch. that most Foreign Service members would agree that • If you are the parent caring for young ones, make sure serving for two years apart from your spouse and chil- to include the absent parent in all important family deci- dren constitutes a hardship in and of itself. Allocating sions. some form of hardship points for those bidding under • Try to schedule some time away from the children for such constraints would be an effective, no-cost solution the caregiver parent (respite care). to this problem. • Schedule some time for the children to spend just Fortunately, our story has a happy ending. Our chil- with the absent parent. At the same time, you will have dren have had the benefits of learning about two cultures, to accept that you will not be able to be together for many not just one, and have become adept at traveling without birthdays and anniversaries. If possible, postpone the cel- a parent. And with some Foreign Service experience ebrations until you’re together. under our belt, we were better equipped to work through the assignment process when bidding on our second Some Policies Need Changing tours. So even though there were only three matching Separated tandem couples not only have obvious per- posts worldwide available to us in the summer of 2009, sonal difficulties, but face an expensive tour with minimal my husband and I are looking forward to serving our sec- financial aid. Here are some policies that adversely affect ond tour together in Kenya. I

30 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 F OCUSON G OING I T A LONE

AN EVACUATION SURVIVAL GUIDE

CHANCES ARE THAT MOST FS FAMILIES WILL UNDERGO AN ORDERED DEPARTURE.HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE THE BEST OF IT.

BY KELLY ARMSTRONG

echnically it’s called an “or- due to arrive at post. My 18-month-old son and I bade dered departure,” but anyone who has been through one my husband farewell as he got on a plane for Indonesia, invariably refers to it as an evacuation. Whatever term not knowing when we would see him again. you use,T it describes the situation when, because con- Fortunately, that episode only lasted a couple of ditions at a U.S. overseas mission are deteriorating due months. But a year later, while I was back in the States to security concerns or a natural disaster, all non-essen- for the birth of our second child, Embassy Jakarta was tial personnel and family members are ordered to leave again evacuated in the wake of the October 2002 Bali post. nightclub bombings, and I never returned. My husband Our family has a long history with such hasty depar- packed up all our belongings when his own tour was cur- tures. In Tel Aviv, my husband and I, a tandem couple tailed for health reasons in May 2003, and that’s when at the time, watched friends and colleagues’ family he finally rejoined us after 10 long, uncertain months of members bid tearful farewells when a planned U.S. mis- separation. sile strike on Iraq prompted an ordered departure one I spent our evacuation living alone in a house with a week before Christmas 1998. very active 2-year-old and a newborn with undiagnosed Then in October 2001, while we were still in the food intolerances, who screamed in pain approximately States, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan precipitated the 23 hours out of every 24. I also had a broken back — the ordered departure of Jakarta, just days before we were reason my husband’s tour was eventually curtailed — which made even simple tasks, like brushing my teeth, Kelly Armstrong, a Foreign Service officer from 1993 to extremely painful. 2001, served in Frankfurt and Tel Aviv, and has since lived But even without those additional difficulties, coping in Jakarta, Frankfurt and Zagreb. A freelance writer, she with evacuations is never easy. After all, you are re- resides in San Jose with her husband, Gary Schierman, an quired on short notice to uproot your entire family, aban- information management specialist at Embassy San Jose, don established friends and routines for weeks or and their three children. You can check out her latest ad- months, and plunge blindly into the unknown. Where ventures as “The Embassy Wife” at http://kellyarmstrong. will I go? Where will I stay? How long will we be gone? pnn.com. Will I ever come back? Will I ever see my friends again?

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 31 F OCUS

Be Philosophical Just as living overseas perience, and not something I’d Fortunately, you and your family wish on anyone, but it doesn’t have can get through an evacuation. In has transformed your to be completely dire. Tell yourself fact, with a bit of luck and some de- and your children that it’s a surprise termination, and by keeping the fol- lives, an evacuation will paid vacation to the States. lowing principles in mind, you can For instance: You have to have a even find aspects of the situation to also change you. place to live, and the State Depart- enjoy — or at least turn to your ad- ment provides funds to help defray vantage. expenses. But who’s to say that your The evacuation will change you. Hopefully, the dis- abode can’t be a beach house in North Carolina? Or a ruption will be short-lived and minimal. But just as liv- ski lodge in the Rockies? Is there a place you’ve always ing overseas has transformed your lives, and you will wanted to visit in the U.S., but time has always been too never again be who you were before, an evacuation will short? This may be your opportunity. And while you’re also change you. So view the situation as a chance to at it, invite your friends and family to get a place of their reinvent yourself and find out just what you’re capable own nearby. of. It’s probably more than you suspect. Then there are all the little luxuries that go along with Resist the temptation to sit at home and mope. I daily being in the States. Shop at Target every day and park fought the overwhelming urge to sit in my rental house, in the front row of the parking lot; have someone else stare at the walls and watch the news in the futile hope bag your groceries at the grocery story, after finding ex- that it would make time go faster. Oddly enough, it did actly what you were looking for (cheddar cheese! cream not; but it did make my entire family more miserable. of mushroom soup!); go see a first-run movie in English Don’t parcel your life into four-week blocks. An or- with no subtitles; drink the tap water; and best of all, re- dered departure is re-evaluated every 28 days. If the connect with your friends and family and create some status quo continues, you’ll be disheartened. And if the good memories you wouldn’t have been able to make ordered departure is lifted, you’ll have approximately 72 otherwise. hours to pack and get on a plane to go back “home.” Knowing that, you may find yourself avoiding longer- Coping Mechanisms term commitments; for months I even refused to make All that said, how do you manage to get through daily an appointment to get my hair cut. Instead, always be- life with a smile on your face and a song in your heart in lieve you’ll go back to post at the end of the four weeks what are often very difficult circumstances? — but also plan to be away for awhile. Though the following tips mainly apply to families Evacuation is hard on your spouse, too. For my hus- with children, because that’s generally the most difficult band, a large portion of his memories of the evacuation situation, I believe they will help anyone who is sepa- period are of fighting his way through crowds of 50,000 rated from loved ones during an evacuation. angry demonstrators to get into the embassy every day Stay in close contact with FLO. Check in regularly with and working 24/7 with only two people in his office. He the Family Liaison Office, which is responsible for main- had a nearly two-hour commute, each way, in bumper- taining contact with evacuees. The office is staffed with to-bumper traffic. And, of course, he was separated remarkably compassionate and experienced people who from me, our 2-year-old and a newborn whom he hardly will go out of their way to help you. FLO will keep you knew. abreast of what is happening, and will be the first to tell I was having such rough going in the States that I you when the evacuation is lifted. And if you have any found it difficult to sympathize with him and the phe- difficulties with your allowances, schools, etc., that office nomenal amount of stress in his life. I’m ashamed to is your best front-line contact. Your Community Liaison admit that it took me months to realize that he needed Officer, who is responsible for coordinating the evacuation my support and encouragement just as much as I from post, may also be working there. needed his. You can contact FLO with questions before an evacua- An evacuation can be fun! Yes, it is a traumatic ex- tion, too. FLO maintains an excellent Web site with a

32 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 F OCUS

comprehensive list of resources for FLO is staffed ers’ capacity for kindness, and their evacuees at www.state.gov/m/dghr/ willingness to help those in need. Ex- flo/c1991.htm. The documents cover with remarkably ploit that generosity shamelessly. practically every aspect of evacua- When I was looking for a place to tions, from checklists of what to bring compassionate and rent during our evacuation, I started with you and information about en- out by calling some real estate agents rolling kids in school, to advice on experienced people who in the area, looking for a furnished, when to seek counseling for yourself short-term rental. The first woman I or your family members. will go out of their way spoke to said politely, “I’m sorry, but Network with your fellow evac- we don’t deal in rentals,” and was uees. Your CLO should have contact to help you. about to hang up. information for everyone who was I stopped her and said, with a note evacuated; make sure you have copies of unfeigned desperation in my voice, of that list before you depart post, if possible. Being able “Do you know of anyone who does? I’m a refugee here to pick up the phone or send an e-mail will cheer you up with my two small children and we need a place to stay.” more than you can imagine. And if you choose to reside After I briefly explained our situation, she clucked in in the D.C. area, you may be able to get together with sympathy, and 30 minutes later called back to say she many of your friends and get your children together with had found a completely furnished three-bedroom house their friends from post. two blocks from my parents’ home. Even better, the Play the refugee card. Never underestimate strang- owner, who was former military, was willing to negotiate

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 33 F OCUS

a price that fit within my allowances. Then there are all the than undergoing the trauma of put- Playing the “refugee card” also ting your children in a new school for helped me enroll my oldest son in a little luxuries that go what may be just a few weeks, and preschool, which technically had no then uprooting them again just as slots for him (they even waived the along with being in they get settled, consider a short stint registration fee), and helped me get of homeschooling, with lots of field appointments at doctors’ and dentists’ the States. trips around an exotic new country — offices that weren’t taking any new pa- the United States — thrown in for tients. good measure. If nothing else, it If you can, rent an apartment or house rather than could improve the stability of your children’s uncertain stay in a hotel or with relatives. If the uncertainty of lives and allow you to take advantage of the sudden, un- not knowing when you’ll go home is hard on you, it’s usual flexibility that can be one of the positive results of doubly hard when you’re living with relatives and an evacuation. everyone’s life is disrupted. If homeschooling is not an option for your family, Especially if your gut tells you that the evacuation check the FLO Web site for additional information and may drag on for a while, look for an apartment, apart- recommendations for schools. ment-hotel or house rather than a traditional hotel. Find good service providers. Ask around right away Having a place of your own will cheer you up and will for recommendations of a good doctor, dentist, hair- add structure and stability to your children’s lives as dresser, etc., and get on their books as a patient or well. client. That way, when one of your children comes Check with your CLO or with FLO to find out what down with an ear infection two weeks after arrival, your housing allowance is in advance, and how it will you’ll already have someone to call. change over time. When searching for a place to stay, Take the initiative to make new friends. If you don’t ask if the landlord would be willing to negotiate. It may already know people where you’ll be staying, get cre- be possible to afford something more expensive than ative and find ways to make some new acquaintances: you thought possible, even in the face of diminishing over coffee at Starbucks, at PTA meetings, on play- allowances, if you negotiate. dates, or by volunteering at the library. Build relation- Find child care and activities for your children. De- ships with people every chance you get, even if it’s just pending on your younger children’s needs and trauma with the checker at the supermarket. They may not level (and your own), it is well worth the time and ef- need you, but you certainly need them! People will be fort to find a safe, trusted babysitter, day-care facility or sympathetic to your plight, or, if nothing else, they’ll be preschool for them as soon as possible. Because I was intrigued. Use that to your advantage to get invited for living my life in four-week blocks, I realized almost too play-dates and coffee. late that my 2-year-old needed a place of his own to Then return the favor and invite people to visit you. make friends, one that was full of happy people, paints I once singlehandedly hosted Christmas Eve dinner for and puzzles — rather than a grumpy mother, suitcases my entire extended family. As much as I dreaded it, it and a screaming baby. I could have avoided a lot of un- was the best thing I could have done: it forced me to happiness had I addressed his needs right away instead decorate the house, kept me busy for weeks shopping of trying to plan for the impossible. and planning and, most of all, created some treasured The same holds true for older children. They also memories for my entire family. need a place where they can make friends and feel like Take the opportunity to renew your spirit. Being they belong. Look for groups they can join to pursue evacuated can eat you up, body and soul, if you let it. activities (such as music or sports) that they were al- Find help, strength and stability anywhere you can, ready involved with at post. Local schools and com- whether you join a Bible study, attend formal religious munity groups can be an excellent resource for this. services, or just practice yoga or simple meditation. Consider homeschooling. School-age children obvi- Counseling may also be worth exploring. ously need to continue their education. But rather Reach out to others in need. Volunteering to work

34 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 F OCUS

with a charity can be healing for People will be the wake of a crisis and require an both you and your children. Serv- immediate, enormous, wrenching ing those who are in situations even sympathetic to your readjustment of life and perspective more difficult than your family’s can for all parties involved. Rejoining a help put your own life in perspec- plight, or, if nothing else, family, both in the literal and the tive. However stressful your evac- emotional senses, requires a tre- uation becomes, at least you’ll they’ll be intrigued. mendous amount of work and pa- probably never be sleeping in a Sal- tience. vation Army shelter with a new- So be on the lookout for poten- born, as was one young lady with whom I was involved tial new wrinkles in all levels of your family relation- during our evacuation. ships. And if you do run into problems following an evacuation, see them for what they are, so that you and Getting Back to “Normal” your spouse can deal with the issues appropriately. You know how hard it is to readjust your family life I fervently hope that no one reading this will ever after a spouse has been away for a few weeks or months be ordered to depart post. But the world being what it on a temporary duty assignment? Well, regaining equi- is, the chances of your family being faced with an evac- librium as a family following the separation imposed by uation are better than ever, and increasing almost daily. an evacuation is even more complicated. Still, if you are evacuated, know that it’s not the end of After all, TDYs are planned affairs that usually last the world — and with a bit of mental adjustment, it a set amount of time. Evacuations come suddenly in might even turn out to be a rewarding experience. I

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 35 F OCUSON G OING I T A LONE

INSIGHTS FROM THE FIELD

he following is a compilation couples and family separations very differently. Based on of responses to the Journal’s AFSAnet call for observations my experience over the past 18 months, State is consider- on the subject of unaccompanied tours from those who are ably more “family friendly” than the FBI’sinternational of- havingT the experience today or have “gone it alone” in the fice. For example, I found the FSI class for “soon to be past. separated” couples to be excellent, and highly recommend — Steven Alan Honley, Editor it. Of course, the degree of family-friendliness depends a lot on your management officer at post. 
 Many people have tried to help us solve our current dilemma from both sides of the cross-agency divide, but “HOME IS JUST ANOTHER WORD the (lack of) structure of interagency communication FOR YOU” causes significant roadblocks. There are no how-tos for cross-agency tandem placements, so if you and your part- Billy Joel was never in the Foreign Service, but he was ner are in different agencies, develop your strategy and definitely on to something with that lyric (from his song make your own connections before bidding on your next “You’re My Home”). post. Suva is my first posting as a Foreign Service officer, so Toward that end, I offer the following suggestions for you might wonder what qualifies me to offer advice to cou- separated couples: ples separated due to job assignments. Well, even though Communicate, communicate, communicate! Find a way I’m new to the Service, I can draw on my “past life” ex- to contact your partner daily at a time that is convenient (as perience as the wife of a naval officer who was frequently much as possible) for both of you. We prefer talking on the deployed for long periods. phone, so I use the IVG to call my husband every workday My husband of 17 years is currently an FBI special while he wraps up the afternoon — sometimes it is nice to agent and is based in the United States because of his job. just hear his voice. We usually make lists of important Our two daughters are here with me in Fiji. It is a chal- items that need mutual agreement; and if one of us for- lenging situation, but we’re making it work. gets to bring our list up during our daily chat, we e-mail the Different federal agencies treat cross-agency tandem issue(s) as soon as possible. Of course, you or your spouse

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may prefer text messaging or e-mails to phone conversa- arated for long periods, each partner develops a certain tions, so talk about your daily communication times and autonomy, taking charge of their immediate destiny. So it methods before you depart for post. takes time to adjust to sharing responsibilities and get “Wow, (s)he seemed really distant!” Physical distance back to “normal” family life — however you and your can sometimes create the illusion of emotional distance. spouse define that term. A good rule of thumb from my Make sure you don’t invest too much energy in worrying own experience as a Navy wife is that it takes one week for about a bad communication day or if a day goes by with- every month apart to achieve that equilibrium. out contact due to unforeseen circumstances. When we Heather Coble live in the same place as our partners, it is easy to see that Embassy Suva they are just “out of sorts” for some reason not associated with the relationship. It is much harder to “see” a bad day 
 on the phone or via the Internet. So don’t automatically as- sume that a bad communication day means trouble for the FAIR TREATMENT FOR TANDEMS, relationship; wait a day or two and see if things improve PLEASE on their own. Feelings are OK, but guilt trips aren’t. If you are having My husband and I are both in the Foreign Service — a bad day or if you are feeling particularly lonely, share yet as I have pointed out to the Family Liaison Office, your feelings. Let your partner share their feelings, as well. none of their offerings for “unaccompanied tour” family And try to really listen to what your partner is saying to members address the issues tandem couples face. There you. If a stray hurtful comment gets out, apologize as soon are no programs for us, nor any extra “adjustment” days to as possible and agree to talk about account for the fact that we don’t the underlying issue when you are have our spouses to help us. Vir- “face to face” — then let it go. It astonishes me that the tually all of the materials I’ve read Some discussions are just not suggest that spouses take up a meant to be conducted over the State Department still hobby or find part-time work to airwaves. fill the void. I have also logged Be flexible in celebrating special apparently believes that onto teleconferences designed for occasions. If you can be together most Foreign Service left-behind spouses, only to find on the exact date of your anniver- that they, too, focused exclusively sary or a birthday or holiday, won- families consist of an FSO on at-home spouses. Tandems derful! But if not, find other ways are a large percentage of the For- to let your partner know you re- plus an at-home spouse. eign Service, so I suspect I am far membered an important date, from alone in my concern about such as reserving a day when you this. can be together to celebrate. In 2007, our family cele- At my current post, management took the view that be- brated Christmas in November, and that was just as mean- cause my husband was going to Baghdad at about the same ingful as it would have been on Dec. 25 — because we time that our daughter and I were arriving here, we only were all together. (At the same time, keep in mind that needed a house for one or two people. Our place is so tiny birthdays and anniversaries are, after all, just a day.) that there is only room for two beds — no spare rooms or Three days and a wake-up. Always have a date planned spare beds at all. Worse, they did not tell us this when we for your next reunion. In the Navy, we counted down sep- were still at our previous post and could have planned for arations as a number of days and a wake-up. Knowing the a smaller house (emergency storage is authorized for Iraq exact day you’ll see each other again provides hope. If the employees). In fact, post management assured us that we “wake-up” day is changed due to external forces, just think would get a house big enough for three or four people. of it as an opportunity to savor the anticipation. For in- When we pointed out the problem, they refused to give stance, I have 23 weeks and a wake-up as I write! us a house appropriate for our family size, even when my One week for each month apart. When couples are sep- husband was paneled for an onward assignment here.

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Of course, the reverse is not true: When an FSO leaves 
 his or her family behind at post to go to Iraq, they get to re- main in their house. While that policy is certainly gener- AMIXED BLESSING ous, many posts then face severe housing problems because they still have to find quarters for the employee I have been in Iraq as leader of Embedded Provincial who will be covering the vacancy. Reconstruction Team-2 since March 2008 and will depart My husband and I were willing to have him serve in this month. My wife, Christina, is deputy coordinator of Baghdad as a way of doing our part. We did not, however, the cultural affairs officer course at FSI. expect that our sacrifice would cause increased hardship Like most people, I came to Iraq with several goals — for the two of us left behind. I hate to sound like a com- some professional, some personal. My most important plainer, but it astonishes me that the State Department personal goal was to maintain the connection to my wife still apparently believes that most Foreign Service families and four kids. I think I have succeeded, but barely; and I consist of an FSO plus an at-home spouse. (re)learned a few things along the way. Name withheld by request First and most important, it’sharder for the stay-behind

LIFE ISA HOOCH Susan Malcik was the political- economic section Office Manage- ment Specialist in Kabul from December 2003 to February 2005. A self-taught painter who works in oil and acrylics, she has exhibited her work in many group shows, in- cluding two international biennials: Grafolies in Abidjan in 1993 and, a year earlier, DAK ART ’92 at the Museum of African Art in Dakar. “In My Hooch” (acrylic on can- vas paper, 2003) is an interior scene of Malcik’s Kabul home a few days after she moved in. At that time, everyone lived in two-unit hooches surrounding the chancery. Specially outfitted shipping containers, each unit was the width of a twin bed and 18 feet long, with a separate shower room and toilet (the ambassador had a “triple-wide”). The compound was dusty, noisy and lit at night by klieg lights on towers because of the 24/7 construction of the new chancery and apartment buildings. After a long day’s work, dinner in the Marines’ mess hall was often followed by a stroll around the compound, dropping in at various campfires for a beer or a sing- along. Then it was off to bed. Malcik reports that she quickly came to ap- preciate the comfort and privacy of Hooch E-33. She designed “Life Is a Hooch” in 2005 for T-shirts. It depicts the com- munity of structures that were built around the embassy in that era.

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spouse than for the spouse who goes Everybody’s service in Third, location matters. Every- away. I left on the “great adventure” body’s service in Iraq is honorable, and spent my time in eastern Bagh- Iraq is honorable, but but in Baghdad it’s easier to main- dad working, with few other distrac- tain contact with one’s family. tions. My wife, also an FSO, had to in Baghdad it’s easier to Being on a small forward operating deal with everything else: her full- base away from the International time job, two toddlers, two teen- maintain contact to family. Zone, my Internet connection agers, an au pair,sicknesses (her own would frequently go out, so Skype as well as the kids’), managing the was not a reliable option. Some- house, going to kids’ events, and on and on. Friends and times I could get a DSN line through the Operations neighbors helped out at key moments to keep things on the Center; sometimes I could get through on a scratchy cell rails; but, day in and day out, what she experienced was phone connection; and sometimes there just wasn’t any frankly far more challenging than what I faced. hope of reaching my family. Second, R&R is a mixed blessing. It was absolutely We coped by phoning whenever we could and by wonderful to be able to come home and chill out with my sending a lot of e-mails. Talking to my teenagers twice a family three times, but the two weeks of hell that our two week was very important for me to remain connected to boys put my wife through after I left each time made us their busy lives, and for them to hear from me that I was wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to just plow through safe and, yes, they did need to do their homework. Talk- a full year and then come back. Ultimately, I know it was ing to my toddlers was less successful, but we found other better for everybody to have the leave time, but only just. things that worked. Before I left, we bought a small

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 39 F OCUS

wooden mailbox that we designated as the boys’ special graphic distance. Cell phones, text messages, e-mail, In- mailbox, which allowed my wife to surprise them with the ternet videocam, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter — no sep- occasional goody “from Daddy.” I took pictures of myself, aration here! If anything, we are flooded with uploaded them and ordered online prints sent to them at “togetherness.” And, coincidentally, never have more home, and took advantage of a brigade chaplain program members of two-career relationships throughout U.S. so- to have a DVD recorded of me reading stories to them. ciety spent more time separated and/or traveling on week- Ultimately, I am glad I came out here. This has been ends and holidays. an extraordinary professional experience. But I will spend Foreign Service folk need to meet the challenge of un- a few months after my return patching my family back to- accompanied tours by accepting that it is an element of gether, and it is important to understand that that is also a 21st-century life and by remembering the history of ex- necessary part of the process. tended separation that affected previous generations. In Conrad Tribble particular, FSOs need some judicious perspective to keep Iraq “outsiders” from concluding that the pinstripe set is whin- ing again. Don’t expect any sympathy from our military 
 colleagues, who are repeatedly deployed to combat zones and who, even when they do come home, frequently go away on field maneuvers. NLY ONNECT O C Historically, separation for military duty or civilian serv- Separation? Never have we been more connected and ice outside the U.S. just “was.” During World War II, mil- in communication with one another, regardless of geo- lions of men left their families for overseas assignments

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and didn’t return for years at a time, I made a personal Washington and New York City with nothing more than “V-mail” to would think that separation was a maintain ties. A generation ago, I commitment to write a dire trial. spent 14 of the first 15 months of David T. Jones married life as an Army officer in postcard to our youngest FSO, retired Korea. During that period, we Washington, D.C. made do with snail mail and daughter each evening recorded tapes — telephone calls 
 were too difficult and expensive to before going to bed. contemplate. Was I happy about it? IF TROUBLE COMES, Of course not, but I was doing im- MAKE USE OF IT portant work — and glad that I had not been assigned to Vietnam where Army buddies died. Like many Foreign Service families, we have faced In the latter part of my career, my wife and I spent separated assignments due to evacuations and service at two years assigned to separate posts in Canada. Hap- an unaccompanied post. For us, the two most memorable pily, we were able to see each other regularly (and my were my tours in Yemen from 1990 to 1991 and in Pak- ambassador suggested that we “have a honeymoon every istan from 2006 to 2007. weekend”). But I didn’t expect any sympathy for sepa- On the eve of the Persian Gulf War, my wife, Fiona, re- ration (even though I was caring for a teenage child by turned to Scotland following a mandatory evacuation of de- myself), any more than a couple living and working in pendents and stayed with her own family outside Inverness,

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 41 F OCUS

awaiting the birth of our first child. The combination of cles and cousins in central Georgia, made my decision to family separation and pending war made both of us more serve in Islamabad much easier. We looked upon it as an reflective during our months apart. I turned my evening opportunity for our three teenage children not only to see thoughts into a series of recollections on what increasingly the United States for themselves, but also to connect at a seemed like my own improbable childhood, spent mostly in deeper level with their extended family. Even a Washing- a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas where I had ton assignment would not have provided the quality time attended boarding school from the age of 6. with grandparents that was possible during my 14 months The main intent was to pass on to our yet-unborn child in Islamabad. In the end, our kids did not just “cope” with something of a past that seemed increasingly remote. the separation; they thrived. Quite unexpectedly, these initial reflections became the On arriving in Islamabad in April 2006, I made a per- catalyst for, and formed the first four chapters of, a mem- sonal commitment to write a postcard to our youngest oir the University of Georgia Press subsequently published daughter each evening before going to bed. The idea under the title Some Far and Distant Place: Muslim-Chris- was to relate at least one event from my day and provide tian Encounters Through the Eyes of a Child. Without a a regular reminder that I loved her. Catriona now has a separated assignment in Yemen, this book almost certainly shoebox full of several hundred numbered postcards, would never have been written. each featuring attractive Pakistani stamps and depicting Fifteen years after that separation, our recognition that a scene from the physically stunning local landscape. an unaccompanied assignment in Pakistan would allow the Jonathan Addleton rest of the family to spend more than a year with a sup- USAID Representative to the E.U. portive family network, including grandparents, aunts, un- Brussels I

42 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 THE LEPROSY CLINIC MADRAS, 1956

MORE THAN A HALF-CENTURY BEFORE THE TERM “TRANSFORMATIONAL DIPLOMACY” WAS COINED, IT WAS THE NORM FOR AMERICAN DIPLOMATS IN THE FIELD TO BE ENGAGED IN CHANGING LIVES.

BY SUSAN INGRAHAM

don’t need money, I need hands,” R. to pick up other volunteers along the way. The car I drove Desikan repeated, peering through was a Chevrolet station wagon, green with a “solid ivory thick eyeglasses that magnified his top,” as Ed described it — adding with a smile, “I’ve been brown eyes, giving him a startled look. in India too long!” There weren’t many other station wag- “ A college student, he was a slightly built ons in Madras in 1956; not many cars of any sort, in fact. Ayer Brahmin, even higher-caste than our good friend S. Krishnan, who was Mr. Desikan’s Mission also a Brahmin, but an Ayengar, which was a step below the The volunteers we collected were mainly young men, just Ayer. IndiaI was that kind of a place; there were layers on out of college. Desikan himself had dropped out of college layers of everything. when he was diagnosed with leprosy. He had been treated The “hands” that Desikan needed were hands to help with an experimental pill, a drug made from “throwaway with the work in a small roadside leprosy clinic he had es- substances” left over after the sulfa drugs used to treat lep- tablished in the village of Pammal, outside of Madras (now rosy were manufactured; and it was, therefore, very inex- Chennai). He was sitting in our living room, and my hus- pensive. Desikan distributed these pills to the villagers who band, Ed, who served as Consul General Hank Ramsey’s assembled on Tuesday afternoons. political officer, was protesting that he couldn’t spare his The clinic was a small, one-room adobe building with a hands — but “Susan can,” he said, referring to me. doorway and a verandah that faced out toward the street. And so it developed that during our posting at the Amer- There was no electricity or plumbing. When we arrived, ican consulate in Madras, Desikan would be waiting for me Desikan jumped out of the car, handed me a small broom in the driveway every Tuesday afternoon. We would go out and assigned me the task of sweeping the building, while he along the San Thome High Road toward Pammal, stopping headed off to the village well, carefully instructing me not to follow. The villagers were unhappy about the clinic and Susan Ingraham flew with her husband, Edward, a newly “those diseased people” who were gathering near them — minted FSO, to their first overseas post, Cochabamba, Bo- much less a casteless white woman. (Don’t let her shadow livia, on a rainy day in November 1947. They subsequently fall on you!) served in Hong Kong, Perth, Madras, Djakarta, Rangoon, Is- Desikan returned with two buckets of water, which he lamabad (during the Indo-Pakistani War) and Singapore. poured into a large ceramic pot that could hold about four The mother of three grown children and the grandmother of gallons. Stretching a cheesecloth over the top of the jug, he five grown grandchildren, she and her husband now live in slowly poured in the water. Then he moved the two chairs Bethesda, Md., where they have resided since his retirement and one small table out to the verandah, setting the card file from the Foreign Service in 1980. on top of the table. He motioned for me to sit at the table,

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 43 and as the patients came up and any type of work that would improve called out their names, I would look their station in life by the fact that up their card. He would drop one He would drop one they were on the very lowest rung of tablet on the tongue of the patient, the caste structure. They were out- and I would note the date on the tablet on the tongue casts or, as Gandhi had renamed record. them, “Children of God.” They were There were more than 30 patients. of the patient, and doomed to a life of drudgery, a hand- Some walked for many miles to reach to-mouth existence that could only be the clinic. They stood in line quietly. I would note the date improved when they died and were Most of the patients were men, but reborn, hopefully, into a higher caste. there were a few women and a few on the file card. Missionary efforts had made some young children. Desikan said they progress, she admitted, but the mis- had a hard time getting people to sion groups tended to quarrel among come to the clinic because no one themselves and this undermined their wanted to admit to having the disease. Brand explained the basis for many of efforts. She gave an example: Tons of But the older people recognized the his inventions: leprosy strikes first at powdered milk, in five-gallon cans, importance of the medication, proba- the extremities, killing the nerve end- were sitting on the docks right now bly because Desikan could point to ings, leaving the patient without the waiting to be collected by one or an- himself as a “cured” patient. Indeed, feeling of touch. So, for instance, he other of the missionary groups in he had not lost any fingers or toes or developed a coffee cup that fit inside South India. No one would claim the his nose, and neither had any of his a wooden rim, with a wooden handle milk, and Mrs. Clubwallah worried patients. on the rim. A patient who has no sen- that it would go bad. sation of hot or cold in his nerve-im- “Too bad we can’t get it for the The Importance of Pain paired hands will pick up a scalding clinic,” I muttered to my neighbor. I read as much as I could find in hot tin cup of coffee, badly burning There was no further discussion of Madras about leprosy. I learned that his hands. the milk powder, but the next day a the disease was not easy to catch; sim- That is the reason so many leprosy huge army truck pulled into our drive- ple health precautions were all that patients lose fingers and toes — not way. I ran downstairs just as Ra- was needed. The servants at our because of the disease, per se, but be- gavelu, the head bearer, opened the home were shocked by my work, cause they have no perception of pain gate. The driver asked us where he however, and would keep the kids and therefore unwittingly damage should unload the milk. I asked him away from me when I returned from their fingers and toes. “Pain is a very carefully if he was sure it should be the clinic. I would walk right up to my important sensation,” Dr. Brand had delivered to our house, and he bathroom and climb into the tub, said. showed me his “chit,” signed by Mrs. scrub thoroughly and then toss in all Clubwallah, with our name and ad- my clothes, including my sandals, and A Providential Development dress. wash everything, hanging it all out on Meanwhile, news of my extracur- the rooftop clothesline. This seemed ricular activities was spreading among Milk for the Clinic to satisfy everyone. the wives at the consulate, and now “Ragavelu, what’ll we do?” I asked One book I read was by Dr. Paul and then one of them would join me helplessly. But he was way ahead of Brand, an Englishman and missionary for the junket to Pammal. Then, at a me. (The servants in my house al- doctor based at that time in Vellore. meeting of the American Women’s ways knew what was happening be- (He became an international author- Club, a providential development oc- fore I did.) Opening the door on a ity in the field and subsequently won curred. small unused shed at the end of the many awards for his work.) He had Madam “Clubwallah” Djadhav, a garden, he told the soldiers to stack developed many useful tools and portly woman from New Delhi who the tins inside. Ragavelu picked out a practices to allow lepers to maintain was a well-known organizer and work- couple of tins that had been punc- functionality in their limbs, including er in women’s groups (hence “club- tured and gave one to the truck driv- a way of rearranging the muscles and wallah,” one who is involved with ers to share. Another one he said he nerves of damaged hands to make clubs), had come to address the group would take to his family. All the oth- them work. on the problems of India’s poor. She ers were placed in the little store- When I eventually met him, Dr. talked of how they were kept out of room, and then he locked the door.

44 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 Powdered milk was like candy to new to the Foreign Service, and did local people. I had paid a hefty price not realize — the way the missionar- for a five-gallon tin of “KLIM,” the Every patient ies and I did — that some things were imported European milk powder just impossible. The next day she popular during the 1950s (and “milk” managed to find a way showed up at my house with an empty spelled backwards), at the local store “Dalda” tin. Dalda was, and still is, and was careful not to check too to take home the the trade name for ghee, the nearest closely on how much we consumed thing to butter. It was a sparkling and how much disappeared into the powdered milk. clean one-pound tin, with a tight-fit- servants’ households. ting lid. “How about giving one to “Ragavelu,” I said. “Remember, each patient, and telling them to bring this milk does not belong to us, so we them back each week, empty and must be very sure that none of it goes of the patients suddenly struck us. clean?” she said. missing!” With a tiny smile on his Without hesitating, however, a Excellent, but where and how face, he assured me that no one woman stepped forward, held out a could we acquire 50 or so Dalda tins? would enter the storeroom except corner of her sari, and we poured Every bit of tinned stuff that I himself or me. about two cups of powder into it. brought home from the bazaar or The next week, we put five five- Then a man pulled up the edge of his from my overseas shipments went out gallon tins of KLIM into the station kurta, and we repeated the operation. to the kitchen and just disappeared. wagon. Desikan was delighted. We Every patient managed to find a way A brief discussion with Ragavelu set- headed out to the clinic and, once to take home the powdered milk. tled it: the tins were sold to dealers in there, he prodded off the lid of the But one of our visiting American the bazaar, and any idiot would know first tin. Then the problem of how to women looked on at the proceedings that all you had to do was go down to transport the dried milk to the homes with horror. She was new to India, the bazaar and ask directions to the

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 45 “tins” — as they were called in Indian for this performance, I was struck by English — and buy them back. how unperturbed Desikan was at the We were getting intrusion. He stood quietly, letting it Can-Do Spirit all wash over him. A Brahmin — an So the innocent newcomer went more patients, and the Ayer Brahmin, his religion had been down to the bazaar and came back around centuries before Christ and with a carload of tins, which she station wagon with the the missionaries. Yet he was content scrubbed carefully. She proudly to let them sound off. brought them along to the clinic the solid ivory top attracted On another occasion, a local city following week. We handed one filled official came to visit the clinic. He with powdered milk and tightly cap- more volunteers. gave a rousing speech to a crowd of ped to each of the patients, instruct- people who showed up to hear him. ing them to be sure to bring back the It was in Tamil, and I could not un- tins next week. Judging from the derstand a word of it; but evidently he smiles on their faces, we concluded patients surrendered the tins and fled told them that I was a complete out- that would not be a problem. for their lives. sider and a foreigner, and if I could But the next week, only a few pa- So our new assistant went back to show up at the clinic, certainly the In- tients showed up with Dalda tins. I the bazaar yet again. This time she dians could, too. There is a photo of was annoyed — our new volunteer painted the cleaned cans a lovely blue. all of us — the assembled patients, had worked so hard securing all those Desikan informed the police that Desikan, the politician and me. I look tins, cleaning them and making sure these tins came from the leprosy just like everyone else in the picture. that the lids fit securely. Desikan took clinic and were for the exclusive use We were getting more patients, a different view. “Just fill the tins that of the patients; in short, they should and the station wagon with the solid have come back, and we can sort out leave them be. That worked. ivory top attracted more volunteers. the rest later,” he said. One happy day as I drove the car We followed his instructions, and Foreign and Local Visitors filled with young college kids back had the good sense to turn a blind eye Visitors showed up periodically at from the clinic, they burst into song, to the little charade that went on. The the clinic, and some were more help- and we had a marvelous chorus all the first filled tin was accepted gratefully ful than others. One day an Ameri- way home. and the recipient moved away from can missionary, an old man whose the table, with his sulfa pill swallowed name was not given to me, stepped Coda and his Dalda tin filled with pow- forward when we opened the clinic, Years later, in 1988, I got a report. dered milk. He went back toward the insisting that we begin the afternoon’s Desikan’s drug had been declared ef- end of the line, opened the tin and work with a prayer. Desikan came fective and was accepted as a cure for dumped the milk powder into the out and joined the patients, who leprosy. The clinic was still in opera- corner of his kurta, and handed the formed a rough circle around the tion, and the milk powder continued empty tin to the patient in front of speaker. to arrive at the American compound. him. This went on until everyone had The old man began a long personal Each new arrival at that house on San received his medication and also had prayer, asking God to look with favor Thome High Road had become the received a tin filled with powdered on the patients and the workers. He titular head of the clinic and, although milk. carried on for quite some time, get- none of the succeeding memsahibs In the car on the ride home, De- ting more and more emotional. “And actually went out to the clinic, the sikan told us what had happened to God,” he commanded at one point, milk powder was still housed in the the patients the week before. Dalda “Go out to these people’s homes, fol- shed, and Ragavelu managed its dis- tins serve many purposes, including as low them home, and protect and care tribution each week. a means of transport for the locally for them!” He was looking up to Today, more than a half-century made toddy, a powerful alcoholic heaven and shaking his fist at God. later, the house no longer belongs to drink commonly consumed by the The patients probably couldn’t un- the U.S. government and may not poor. When the patients walked derstand much of what he said, but exist at all. I don’t know what became home to their villages with the tins, they were with him in spirit, and nod- of the clinic, but tremendous gains the local police, who are merciless to- ded and looked up with him. have been made in India and world- ward the poor, accosted them. The As the only other Christian present wide toward eliminating leprosy. I

46 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 Share Your Expertise! Join the Journal’s Editorial Board!

Active and retired Foreign Service employees from foreign affairs are invited to nominate colleagues (or themselves) for a two-year term with the Foreign Service Journal. Editorial Board members, appointed by the AFSA Govern- ing Board, set the general edi- torial direction of the Journal, in consultation with the edito- rial staff, each month. Members evaluate manuscripts, decide on future focus topics, and weigh in on other matters affecting the Journal’s style, substance and process. Board members must reside in the Washington area and be able to attend monthly midday meetings at AFSA.

If interested, please contact FSJ Editor Steve Honley ([email protected]) by June 1.

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 47

AFSAAmerican ForeignNE Service Association • March 2009WS

2008 Annual Report I New Expanded Format I Page 54

REAFFIRMING THE ROLE OF DIPLOMACY AFSA Welcomes Secretary Clinton BY FRANCESCA KELLY

f newly-confirmed Secretary of State experts on every region of the Hillary Clinton emerged from her worldandeverycomplexissue Iblack official sedan on the morning of confrontingtheUnitedStates Jan. 22 with all the assurance of an inter- abroad.” His words of wel- national rock star, her celebrity status was come were interrupted sever- confirmed by the roar that went up from altimesbycheersandapplause hundreds of cheering State Department from the crowd.

employees when they first caught sight of Under Secretary Burns MICHAEL LAIACONA her. GreetedbyUnderSecretaryforPoliti- then formally introduced the AFSA State VP Steve Kashkett (right) officially welcomes Secretary calAffairsWilliamBurns,UnderSecretary Secretary, and she took the Clinton on her first day at the State Department, Jan. 22, while AFSA for Management Patrick Kennedy and Continued on page 53 President John Naland (left) looks on. AFSAStateVicePresidentSteveKashkett, she stopped and shook hands with those SEC. CLINTON APPOINTS SPECIAL ENVOYS bravingthecoldoutside,thenmadeherway into the building, where an even larger President and VP Visit State Dept. throng awaited her. The glass-paneled atrium of State on Second Day in Office DepartmentheadquartersatCStreet,usu- nly a few hours after Secretary Clinton arrived at her new workplace on Jan. 22, allyspaciousandairy,wassofilledwithpeo- President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden paid a highly publicized plethatthoseemployeesdescendingtothe OvisittotheDepartmentofState. Sec.Clintonhadbarelysettledintoherofficebefore main floor had difficulty exiting the eleva- heading upstairs to the Benjamin Franklin Room to greet, alongside the new president and tors. Televisionlightsilluminatedthelobby vice president, a select group of correspondents, foreign diplomats, White House staffers and dozens of hands reached up with cell and department employees. phonesandcamerastogetashotofthenew Coveredliveonmajortelevisionnetworks,theStateDepartmentvisit,onPres.Obama’s Secretary. Ascending to a platform and second day in office, was seen as not only an affirmation of the president’s commitment to turning to face the crowd, which was esti- a more expanded role for the Foreign Service but also as a strong signal to foreign govern- mated at roughly 1,000 people, Sec. Clin- ments that the new U.S. administration will focus on diplomatic solutions to worldwide ton seemed as excited as her audience. challenges. “Today you will see an example of the kind of robust diplomacy that the pres- In opening remarks, Kashkett warmly identintendstopursue,”Sec.Clintonstated. Wastingnotime,sheandVicePresidentBiden welcomed the Secretary on behalf of both introducedtwonewlyappointedspecialemissariestotroubledregions:formerSenatorGeorge Foreign Service and Civil Service employ- Mitchell, to be special envoy for Middle East peace, and former Ambassador Richard ees at State, who he noted were ready to Holbrooke as special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. become her “foreign policy brain trust.” Inhisownremarks,Pres.Obamadeclared:“TheStateDepartmentisgoingtobeabsolute- The employees standing before her, ly critical to our success in the years to come; you individually are going to be critical to our Kashkett pointed out, “are a proud, patri- success; and we want to send a signal to all kinds of young people who may be thinking otic,highlyskilledcorpsofprofessionals… about the Foreign Service, that they are going to be critical in terms of projecting not just [and] some of our country’s greatest America’s power, but also America’s values and America’s ideals.” J

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 49 A F S A N AFSANEWSBRIEFS E W Inside a U.S. Embassy Dreyfus Fellowship Awards Deadline March 16 S on Facebook The Dreyfus Fellowship Awards pro- AFSA introduces our first Facebook page, vide scholarships for children and for the Inside a U.S. Embassy book. We’re grandchildren of Foreign Service offi- using the space to promote the current edi- cers studying at The Hotchkiss School tion of the book as well as seek input for the in Lakeville, Conn., and at Yale Awards to Yale students (undergradu- new one. We plan to post excerpts from University. The deadline for applica- ate up to $5,000; graduate up to the upcoming edition. tions is March 16, 2009. Hotchkiss will select one qualified $10,000), based on merit, will be made In addition, we’re posting material related enrolled student for a $5,000 scholar- by the DACOR Bacon House to the Foreign Service career. Join us there ship. Applicants should contact the Foundation in consultation with Yale and offer your insights about Foreign Service school’s director of financial aid University. Toapply for a Yale scholar- life and work to future diplomats. (To find directly: ship, please send the following items to: DACOR Bacon House Foundation the page, just type the book title in the H. Jackson Marvel Attn: William C. Hamilton search box once you’re logged in at Director of Financial Aid & Associate Dean of Admission 1801 F Street NW www.facebook.com.) As always, find more The Hotchkiss School Washington DC 20006 information and place book orders through P.O.Box 800 • A copy of parent’s most recent the AFSA Web site at www.afsa.org/inside. Lakeville CT 06039 appointment Send questions to [email protected]. E-mail: jmarvel@hotchkiss • A brief letter of interest • A resumé • A copy of applicant’s most recent Are You from Alaska? transcript • A one-page statement of academic Foreign Service employee and family members who claim or have claimed Alaska residency goals. are invited to e-mail Sara Harriger at [email protected] in order to network with your For more information please contact fellow Alaskans and discuss topics of special interest to us — from the Permanent Fund Program Coordinator Sherry Barn- Dividend and other legal issues to how to pack for an Alaskan home leave in March while en dollar Rock at (202) 682-0500, ext. 17, route to Riyadh. Please consider participating in our small community from the big state! or by e-mail at prog.coord@dacor bacon.org.

AFSA HEADQUARTERS: Staff: Governing Board: Executive Director, Acting, Ian Houston: [email protected] (202) 338-4045; Fax: (202) 338-6820 PRESIDENT: John Naland STATE DEPARTMENT AFSA OFFICE: Business Department Controller Kalpna Srimal: [email protected] STATE VP: Steve Kashkett (202) 647-8160; Fax: (202) 647-0265 Accounting Assistant Cory Nishi: [email protected] USAID VP: Francisco Zamora USAID AFSA OFFICE: Labor Management FAS VP: Henry Schmick (202) 712-1941; Fax: (202) 216-3710 General Counsel Sharon Papp: [email protected] FCS AFSA OFFICE: Labor Management Attorney Zlatana Badrich: [email protected] FCS VP: Keith Curtis (202) 482-9088; Fax: (202) 482-9087 Labor Management Specialist James Yorke: [email protected] RETIREE VP: Robert W. Farrand AFSA WEB SITE: www.afsa.org Grievance Attorneys Neera Parikh: [email protected] and SECRETARY: F.A. “Tex” Harris FSJ: [email protected] Holly Rich: [email protected] Office Manager Christine Warren: [email protected] TREASURER: Andrew Winter PRESIDENT: [email protected] USAID Senior Labor Management Adviser Douglas Broome: [email protected] STATE REPS: Anne Aguilera, STATE VP: [email protected] USAID Office Manager Asgeir Sigfusson: [email protected] David Firestein, Susan Malcik, RETIREE VP: [email protected] Member Services USAID VP: [email protected] Member Services Director Janet Hedrick: [email protected] Sandy Robinson, Shayna Steinger, FAS VP: [email protected] Member Services Representative Michael Laiacona: [email protected] Elaine Tiang-Chu, Daphne Titus, Andrea FCS VP: [email protected] Web site & Database Associate Geron Pleasant: [email protected] Tomaszewicz, Christopher Tremann Administrative Assistant Ana Lopez: [email protected] USAID REP: Michael Henning AFSA News Outreach Programs Retiree Liaison Bonnie Brown: [email protected] FCS REP: Rebecca Balogh Editor Francesca Kelly: [email protected] Director of Communications Thomas Switzer: [email protected] FAS REP: Kathryn Ting (202) 338-4045, ext. 514; Congressional Affairs Director Ian Houston: [email protected] IBB REP: Al Pessin Fax: (202) 338-6820 Executive Assistant to the President Austin Tracy: [email protected] On the Web: Scholarship Director Lori Dec: [email protected] RETIREE REPS: How to Contact Us: www.afsa.org/fsj and www.fsjournal.org Professional Issues Coordinator Barbara Berger: [email protected] Janice Bay, Herman Cohen, Elderhostel Administrator Bernard Alter: [email protected] David Passage, Jonathan Sperling

50 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 A F AFSANEWSBRIEFS V.P. VOICE: USAID I BY FRANCISCO ZAMORA S A AAFSW Reconstitutes The Foreign Service’s N Forum Committees E n January, Foreign Service employees, Poor Cousin W Ifamily members and past and present S Family Liaison Office staff met in a forum t is hard not to feel neglected when compared to State sponsored by the Associates of the Department employees. USAID Foreign Service officers, from the start of their American Foreign Service Worldwide to Iemployment,aretreatedlikepoorcousins. Inspiteofthefactthatthesenewemploy- discuss making the FS bureaucracy more ees have been selected from thousands of highly qualified applicants, they are made family-friendly. tofeelluckytohavebeenofferedajobatall. Many After a lively discussion of ideas sent in are experiencing real financial hardship, forcing from all over the world, the AAFSW them to borrow from family and banks just to survive their Washington stay. Many are experiencing forum decided to concentrate on three AFSA has been fighting the tendency of the areas: real financial hardship, agencytodobusiness“onthecheap”onthebacks • Improving access to information by of our employees. While we can point to sever- forcing them to borrow family members, by enabling home com- alsuccesses,muchmoremustbedone. Forexam- puter access to unclassified information ple, due to our advocacy, salaries for entry-level from family and banks regarding pertinent subjects such as officers are no longer restricted to the FS-6, step just to survive their post reports, training and the availability 1level,butcanbesetatstep14,whichcantrans- of part-time employment. lateintoasmuchasa$20,000increase. Wehave Washington stay. • Facilitating EFM employment, both also influenced the agency to pay for expenses by centrally funding positions from State involved in the initial interview process in and by increasing allowances for profes- Washington,whereasinthepastinterviewees“ate the cost.” In addition, the agency has responded to our requests to restart the Student sional book shipments and space for Loan Reimbursement Program, which provides thousands of dollars of relief for new spouses who wish to work from home. officers burdened by student loans. • Creating more humane maternity/ All of this is good, of course, but there is still a long way to go to achieve parity paternity policies for Foreign Service with the State Department. During the USAID town hall meeting on Jan. 7, which members and family members. wasnetcastworldwide,AdministratorHenriettaForeandGeneGeorge,headofhuman AAFSW encourages people to continue services,committedtheagencytocompensationparitywiththeStateDepartmentfor to send their ideas for making the USAID employees. An e-mail question submitted during the event from an FSO in Foreign Service more family-friendly LiberiapointedoutthatStateDepartmentemployeesincertaincountrieswerereceiv- to Forum Chairs Judy Felt at JaJuFelt@ ingincreaseddifferentialsinsalarythroughtheDifficult toStaffIncentiveDifferential, aol.com and Ann La Porta at a_laporta@ a program no longer available to USAID officers. The administrator expressed her yahoo.com. Please indicate if you would concernoverthatinequityandpromisedtoaddressit. Mr.GeorgestatedthatUSAID is trying to reinstitute this benefit by summer 2009 at all posts where it is offered by be willing to work on a committee. the State Department. However, other areas still need attention to bring the agency in line with the State Department. Forexample,whileStateA-100entry-levelofficersreceiveperdiemben- Do We Have Your efits,newUSAIDofficersinthejuniorofficerintakeprogramaredeniedthem. Instead, Correct Address? theagencyprovidesthemwithlocalitypay,justifyingthisbyclaimingthesenewemploy- AFSA Governing Board elections are ees are assigned to Washington. In reality, this arrangement saves the agency money coming up, and we'll be sending out andforcesthenewofficerstosubsidizethegovernmentduringtheirtimehere. Given ballots to AFSA members in April. that we plan to bring in close to 1,000 new officers during the coming years, we need Please make sure that we have your to change this unfair system. We cannot afford the enormous morale issues engen- correct mailing address. To update your address, visit us online at www. dered by these miserly policies. afsa.org/addressChange.cfm or send Thenewadministrationisinauniquepositiontocorrectsomeoftheselongstanding an e-mail to [email protected]. problems. In so doing, they can clearly underscore their support for our most valu- able asset: human resources. J

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 51 A F S V.P. VOICE: FAS I BYHENRYS.SCHMICK A N E W Why FAS Adopted the S Foreign Service System

lthough agricultural reporting, export expansion and U.S. While the Foreign Service Act brought a number of benefits wine promotion activities can be traced back to the third- toagriculturalofficers(alongwithmandatoryretirementandselec- Aranked officer of the U.S. mission to France in 1784 tion-out processes), it also became a point of confusion to our (Thomas Jefferson, serving under Deputy John Adams and FAS Civil Service colleagues. The two personnel systems have MinisterBenjaminFranklin—imaginethosecountryteammeet- fundamentally different views: the Foreign Service has a “rank ings!),theForeignAgriculturalServicehasonlyexistedsince1930. in person” approach, while the Civil Service uses “rank in job.” From1930to1939,FAShadabout10agriculturalcommissioners The Foreign Service system eases the problem of placing officers postedoverseas. In1939,PresidentFranklinD.Rooseveltordered overseas because shrinks and stretches are easily handled, while theForeignServiceofficersfromFASandFCStomergewiththose the more rigid Civil Service approach to promotion and career from State in order to have a unified overseas advancement is simpler to implement presence in the run-up to World War II. The “rank-in-person” approach and understand. In the early 1950s, following “encourage- Many of the FAS Civil Service concerns ment” from agricultural commodity groups eases slightly the administrative about the FS approach are not really about working with Congress, the agricultural task of assigning officers overseas; the specifics, but rather the administrative attachés returned to FAS. “In 1954, when FAS burden of having two separate personnel was taking permanent shape, the agricultural it provides some benefits; systems within one small agency that also attachés became civil servants instead of and the up or out system sparks hastohandlealargerotationofagricultural Foreign Service officers. This led to a number officers returning from overseas posts. of problems,” Allan Mustard observed in his a feeling of urgency (or stress) Many of the current issues were iden- article,“AnUnauthorizedHistoryofFAS”(May to shine at all times. tified in the 1965 Stanley Andrews report 2003FSJ).“First,rotationalauthority(theabil- to then-Administrator Raymond “Ray” ity to ‘stretch’ or ‘shrink’ into assignments) is, Ioanes. That study noted that the key con- of course not inherentto the Civil Service. This sometimesmade cerns were communication with the field, orientation training matching the right person to the right job impossible for bureau- for the attachés, and “staffing in a very broad sense.” The latter cratic reasons.” In addition to the assignment difficulties, over- includes the rotation of officers to and from overseas positions. seas benefits did not accrue for FAS attachés, and some foreign All those issues persist today, whether or not the agricultural countries would not grant them diplomatic privileges or stand- attachés are FSOs or Civil Service employees. ing. So, what to make of the Foreign Service system for FAS? The Inthelate1970s,afterAFSAbecameaunionandstartedwork- “rank in person” approach eases slightly the administrative task ing on the Foreign Service Act of 1980, FAS became convinced of assigning officers overseas; it provides some benefits; and the it was time to join the Foreign Service. Director General of the up-or-out system sparks a feeling of urgency (or stress) to shine Foreign Service Harry Barnes urged Secretary of Agriculture Earl at all times. It has also served as a false point of conflict within Butz and FAS to consider joining the effort to convince Congress FAS;the“Washingtonplacement”issueexistswhetherornotagri- it was time for a total rewrite of the Foreign Service rules. culturalofficers are FSOsor Civil Service employees. ShouldFAS In 1977, Richard “Dick” Smith (at that point deputy admin- stick with the Foreign Service system? In the words of a recent istrator for management and attachés, and later FAS adminis- candidate, “You betcha.” trator)organizedathree-dayseminarinWilliamsburgforallsenior This short article is based heavily on the FAS historical research FASmanagerstodiscusswhetherornottoadoptaForeignService that the (usually) Honorable Allan P. Mustard, agricultural min- personnelsystem. Followingaheateddiscussion,therewasacon- ister counselor in Mexico City, has done over the course of his career. sensustojoinwithStateandotherforeignaffairsagenciestodevel- FAS employees can read much more on the FASTNET Virtual op the Foreign Service Act of 1980. Museum Web pages. J

52 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 A F Clinton Welcomed • Continued from page 49 Secretary Clinton Addresses S A mike to give an enthusiastic off-the-cuff USAID Employees pep talk to her new employees. She pre- dicted “a great adventure,” yet also he day after Secretary of State Hillary N acknowledged the challenges that lie Clinton greeted State Department E ahead. Promising an environment that Temployees,shewaswelcomedenthusi- W promotes teamwork, she continued, asticallybyUSAIDemployees,aswellasAFSA, S “There is nothing that I welcome more AFGE and agency management. The event than a good debate and the kind of dia- took place at the Ronald Reagan Building on loguethatwillmakeusbetter.” Itwasone Jan. 23, Sec. Clinton’s second day of work. ofseveralpronouncements thatgarnered AFSA USAID Vice President Francisco USAID FILE PHOTO enthusiastic applause. Zamora delivered welcoming remarks, citing AFSA USAID VP Francisco Zamora (left) welcomes With an exuberant, “And now, ladies Secretary Clinton’s “keen interest in develop- Sec.Clinton(center),asUSAIDActingAdministrator and gentlemen, let’s get to work,” Sec. ment activities” and recalling meeting the Kent Hill (right) looks on. Clintonendedherremarksandbeganher Secretarywhensheinauguratedahealthclin- first day at the State Department. ic for women and children in Egypt. Zamora pointed with pride to the fact that 75 percent The ceremony was hosted by AFSA, of USAID postings are in hardship locations and that, by the summer of 2009, nearly half workingincollaborationwithdepartment oftheagency’sFSOswillhaveservedunaccompaniedtoursinAfghanistan,Pakistan,Sudan managementandtheAmericanFederation or Iraq. He also expressed the hope that the new administration would streamline foreign of Government Employees. The full text assistance,eliminating“confusionandwaste.” ofbothSteveKashkett’swelcomeremarks In her response, Sec. Clinton was quick to and Secretary Clinton’s response can be “Development experts point to her strong belief that development foundonlineatwww.afsa.org/state/012309 have to go through miles of “is truly an equal partner, along with defense afsanet.cfm. J anddiplomacy,inthefurtheranceofAmerica’s paperwork to spend 10 cents. national security.” The Secretary’s own expe- riencesworkingindevelopingnationscameto It is not a sensible approach.” AFSANEWSBRIEFS the fore in her remarks, and she addressed — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton head-on Zamora’s comments about stream- liningforeignaidprograms,sayingitwas“iron- Governing Board ic that our very best young military leaders … Welcomes Susan Malcik are given unfettered resources through the Commander’s Emergency Response Program Susan Malcik has joined the AFSA to spend as they see fit to build a school, to open a health clinic, to pave a road; and our Governing Board as a State representa- diplomats and our development experts have to go through miles of paperwork to spend tive. Ms. Malcik’s international experi- 10 cents. It is not a sensible approach.” The complete text of the Secretary’s address to USAID employees can be found at ence began in 1980 as a Peace Corps www.afsa.org/usaid/012609afsanet.cfm. J Volunteer in The Gambia. From there she accompanied her FSO spouse Ed Malcik to postings in Douala, Bombay, AFSA, State Department in Bridgetown, Dakar, Abidjan, Djibouti Media Spotlight and Berlin, working in a wide variety of positions including as a B&F assistant, he arrival of Secretary of State Post, the New York Times, USA Today, the CLO and ambassador’s self-help fund Hillary Clinton at the State Depart- Los Angeles Times and the Federal Times coordinator. After becoming a direct- Tment, followed just hours later by a are among the many newspapers that car- visit from President Obama and Vice ried front-page articles. Excerpts from hire Office Management Specialist in President Biden, drew unusually heavy AFSA State VP Steve Kashkett’s welcome 2003, she has since served in Kabul, mediacoveragetobothAFSAandtheState remarks were incorporated into articles in Stockholm and in the GSO section of Department. Live television coverage of the Washington Post and other news the Administrative Management both events was handled by CNN, sources, and he was interviewed on NPR. Training Division at FSI. She is current- MSNBC and other major networks, and AFSA President John Naland was quoted ly a staff assistant in the Operations articles popped up in the country’s largest in several major newspapers, as well as in Center. J newspapersthenextday. TheWashington Time magazine. J

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 53 A F S AFSA Annual Report 2008 A N E W S Turning the Tide BY JOHN NALAND, AFSA PRESIDENT

FSA’s task in 2008 was to stop the from members of the incom- toreviewwhatAFSAhasdone damage being done to the career ing Obama administration. foryoulately. Ifsomeissuethat AForeign Service and to prepare for Throughout the year, AFSA isimportanttoyouisnotmen- a counteroffensive in 2009 to regain lost had success in getting major tioned, please contact your ground. media outlets to report on the AFSA constituency vice presi- unmet needs of the Foreign dentsowecantellyouwhatthe Looking Back Service. association has accomplished AFSAhaltedseveralnegativetrendsdur- During 2008, as in every on your behalf. (See “How to ing 2008. After years of stagnant funding year,AFSA’s27-memberpro- Contact Us” on page 50.) for diplomacy, AFSA overcame budget fessional staff provided expert gridlock between Congress and the lame- support to hundreds of individual mem- Looking Ahead duck president by successfully advocating bers (active-duty and retired) worldwide. AFSA’s task in 2009 will be to use the for $25 million to expand Foreign Service We undertook a major renovation of our association’sgrowinginfluencetoconvince staffing. Elsewhere,inthewakeoftheState headquartersbuilding. OurForeignService the new Congress and new president to Department’s2007self-inflictedpublicrela- Journal continued to generate reader address the pressing needs of the Foreign tionsdisasterconcerningIraqstaffing,AFSA Service — including significantly increas- convinced State during the 2008 bidding ing staffing and finally passing legislation season to treat employees with respect AFSA’s task in 2009 will be to close the overseas pay gap. We hope to instead of subjecting them to unnecessary to use the association’s growing work with the new management teams at threats, paving the way for all war-zone each foreign affairs agency to implement positionstobequicklyfilledbyvolunteers. influence to convince the new long-overdue measures to improve con- Withonlyintermittentsupportfromthe ditions of employment. We will continue Bushadministration,AFSAalsopushedour Congress and new president to todefendtheForeignServiceagainstunfair bill to close the overseas pay gap through address the pressing needs of the outsidecriticismwithoutshyingawayfrom both the Senate Foreign Relations Com- supportingreformsthatareneededtomake mitteeandtheHouseForeignAffairsCom- Foreign Service — including the Service a more effective agent of U.S. mittee. Althoughfinalpassagewasblocked significantly increasing staffing. international engagement in the 21st cen- by the opposition of one senator, we did tury. As always, AFSA will continue our make significant progress against difficult traditionalmember-focusedadvocacyand oddsandestablishedastrongpositionfrom praise for its coverage of professional and legalassistanceonbehalfofactive-dutyand which to move forward with the new foreign policy topics. We maintained our retired members. Congress and new president. longtraditionofprovidingvaluableschol- Thus, we expect 2009 to be a busy and Layingthegroundworkforgreatersuc- arships to Foreign Service children. Our productive year. At midyear, the current cess in 2009, AFSA met with top advisers public outreach program involved many 25-member AFSA Governing Board that tothetwopresidentialcandidatesandlater Foreign Service retirees in explaining the has served you since July 2007 will give met several times with Obama transition importance of U.S. diplomacy to tens of way to the new board that you elect teammemberstoexplaintheresourceand thousandsofcitizensnationwide. Andwe this spring. On behalf of the outgoing management needs of diplomacy and keptourmembersinformedbywayoffre- board, I thank you for your support, development assistance. We helped draft quent update reports distributed via mul- encouragement and feedback. The next a blue-ribbon panel report calling for hir- tiple channels. Governing Board will need that same ing 4,735 additional diplomats and devel- Details on these and other routine, but backing to continue AFSA’s vital work to opment professionals. That report drew vital,activitiescanbefoundthroughoutthis defend and advance the interests of the compliments from key lawmakers and annual report. Please take a few minutes U.S. Foreign Service. J

54 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 A  AFSA Annual Report 2008  F YEARINREVIEW S A N AFSArepresentedanumberofemploy- E Briefing the Next Administration ees in meetings with the House Govern- ment Oversight Committee on matters W FSA’s transition planning began in summer 2008 with meetings with senior for- relatingtoBlackwateraswellasotherissues. S eign policy advisers to the two nominees for president. AFSA also played a key role We met with management at the var- Ain drafting and publicizing an October 2008 blue-ribbon panel report that urged ious agencies to negotiate or consult on a the next president to hire more diplomats and development professionals. After the elec- variety of regulations, including changes tion, AFSA met with Obama transition team members at State, USAID, Commerce and tothepromotionandassignmentprecepts, IBB to explain the resource and management needs of the Foreign Service. We provid- the Diplomatic Security Bureau’s new fit- ed supplementary written documentation to assist the teams in briefing the new agency ness-for-dutyregulations,securityclearance leadership. Throughout the year, we educated lawmakers and the media to prepare the revocationregulationsandcontactreport- ground for the Obama administration’s budget requests for international engagement. ing requirements. — John Naland, AFSA President Finally,wehelpedhundredsofemploy- ees with questions and/or problems regarding retirement benefits, entry-level salaries, allowances, bidding rules, work- we are awaiting a decision from the For- ers’compensation,medicalclearancesand Labor Management eign Service Grievance Board. domestic partnership benefits. FSA’s four attorneys and two labor We assisted about a dozen employees AFSA’s Richard S. Scissors Legal De- management specialists continued whose security clearances had been sus- fense Fund continued to grow. Since its Atoprovidegrievanceandotherassis- pendedorproposedforrevoca- tance to our members at State, USAID, tion,aswellasscoresofemploy- FCS, FAS and IBB. In 2008, we assisted ees who had been proposed for AFSA filed a class action grievance approximately 250 individuals with griev- discipline for such things as ancesoversuchissuesaslowranking,selec- security infractions, misuse of on behalf of 68 members of the Senior tion out, denial of tenure and promotion, government vehicles and credit Foreign Service whom the department prejudicial performance appraisals, denial cards, violation of the depart- of allowances, discipline matters, etc. ment’s policy on consensual failed to compete for performance pay. AFSA filed a class action grievance on sexualrelationships,misuseofthe behalf of 68 members of the Senior pouch, misuse of government Foreign Service whom the department credentials, driving under the failed to compete for performance pay, in influence,failuretofollowinstructions,lack inception in 2007, employees and retirees violationoftheregulations. Atpresstime, of candor and workplace violence. have donated approximately $20,000. The Legal Defense Fund permits AFSA to retain private counsel in those cases that are of significant institutional impor- AFSA Headquarters Renovation tance to the union and our members. In hroughout2008,theAFSAheadquartersat2101EStreetNWunderwentalong- 2008,contributionswereusedtotrytopre- overduerenovation. Thisactivitycreateduniquechallengesfortheprofessional serve an employee’s right to challenge his staff,butservicetoourmembersandtheirinter- separation for cause before the Grievance T Board after he was forced to resign from ests — our number-one priority — was never com- the State Department to work at another promised. Itwasthefocusonthisbannerthatallowed federal agency. The issue before the board us to navigate creatively through the building renova- waswhethertheemployeevoluntarilyquit tion challenge. In 2009, staff will reoccupy the head- and gave up his right to challenge his sep- quarters. Wewelcomeallmembersandfriendstovisit arationorwas“constructively”discharged. us then. The case was settled, but a confidentiality clause does not permit discussion of the — Ian Houston, Acting Executive Director terms. — Sharon Papp, General Counsel

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 55 A F  AFSA Annual Report 2008  S YEARINREVIEW A N E Legislative Report W n2008,AFSAcontinuedtobeastrong, S trusted and respected voice on Capitol IHillasweadvocatedonavarietyofissues ofimportancetotheForeignServicecom- munity.

The Overseas Pay Gap OFFICE OF CHARLES RANGEL AFSA was consistently aggressive in Pictured left to right: AFSA Legislative Director Ian Houston, AFSA President John Naland, House Ways working toward getting Congress to cor- andMeansCommitteeChairmanCharlesRangel,D-N.Y.,AFSAStateVPSteveKashkettandStateGoverning rect the overseas pay gap in 2008. Despite Board Representative Daphne Titus. thegreatoddsofmovinganythingforward proud of the strategic and focused leader- tional positions and provide greater in the late days of the 110th Congress, we ship that enabled us to get as far as we did. resources was, unfortunately, not com- have successes to highlight. pleted by Congress in 2008, but we are AFSAbrokeredabipartisanagreement Funding for Diplomacy and hopeful that our efforts will bear fruit in the House Foreign Affairs Committee Staffing when the new 111th Session wraps up the thatresultedinthepassageofabilltosolve AFSA has consistently focused on the pending budget process in 2009. In en- theproblem,inadditiontoraisingthedeath vital need to augment the Foreign Service gaging on these fronts, we have advanced gratuity benefit for Foreign Service per- ranks and find creative solutions to fund- our broader goal of bringing to our fel- sonnel killed overseas. In the House, we ing that increase in personnel. AFSA was low citizens a greater awareness, knowl- had direct discussions with key leaders at very effective in 2008 in our efforts to edge and respect for what the Foreign critical junctures. We built up House co- advance this priority. We made convinc- Service does. sponsors on the bill, going office-to-office ingargumentsthattheForeignServicewas and relying on our members to capitalize critically underfunded and that a lack of Other Legislative Fronts ontripsthatmembersofCongressandstaff appropriated funds over the last several AFSA also engaged on issues of critical tookoverseas. NeverbeforehadtheHFAC years had resulted in a fiscal emergency. importance to USAID. Particular areas of passed a bill solely focused on correcting We secured key meetings early in the focusin2008includedadvocatingforagency thepayproblem,anindicationofoursuc- process and made specific suggestions to operating expenses and increased staffing, cessinelevatingthediscussionofthisacute senior congressional appropriators and and strongly expressing our concerns problem in Congress. their staffs. about the pitfalls related to mid-level For- In the Senate, we convinced key sena- As a result of that direct advocacy, $25 eignServicehiringatUSAIDandhowthis torstoofferacompanionbilltotheHouse million for staffing and training was well-intentionedinitiativepotentiallyunder- version. These efforts, coupled with our lockedintothepresident’sFiscalYear2008 mines the career Foreign Service. closerelationshipswithkeymembersofthe supplementalspendingrequestforIraqand We also forged partnerships with out- Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Afghanistan. We then shifted to ensuring side organizations and humanitarian and allowed us to get the bill passed out of the that the president’s call for a significant development nongovernmental organiza- SFRC. Bythecloseof2008,inthelastdays increaseinForeignServicepositionsinthe tions in an effort to raise our profile in this of the congressional session, we were in a Fiscal Year 2009 budget request was community. And we offered key insights good position for passage; but, unfortu- funded. as the debate on foreign assistance reform nately, certain senators exercised a proce- We made substantive contributions in heated up. dural right to block the Senate pay gap bill 2008 to the American Academy of AFSA tackled many other priority overcostconcernsanddisagreementover Diplomacy and Henry L. Stimson Center issues during the year, such as retirement the importance of fixing the problem. We landmark study, which detailed specifi- benefits,maternityleavequestionsforfed- waged a final aggressive push that consist- cally what human and financial resources eralemployees,taxissuesspecificallyaffect- edofmobilizingscoresofconstituentcalls the State Department, the Foreign Service ing civilians working overseas and serving totheblockingsenators,buttheywerenot and USAID need to accomplish their mis- incombatzones,andambassadorshipsfor willingtorelinquishtheirholdsonthebill, sions. We then helped bring these argu- political appointees. and that ended our chances. ments to Congress. The specific appro- — Ian Houston, Despite this disappointment, AFSA is priations bill that was to fund these addi- Legislative Affairs Director

56 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 A  AFSA Annual Report 2008  F YEARINREVIEW S A N universities, colleges, Public Outreach World Affairs Councils E hecareerForeignServicefacedaseri- and policy forums in 44 W ous public affairs image problem in states and Washington, S Tthe aftermath of State’s lamentable D.C. All speakers were “townhallmeeting”inOctober2007,which providedwithAFSAtalk- leftbroadlynegativenationwidemediaand ing points and requested public perceptions that most FSOs are to emphasize the critical unwilling to serve in danger posts like Iraq roleoftheForeignService and Afghanistan. and U.S. diplomacy and AFSA responded in 2008 with a steady to exhort audiences to outreach campaign to counter these neg- ANN THOMAS contact their members ative stereotypes, including more than 70 Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte presents award to High School of Congress and insist Essay Contest winner Alicia Constant. articles,letters,op-edsandAFSAinterviews upon increased funding publishedinnationalmedia,defendingthe AFSA played a crucial role in the land- for U.S diplomacy. courage and dedication of the career mark October 2008 study, “A Foreign AFSAalsosponsoreditsninthNational ForeignServiceinvolunteeringforthemost Affairs Budget for the Future: Fixing the HighSchoolEssayContest,withmorethan dangerousassignmentsaroundtheworld. Crisis in Diplomatic Readiness,” released 250studentsparticipating.Thewinnerwas PrimeexamplesincludeAFSAPresident jointly by the American Academy of congratulated by Deputy Secretary of JohnNaland’sappearanceon“TheNews- DiplomacyandtheStimsonCenter. Cited State John Negroponte. hour with Jim Lehrer” and an interview innumerousmediareportsandarticles,the — Tom Switzer, Director of from his home on a CNN special, “The report documented the crucial need for Communications New Diplomats,” as well as State VP Steve increased funding and staffing for the Kashkett’svigorousdefenseoftheForeign Foreign Service. Service’scourageanddedicationonNPR’s During the year, AFSA programmed Elderhostel “Diane Rehm” show. over470retireespeakersinmorethan100 heElderhostelprogramcontinuedits expansion in 2008. Three new Tcourses were offered during the Scholarship Program year,allfilledtocapacity. AFSAoffered11 weeklong programs in four locations he 2008 AFSA Scholarship Program awarded Academic and Art Merit Awards total- (Washington, St. Petersburg, Tucson and ing $35,700 to 26 high school seniors, and bestowed Financial Aid Scholarships total- Chautauqua), in addition to 10 one-day Ting$152,574on69undergraduatecollegestudentsforthe2008-2009schoolyear.The programs in Washington, D.C. Martha and George Newman Financial Aid Scholarship received a bequest totaling over AFSA was also chosen by Elderhostel $650,000fromthecouple’sestate. Finally,theAFSAScholarshipFundmadea$37,500dona- headquarters in Boston to participate in a tion to the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund (with a 100-percent match new pilot project to bring programs into byFEEA)tohelpbegintopayforthecollegeeducationofchildrenofForeignServiceemploy- retirement communities. AFSA partici- ees who lost their lives in terrorist attacks. patedinfivesuchprogramsinSilverSpring, — Lori Dec, Scholarship Administrator Md., and Canton, Mass. Throughout the year, just over 1,300 people participated in AFSA’s Elderhostel Janet Bayless presents programsnationwide. Someofourspeak- Newman Trust donation to ersincludedAmbassadorsElizabethJones, AFSA. From left: Chairman James Collins, Kenton Keith and Thomas of AFSA Committee on Hubbard. Attheendof2008,Administra- Education Amb. C. Edward tor Janice Bay retired after four successful Dillery, Scholarship Director Lori Dec, Treasurer Andrew years at the helm. She has been succeeded Winter, Bayless, AFSA by Bernard Alter. President John Naland — Ásgeir Sigfússon,

JOHN MAMONE and Amb. Thomas Boyatt. USAID Office Manager

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 57 A   F AFSA Annual Report 2008 S YEARINREVIEW A N E Foreign Service Journal Retiree Task W he Journal welcomed Alicia J. Campi as its new busi- Force Targets S nessmanagerinMarch,replacingAndrewKidd,and TFrancesca Kelly became AFSA News editor in Re-employment September. ShawnDorman,whohadheldthatposition foreightyears,remainstheJournal’sassociateeditor,but n 2008, the AFSA Retiree Task Force is focused on putting together the new, expanded edi- began developing a proposal for legis- tionofAFSA’sbest-sellingbook,InsideaU.S.Embassy, Ilation to waive both the salary limita- slated for publication in late 2009. tions and the hours limitations on re-em- More than 850 people, three-quarters of them ploymentofForeignServiceannuitantsfor active-duty AFSA members, took an online reader one- and two-year assignments of critical survey between May 1 and June 25. A majority of importance to the department’s mission. respondents (53 percent) were very satisfied with Thereisa15-percentshortfallintheper- theJournaloverall,andanother39percentsaidthey manent work force of 11,300 Foreign were somewhat satisfied. Participants also provided hundreds of Servicepersonnel. Althoughthisworkforce written comments on the magazine’s coverage, format and other matters. is augmented by 1,300 to 1,500 re- BPA Worldwide’s audit of the Journal’s circulation found that it has topped the 15,000 employed annuitants, they are only per- mark for the first time, a figure that should make the magazine even more attractive to mitted to work on a short-term basis. potential advertisers. Sixty percent of subscribers are active-duty employees of the five for- Despite the fact that re-employed annui- eign affairs agencies. The remaining subscribers are Foreign Service retirees, Civil Service tants have critically needed training, skills employees and members of the public; libraries, universities and other institutions; and all and experience, they currently cannot be members of Congress and various senior foreign affairs officials. usedtofillthepersistentandcriticallonger- — Steven Alan Honley, Editor term,mid-levelstaffinggapsofoneandtwo years that the department now faces. — Bonnie Brown, Retiree Coordinator

AFSA President John Awards and Naland, with Deputy Secretary John Negro- Plaques ponte, Diana Negroponte and Director General hrough the Fund for American Harry Thomas, opening Diplomacy, AFSA bestowed awards the Plaque Ceremony thisyearinseveraldifferentcategories: on May 2.

T MIKKELA THOMPSON lifetime contributions to American diplo- macy, constructive dissent, exemplary performanceandoutstandingprofession- al contributions, as well as the AFSA Rep of the Year award. AFSA award winners arenominatedbycolleagues.Thefundalso sponsors the Sinclaire Award, which rec- ognizesoutstandingaccomplishmentinthe studyofdifficultforeignlanguagesandtheir

associated cultures. The winners of this MIKKELA THOMPSON awardarenominatedbylanguageinstruc- AFSA honored two fallen diplomats 2008 Constructive Dissent and Performance torsattheFSISchoolofLanguageStudies. in 2008, Steven Thomas Stefani IV Awardwinners,June19. Fromright:Amb.Jeffrey For a complete list of the 2008 award win- and John Michael Granville, adding Feltman, Rachel Schneller, Luke Zahner, Victor ners please visit AFSA on the Web at their names to the AFSA Memorial Williams, Virginia Gregory, Craig Gerard and www.afsa.org. Plaques. J Megan Myers (for Julie Eadeh).

58 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009   A AFSA Annual Report 2008 F CONSTITUENCYSUMMARIES S A N State: A Broad Range of Activity E W FSA’s efforts at the Department of State in 2008 covered a federal civilian employees serving in combat zones. And proper S broad range of issues of intense concern to our members, recognitionandtreatmentofPost-TraumaticStressDisorderamong Abutthefocalpointremainedtheuniqueproblemsandchal- those returning from high-threat posts remained a frequent sub- lenges associated with sustaining our two largest diplomatic mis- ject of discussion between AFSA and M/MED. sions in active war zones. Beyond the complex problems surrounding war-zone service, AsweenteredoursixthyearofstaffingAfghanistanandIraq,we the AFSA State office: couldcountthousandsofourmemberswhohadalreadyvolunteered •Pressed for fairness in the assignment process and argued fortoursofdutythere,andcouldproudlypointtotheForeignService’s for even-handed application of fair share requirements and willingnessto“stepuptotheplate”forcombatzoneduty. Wecould the 5/8-Year Rule, while still allowing for waivers in cases confidentlysaythatnotasingledirectedassignmenttoeitherembassy of demonstrable special circumstances and humanitarian or to the provincial reconstruction teams in the two countries need; hadbeennecessary. YettheForeignServicenonethelessbegan2008 • Consulted closely with HR in revamping the Foreign Service under a cloud of bad press, entry process, introducing a Qualifications Evaluation Panel Our focal point remained hostile public opinion and con- and modifying the written exam; gressional skepticism as a result • Assistedmembersassignedoverseasseekingemploymentfor the unique problems and of the department’s ill-advised their family members or status/recognition for their domes- challenges associated with “prime candidate” exercise for tic partners; Iraq staffing in the fall of 2007, • LobbiedformoreflexiblerulesforForeignServicewomenwho sustaining our two largest followed by its mishandling of currently must exhaust their annual and sick leave when fac- diplomatic missions in the publicity surrounding that ingmandatorymedicalevacuationfromoverseaspostsforpreg- exercise. nancy and childbirth; active war zones. AFSA undertook a cam- • Negotiatednewforeigncontactreportingrulesaswellasmod- paign to set the record straight, ifications to Foreign Affairs Manual regulations in dozens of to restore the image of the Foreign Service and to persuade senior other areas; State officials to take a different approach to the Iraq/Afghanistan • HeldquarterlymeetingswiththeseniorleadershipoftheBureau assignment cycle in 2008. We gave a series of high-profile media of Diplomatic Security to address concerns of personnel interviews,placedop-edsandhelpeddozensofourmembersworld- assignedtoIraq,DSinvestigativeproceduresandsecurityclear- wide to publish letters to the editor of their hometown newspa- ance suspensions; pers. Moreimportantly,wesetforthadetailedblueprintfordepart- • Addressed a severe backlog in issuance of PCS travel orders mentmanagementtouseinrecruitingvolunteersforForeignService andlackofresponsivenessbyHRtechnicians,aswellascom- positions in the two war zones. This blueprint relied on positive plaints from members regarding heavy-handed attempts by encouragement rather than coercion, appealed to our members’ theCharlestonFinancialServicesCentertocollectallegedout- senseofduty,andallowedtimeforthenaturaldynamicoftheOpen standing debts, sometimes more than a decade old, from Assignment process to generate willing bidders. In the end, the employees’ travel or medevac vouchers; departmentadoptedAFSA’sapproach,andallIraqandAfghanistan • Conducted an electronic survey of the opinions of the entire positions for summer 2009 were filled by the early fall of 2008. State Foreign Service on a wide range of career-related sub- Other aspects of war-zone service that AFSA repeatedly raised jects, drawing completed responses from nearly half of total throughout the year with 7th-floor principals, with the director Service members (5,700 out of 11,500). general’s office and with key State bureaus included honoring As always, over the course of the year, the AFSA State vice pres- promises made to Iraq and Afghanistan volunteers for onward ident and the professional staff of the State Labor Management assignment consideration, ensuring that extended war-zone tem- Office fielded requests from hundreds of members for assistance porary duty service is reflected in employees’ HR folders and sup- with individual problems; represented members in hundreds of porting families separated by unaccompanied tours. In January, grievances, disciplinary cases, DS investigations and security clear- AFSA hand-delivered a letter signed by 100 FS members in Iraq ance cases; and fielded over a thousand requests for information to House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, or advice on a wide variety of issues. D-N.Y., urging legislation to provide income tax exemptions to — Steve Kashkett, State VP

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 59 A   F AFSA Annual Report 2008 S CONSTITUENCYSUMMARIES A N E USAID: Highlights of a Busy Year W S he AFSA USAID office staff was very busy The AFSA USAID staff tionshipswiththink-tanksandnongovernmen- workingonmembers’behalfthispastyear. tal organizations that influence the implemen- TAlthough it is impossible to list all activi- informed, advised, counseled tationofU.S.developmentpolicies. These“other ties and accomplishments in detail in the space and intervened with Human players”lobbythegovernmentonissuesthatulti- ofthisshortarticle,highlightsaredetailedbelow. mately affect the working conditions of our Our activities can be classified broadly as those Resources on a multitude of employees. We make sure they have our views dealing with general work conditions and ben- matters related to and interests in mind. efits, lobbying Congress and the new adminis- The most important part of AFSA’s work at tration,andprovidingindividualassistancetoour FSO careers. USAID is our direct service to members. The members. AFSAUSAIDstaffinformed,advised,counseled In the first category, AFSA worked with andintervenedwithHumanResourcesonamul- USAID management to expand or establish benefits. We were titudeofmattersrelatedtoFScareers. Inseveralcases,weweresuc- pleased that the Student Loan Reimbursement Program was rein- cessfulinpreventingemployees’unfairseparationfromtheagency. stituted by the agency and that many of our FSOs signed up for it. Inotherinstances,wehelpedemployeesimprovetheirperformances Wealsoinsistedthatentry-levelofficersreceivemorerealistic,high- through advice and counseling. AFSA also helped in many other er salaries, which can result in an increase of as much as $20,000. areas, such as retroactive post differential and medical evacuation Inanothersuccess,thoseinterviewingforUSAIDpositionsarenow benefits; assignments; abusive supervisors; payroll issues; security reimbursed for their expenses while in Washington, thus making investigations; and travel benefits. We negotiated favorable agree- it more affordable for them to apply for these jobs. mentsforsevengrievances,andwereabletoavoidmanyotherpoten- WeworkedalongsideAFSAheadquartersstafftourgeCongress tial grievances by negotiating informally with the agency. to provide our employees with equitable benefits such as overseas In 2009, we will try to achieve the goals that have eluded us so pay parity, which Senior Foreign Service officers already receive. far. Most important will be the pay equity issue. We would also Although we were able to move the issue farther than at any time, like to see USAID FSOs receive the same benefits as State employ- unfortunately we were not successful. But the work will not go to ees,suchastheDifficulttoStaffIncentiveDifferential,perdiemdur- waste;thenewadministrationhasstrongsupportforcorrectingthis ingWashington-basedtrainingandbetterfinancialsupportforthe problem. Our meetings with the Obama transition team provid- expenses incurred by new FSOs. edagoodvehicleforinformingthemofthisandmanyotherissues As always, our office is open to provide individual assistance to that will ultimately improve working conditions for our members our members and we encourage you to stop by, call us or send us and the agency as a whole. an e-mail. We are here to serve you. Another little-known fact is that we enjoy close working rela- — Francisco Zamora, USAID VP

AFSA USAID VP Francisco Zamora (left) and USAID Rep Michael Henning at the AFSA Memorial Plaque Ceremony, May 2. USAID FSO John Michael Granville, who was killed in Khartoum, was hon- ored at the ceremony. MIKKELA THOMPSON

60 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009   A AFSA Annual Report 2008 F CONSTITUENCYSUMMARIES S A N Foreign Commercial Service: E A Period of Transition W S he past year was a transition period for We now believe we have have advised management that we believe these FCS AFSA leadership. Both our VP and plans are best implemented at the start of the Trepresentative positions changed hands, established a firm ground review year rather than the end. and there was a gap of several months in the for increased communication We worked on an officer survey earlier in the VP position. The main issue at the AFSAwide year and have consulted informally with man- level was the push to close the overseas pay gap. with management, agement on liberalization of the seven-year rule The director general’s office agreed to be sup- HR personnel and the for domestic tours by new officers. We have a portive of the effort. The legislation to do so is substantiallistofgrievancecases,whicharebeing currently stalled in Congress after nearly pass- incoming administration. workedonbyAFSAlawyers,andwehaveworked ing. to make the senior award, recognition and pay We focused extensively on new work plans process more efficient. Most of these issues are proposed by management and responded to issues raised by pro- continuing into 2009. posed new work plans for nontraditional limited officer positions We now believe wehave established a firm ground for increased inMarketAccessandCompliance,theNationalInstituteofStandards communication with management, human resources personnel and the Patent and Trademark Office. For the new officer plans, and the incoming administration through frequent and regular we amalgamated extensive comments from the field and provid- meetings with HR and the FCS director general. We had an excel- ed them to management, which is now reviewing our comments lent meeting with the president-elect’s transition team at and suggestions. Commerce and plan to push our resource issues with them and Theplansarenecessarytoproperlyreflectnewperformancemea- on the Hill with the new Congress. sures. We expect to move ahead expeditiously on this issue, but — Keith Curtis, FCS VP

Key Years in Foreign Agricultural Service: AFSA’s History A Set of Interesting Issues 1918 American Consular Association was formed. ninteresting,attimessurprising,and howtosetupawiderpoolofpositions,per- 1924 ConsularCorpsandDiplomaticCorps combinedtoformtheForeignService. obviously unfinished set of issues haps by allowing Civil Service employees The ACA reconstituted itself as the Aevents popped up in 2008. toparticipatebyputtingtheirjobsintothe American Foreign ServiceAssociation Contract:Thankstoourstrongteamof poolforat-graderotations. Detailsremain “forthepurposeoffosteringanesprit FASAFSAadvisers,wemadedetailedpro- to be finalized. de corps” among Foreign Service em- posals on 15 articles. However, it now ATO Grievance: Our grievance on the ployees. appears we may decide to focus on just assignment of three Civil Service employ- 1968 AFSA established headquarters at ees to Agricultural Trade Office positions 2101EStreetNWinWashington,D.C. In 2009 the number of returning in the first bidding round has been sub- 1972 AFSA filed for exclusive trade union mitted. The goal is to ensure that man- status for the Foreign Service, com- FSOs will more than double. peting against the American Federa- agement complies with past practices and tionofGovernmentEmployees. State Article 25 — Foreign Service Selection negotiatedproceduresforallassignments. andUSAIDvotedAFSAastheirunion. BoardsandPrecepts—androlltherestof Transition: We look forward to work- 1980 The Foreign Service Act was passed, the contract over for a few more years. ing with, educating and re-educating the incorporatingreformsurgedbyAFSA. Assignment of Returning Officers: The new set of administrators on the impor- 1992 USIA re-established AFSA as its exclu- 2008processworkedfairlywell,butitonly tanceoftheForeignServicetoUSDA’smis- sive representative. hadtoplacesevenreturningFSOs. In2009 sion,aswellasthejoysofadministeringthe 1993 The Foreign Agricultural Service and the number of returning FSOs will more Foreign Service personnel system. theForeignCommercialServicejoined than double. We are therefore discussing — Henry Schmick, FAS VP AFSA.

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 61 A   F AFSA Annual Report 2008 S CONSTITUENCYSUMMARIES A N E International Broadcasting Bureau: W Agreements Reached S fter protracted negotiations, AFSA The new regulations will adiscussionwithIBBonsomeotherFScor- reached agreement with the agency respondentissues,includingthelackofpro- Aon how to make permanent the time ensure that no correspondents motions to the Senior Foreign Service for in class/time in service freeze for current “who were tenured career many years and the grade classifications of Voice of America FS Class 1 correspon- ourpositions. Duringthepastyear,wehave dents. The freeze was put in place about members of the Foreign Service not had any issues regarding our Foreign 10 years ago to ensure that FP-1 corre- as of October 1, 2006” will Service technicians, other than some indi- spondents were not TIC-ed out en masse vidual concerns. for lack of promotion opportunities. The be separated due to TIC or TIS. In December, AFSA President John new regulations will ensure that no corre- Naland and I, along with representatives of spondents “who were tenured career other IBB unions, met with the IBB tran- members of the Foreign Service as of sition team co-leader, and longtime October 1, 2006” will be separated due to TIC or TIS. VOA/IBBofficial,WoodyDemitz,toputourconcerns onthemap AsofJanuary2009,webelieveallissuesandlanguagehavebeen as the new administration prepared to take office. settledandwehopetosigntheMOAchangesverysoon. Thepack- If anyone in the IBB AFSA bargaining unit has any questions age also includes some other changes to the evaluation and pro- or concerns, individual or broad, please feel free to contact me at motion process. [email protected]. As those negotiations draw to a close, we are attemptingto start — Al Pessin, IBB Representative

Retirees: Assistance on a Host of Issues

FSA Retiree Coordinator Bonnie In the future we intend itate more extensive re-employment of Brown provided assistance to retiree annuitants to carry out assignments critical Amembers on more than 350 retiree to focus more and more to the department. benefits issues in 2008. Although members on informing and preparing AFSA President John Naland travelled to had a broad range of issues, they most fre- Florida, Texas, North Carolina and California quently had concerns about FEHBP benefits, active-duty members to meet with Foreign Service retiree associ- annuities, Medicare B and WAE employment. for a smooth retirement. ation members and give interviews to local On the legislative and regulatory side, there media outlets. was no movement in Congress on the AFSA co-sponsored three Job Transition Windfall Elimination Provision and Premium Seminar receptions for retirees with DACOR Conversion legislation. There were, however, some failed efforts attheForeignServiceInstitutein2008. AFSApresentedalunchtime to alter FEHBP benefits that, working with other retiree associ- programduringtheseminar,whereretireesweregiventheoppor- ations, AFSA tracked and brought to the attention of its mem- tunity to ask questions about retirement benefits. bers. In Foreign Service Journal retiree columns and the Retiree We formed a Retiree Task Force, composed of Hank Cohen, Newsletter, Bonnie Brown and I wrote about many of the com- Janice Bay and David Passage and staff members Janet Hedrick, plex issues facing retirees and those approaching retirement. In James Yorke and Bonnie Brown, working under my leadership the future we intend to focus more and more on informing and to increase retiree membership. Retirees need an organization preparing active-duty members for a smooth retirement. like AFSA to “watch our collective backs” and monitor threats Toward that end, the Retiree Newsletter is now being sent elec- to federal benefits in times of financial crisis. tronically to all members 55 and older. The Task Force is also working to develop legislation to facil- — Bill Farrand, Retiree VP

62 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009   A AFSA Annual Report 2008 F S A N AFSA Board of Governors E W Back row, from left: Christopher Tremann (State S Rep), Andrea Tomaszewicz (State Rep), Jonathan Sperling (Retiree Rep), Michael Henning (USAID Rep), Anne Aguilera (State Rep), David Passage (Retiree Rep), Al Pessin (IBB Rep), Sandy Robinson (State Rep) and Henry Schmick (FAS VP).

Front row, from left: Francisco Zamora (USAID VP), John Naland (President), Daphne Titus (State Rep), Susan Malcik (State Rep), Steve Kashkett (State VP), Janice Bay (Retiree Rep), Kathryn Ting (FAS Rep) and Keith Curtis (FCS VP).

Not pictured: Rebecca Balogh (FCS Rep), Hank AUSTIN TRACY Cohen (Retiree Rep), Robert Farrand (Retiree VP), David Firestein (State Rep), F.A. “Tex” Harris (Secretary), Shayna Steinger (State Rep), Elaine Tiang-Chu (State Rep) and Andrew Winter (Treasurer).

The Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board www.afsa.org

AFSA ON THE WEB The total number of visitors to the AFSA Web site con- tinued to surpass the one-million mark in 2008, with each user staying longer and visiting more pages than in previ- ous years. Each month visitors returned to the site, with SHAWN DORMAN consistent favorites being the Foreign Service Journal, From left: Board Chair Ted Wilkinson, George Jones, Jim DeHart, Jeff Giauque, AFSA’s essay contest pages and Inside a U.S Embassy David McFarland, Julie Gianelloni Connor, Governing Board Liaison Al Pessin and Stephen Buck. pages. This year saw an increase in the number of hits on the president and retiree vice president pages. Not pictured: Joseph Bruns, Laurie Kassman and Yvette Malcioln. AFSA sent 65 AFSAnet messages in 2008. The AFSAnet listserv continues to be one of AFSA’s best vehi- cles for reaching members quickly. With 8,485 sub- scribers at year’s end, AFSAnet remains a great way to keep current on issues of concern to the Foreign Service. To sign up, visit www.afsa.org/forms/maillist.cfm.

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 63 A   F AFSA Annual Report 2008 S A Staff N E W Finance and Administration Outreach Programs S - Accounting Public Outreach - Financial - Speakers Bureau Management - Elderhostel - Staff Recruitment - Memorial Plaques & Supervision - Foreign Service Day - Building - Diplomats Online Administration - AFSA Awards - Board and Congressional Affairs RNEC KELLY FRANCESCA

AUSTIN TRACY Committee - Lobbying From left: Controller Kalpna Srimal, Account Assistant Support - Tracking Legislation Cory Nishi. Not pictured: Executive Director - Hill Testimony John Mamone. - Grassroots Campaigns From left: Executive Assistant to the President Austin Tracy, Retiree Affairs Coordinator Bonnie Retiree Services Brown, Director of Communications Tom - Member Inquiries Switzer, USAID Office Manager Ásgeir Sigfússon. - Retiree Newsletter Foreign Service Journal Inset, left: Elderhostel Administrator Janice Bay. - Retiree Directory Inset, right: Legislative Affairs Director Ian - Editing Houston. Not pictured: Professional Issues - Writing Coordinator Barbara Berger. - Design - Advertising - Subscriptions and Sales Member Services - Inside a U.S. Embassy - Member Recruitment

HANS MULDER - Post Reps From left: Editor Steven Alan Honley, Business Manager Alicia Campi, - Insurance Programs AFSA News Editor Francesca Kelly, Associate Editor Shawn Dorman, - Address Changes Advertising & Circulation Manager Ed Miltenberger, Senior Editor - AFSAnet Listserv Susan Maitra. Not pictured: Art Director Caryn Suko Smith. - AFSA Web Site - Member Inquiries - Member Records - Fundraising AUSTIN TRACY Labor-Management From left: Administrative Assistant Ana Lopez, Membership Services - Negotiations Director Janet Hedrick, Membership Representative Michael Laiacona. - Protecting Benefits - Grievance Scholarships Counseling - OIG & DS - Financial Aid Investigations - Merit Awards - Member Inquiries - Art Merit Awards - Informing the - Committee on Education Field AUSTIN TRACY From left: Labor Management Specialist James Yorke, Grievance Attorney Neera Parikh, Labor Management Attorney Zlatana Badrich, General Counsel Sharon Papp, Office Manager Christine Warren, Senior Labor

Management Adviser Doug Broome, Grievance Attorney Holly Rich. SHAWN DORMAN Scholarship Administrator Lori Dec.

64 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009   A AFSA Annual Report 2008 F S Membership by Constituency Membership Participation by Constituency A December 2008 December 2008 N USAID 7.1% E IBB 0.1% FAS 0.8% 100 W S % of Membership Participation 80 85% 75% 68% Retiree 26.4% 60 63%

40

State 63.3% 20 28% FCS 1.2% 23% Associate 1% 0 Retiree IBB FCS FAS State USAID Total Membership 1990 to 2008

14,000 Record High 13,905 Members 13,000

12,000 AUDIT REPORT

11,500 for AFSA AFSA’s audited 11,000 financial statements for 2008 will be 10,500 available on the 10,000 AFSA Web site (www.afsa.org) 9,500 in May. 9,000

8,500 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

2008 Budget in Brief

INCOME ...... $ EXPENSES ...... $ Dues...... 2,621,000 Membership Programs ...... 1,305,789 Foreign Service Journal Advertising...... 560,000 Foreign Service Journal ...... 969,118 Insurance Programs ...... 22,000 Legislative Affairs ...... 157,681 Legislative Action Fund...... 40,000 Professional Programs and Outreach...... 447,711 Other...... 25,500 Scholarships ...... 451,188 Professional Programs and Outreach...... 267,646 Administration ...... 576,844 Scholarships ...... 452,549 Contributions to Endowment and Reserves ...... 80,364 TOTAL ...... 3,988,695 TOTAL ...... 3,988,695

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 65 A   F AFSA Annual Report 2008 S AFSA BY THE NUMBERS IN 2008 A 9 AFSA press releases. N 33 New lifetime members. 65 AFSAnets sent. E 70 AFSA interviews, articles, letters, op-eds published in media nationwide. W 78 Percentage of posts that have an AFSA representative. S 250 Students participating in AFSA’s National High School Essay Contest. 470 AFSA Speaker programs nationwide. 8,485 Subscribers to AFSAnet listserv. 13,905 AFSA members at year’s end. 30,500 Total academic and professional audiences attending AFSA programs nationwide. 37,500 The size in dollars of the donation made to FEEA (with a 100-percent match by FEEA) to pay for the college education of FS children who lost parents in terrorist attacks. 188,274 The amount of scholarship assistance provided to 95 Foreign Service children (in dollars). AFSA Core Values 652,177 The amount of a bequest added to the Martha and George Newman Scholarship (in dollars). THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION Benefits of AFSA Membership Established in 1924. LABOR MANAGEMENT RELATIONS: AFSA LEGALSERVICES: Weofferfreelegaladvice negotiates the regulations affecting employees’ and representation on employment issues, MISSION careers. We work to make the Foreign Service including security and OIG investigations, dis- TomaketheForeignServiceamoreeffec- a better place in which to work, live and raise ciplinecasesandsecurityclearanceproceedings. tive agent of United States international a family. Our network of AFSA post repre- INSURANCEPROGRAMS: Youcanchoose leadership. sentativesprovideson-siteassistancetooverseas amongcompetitivelypricedinsuranceprograms members. designed for the Foreign Service community, CONGRESSIONAL ADVOCACY: AFSA is includingprofessionalliability,long-termcare, VISION youradvocatebeforeCongressonissuesaffect- accident, dental and personal property/transit. We work to make the Foreign Service a ingthecareersofactivemembersandtheannu- AFSASCHOLARSHIPS: Approximately100 better-supported, more respected, more ities of retired members. merit-basedandfinancial-needscholarshipsare satisfyingplaceinwhichtospendacareer OMBUDSMAN: Weworktoresolvemem- granted every year to Foreign Service family and raise a family. berproblemswithpay,allowances,claims,annu- members. Since 1926, AFSA has awarded ities, health care, and many other issues. approximately $4,450,000 in scholarships. VOICE OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE: Asthe AFSA AWARDS: This unique awards pro- — RESPONSIVENESS: We listen to our professional association of the Foreign Service gram honors constructive dissent and out- members and actively promote their since1924,AFSAworkstostrengthenourpro- standing performance. interests. fessionandisevervigilantforthreatstothecareer RETIREE NEWSLETTER: This bimonthly — EFFECTIVENESS: Weactwithasenseof Foreign Service. newsletter is exclusively for retired members. GRIEVANCE REPRESENTATION: AFSA’s DIRECTORY OF RETIRED MEMBERS: This urgency,getresults,andmakeadifference. legal staff provides hands-on assistance with invaluable annual listing, by state, of contact — INTEGRITY: Wedemonstrateopenness, grievanceproceedingswhenyourrightsarevio- informationforretiredmembersisprovidedto honesty,andfairnessineverythingwedo. lated. all retired AFSA members. OUTREACH: AFSAcommunicatestheviews MAGAZINE DISCOUNTS: AFSA members — EFFICIENCY: We carefully expend our of the Foreign Service on professional issues to areeligibleforspecialdiscountsonsubscriptions resourceswheretheycanhavemaximum thenewsmediaanddirectlytothegeneralpub- to major foreign affairs journals. impact. ESPRIT DE CORPS: lic. We work to build a — COMMUNITY: We foster teamwork, FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL: Our senseofcommoncauseandprofessionalpride respect each other, and enjoy our time monthlymagazineoffersprovocativearticlesthat amongallForeignServicemembers:active-duty will keep you current on developments in the andretired;generalistsandspecialists;entry-level together. foreign affairs profession. and senior. — COURAGE: We encourage responsible AFSA NEWS: AFSA’s monthly newsletter, AFSAMEMORIALPLAQUES: Establishedin risk-taking in order to achieve results. insidetheForeignServiceJournal,highlightsissues 1933, and maintained by AFSA, these plaques affecting your daily life. intheTrumanBuildinglobbyhonormembers — PATRIOTISM: We are faithful to the AFSA WEB SITE: Ouronlinememberarea of the Foreign Service who lost their lives over- grand and enduring ideals that gave our includes a member directory and member seas in the line of duty. nation birth. forums. — EMPOWERMENT: We trust each other AFSANET: Regulare-mailupdateskeepyou togiveourbesteffortsguidedbythesecore current on issues of importance to the Foreign Service community. values.

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Unintended Embassy Jakarta’s reporting and analy- pattern in failing to support a British Consequences sis during the period to illuminate pol- initiative to defeat Sukarno’s “Kon- icymakers’ intentions and prejudices, frontasi,” a military policy aimed at Economists with Guns: placing them in the context of the blocking establishment of Malay- Authoritarian Development diplomatic and budgetary challenges sia. and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, posed by the Vietnam War. As Simp- Simpson then gives us a carefully 1960-1968 son explains, the growing costs of that documented but horrifyingly vivid ac- Bradley R. Simpson, Stanford conflict shaped attitudes and options count of the massive 1965-1966 purge University Press, 2008, $48.00, for both the Kennedy and Johnson ad- of Indonesians alleged to be members hardcover, 376 pages. ministrations. At the same time, or supporters of the Communist Party. American commitment to the eco- The U.S. role in this slaughter of hun- REVIEWED BY nomic “modernization” of Indonesia dreds of thousands, and the detention EDMUND MCWILLIAMS ultimately found expression in a deci- of as many or more people for years sion to support a corrupt and brutal under life-threatening conditions, un- Dr. Bradley R. Simpson’s Econo- military. derscores Washington’s willingness mists with Guns: Authoritarian De- The author sets the stage for his ac- throughout the Cold War to abandon velopment and U.S.-Indonesian Rela- count with a well-researched review principle and ignore international law tions, 1960-1968 should be important of Washington’s efforts to dismember in the service of geostrategic objectives. reading for those with foreign policy Indonesia in the late 1950s, an ex- The Central Intelligence Agency’s pro- responsibilities in the new Obama ad- traordinarily ill-conceived and poorly vision of small arms to the local mili- ministration. This exhaustively re- executed misadventure that few tary for the purpose of arming Mus- searched and richly documented his- Americans remember — but few In- lim and nationalist youth engaged in tory of American engagement with donesians have forgotten. He then killing alleged communists constitutes Indonesia during a critical period is a reconstructs the policy considerations but one example of direct complicity cautionary tale about means and ends that led the Kennedy administration in one of the greatest slaughters of the — and unintended consequences. to support Sukarno’s demand that the 20th century. Simpson, an assistant professor of Dutch turn over the western part of The author makes a compelling history and international studies at the island of New Guinea to Indone- case that Washington’s empowerment Princeton University, draws on a hoard sian control. of the Indonesian military to assume of recently declassified U.S. govern- This Cold War–driven calculation control of economic and political insti- ment documents to reconstruct this not only rebuffed a NATO ally, but tutions led directly to its “dual func- detailed history. He closely examines betrayed the democratic aspirations tion” — a direct role in governance Washington’s policy from the perspec- of the local Papuan people. Their that the military remains reluctant to tive of political, security and economic hope for self-rule was ignored and ul- relinquish a decade after the 1998 col- objectives during the turbulent years timately dashed by means of a United lapse of Suharto’s “new order” had re- before and after the violent overthrow Nations-approved, Indonesian-orga- vealed the “myth of developmental of President Sukarno by General nized referendum that was immedi- success and poverty reduction.” Suharto. ately recognized as blatantly fraudu- As the author notes, Indonesians He makes especially effective use of lent. Washington would repeat this “still wrestle with the bitter legacy of

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 69 B OOKS
the choices forged in Jakarta and Wash- Parallel Wars Chris Noble has never forgotten ington during these fateful years.” A that he comes from a New England concluding chapter tracing that legacy The Tragedy of Vietnam, Again family with a long history of social is particularly valuable for policy prac- Christopher Noble, BookSurge, commitment. That tradition began in titioners today, as they review the Bush 2008, $17.99, paperback, 422 pages. the early days of the Massachusetts administration’s embrace of foreign Bay Colony, inspired acts of heroism militaries as partners in “the war on ter- REVIEWED BY DAVE HOWARD during the Revolutionary War, and ror” — even when their subordination continued through distinguished mil- to civilian control, accountability before What influences social responsibil- itary service during World War II and the law and respect for human rights ity, political accountability and indi- the Korean War. Imbued with that are all dubious at best. vidual social commitment? Such legacy of patriotic sacrifice, he spent profound yet practical questions, his formative years attending college Edmund McWilliams, a Foreign Serv- which I suspect most Foreign Service in Iowa, where he also absorbed the ice officer from 1975 to 2001, was po- members ponder throughout their ca- values of the Midwest. litical counselor in Jakarta from 1996 to reers, prompted Christopher Noble Like thousands of other American 1999, and received AFSA’s Christian to write The Tragedy of Vietnam, youngsters at that time, the author Herter Award for constructive dissent Again. This memoir brings together was drafted into the military in 1964 by a Senior FSO in 1998. Since retiring recollections of the myriad individual, and received orders that eventually from the Service, he has volunteered social and political events of the mid- sent him to Vietnam. There, as a with various U.S. and foreign human to-late 1960s that influenced the mind medical platoon leader, Noble aspired rights NGOs. of a sensitive young man. to live up to the connotations of his

70 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009 B OOKS
surname by helping others. At the overwhelming obstacles. Noble also touches on the subject same time, the young medic accepted A quarter-century after complet- of the media that played such a critical a duty to protect himself, his fellow ing his own service in Vietnam, the role during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s soldiers and his supplies at all times, author watched with dismay as Amer- in challenging traditional views of the even when that required using deadly ican troops were ordered to invade Vietnam War and of the Vietnam vet- force. Iraq in 2003. That connection explains eran. In his opinion, today’smedia out- The author explains how he and why I recommend this book so highly lets have surrendered to the political his fellow medics operated in the field to my Foreign Service colleagues, six regime. and recounts the deeds of U.S. sol- years after that war began. And he challenges our national diers who not only saved the lives of Noble raises troubling but impor- leaders’ reasons for supporting (or op- fellow soldiers but those of the enemy. tant questions about the visibility and posing) the Iraq War, and the credibil- He places a great deal of emphasis on effectiveness of the “do-gooders” in ity of their commitment to supporting the camaraderie that forms among our country. Where is this genera- and caring for its veterans. soldiers on the battlefield. tion’s version of the street protesters As his memoir’s title implies, he Along the way, Noble describes the who rocked cities with outcries draws a series of disturbing parallels daily rigors of army life with colorful against the Vietnam War? What pa- between the two conflicts — evidence interjections of humor. There are also triotism do we display other than that some things never change. I inspirational stories about overcoming “Support Your Troops” bumper stick- fear, as well as horrific battle scenes in ers on the random vehicle? In short, Dave Howard, an FSO since 2004, is which he and his comrades endure in- whatever happened to social respon- currently a financial management offi- sane conditions and must overcome sibility? cer in Bangkok.

MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 71 REAL ESTATE

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MARCH 2009/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 75 REFLECTIONS

Precious Time

BY JOHN K. NALAND

othing concentrates the mind the pre-deployment training available like getting an assignment to I am very much to me — including the 3.5 hours (yes, Nan unaccompanied post. A aware that every hours) of Arabic-language training that friend who served in Baghdad several is apparently deemed sufficient to lead years ago told me that she was happy day counts. a Provincial Reconstruction Team in to deploy with only three months’ ad- Iraq. vance notice (“less time to worry”). I,
Because I have always made time on the other hand, was glad to have for my family, there is no need for me my assignment confirmed a full year to radically increase the amount of at- in advance. I am set to transfer to the impact on my family, I enthusiasti- tention that I show them. But I am Basra, Iraq, in June. cally accepted. A zillion stories have very much aware that every day My first priority was to take care of been done in recent years about uni- counts. Brief R&R visits aside, I am my family, which will remain behind in formed military families left behind, so going to miss one year of my marriage, our Arlington, Va., house. I certainly I thought it was high time that the one year of my daughters’ grade- do not doubt my wife’s ability to man- Foreign Service got some recognition. school education and a significant per- age our home, our two young daugh- A team came out to our house one centage of my dog’s lifespan (he, ters and loyal dog during my yearlong Monday morning (after, as you might unfortunately, will have no idea why, absence. Over the years, Barbara has imagine, my wife and I spent the en- one day, I stop coming home). been in the Foreign Service and the tire weekend cleaning up the place). Of course, I will be with my family Civil Service, and has worked as a fam- The producer walked into our World in spirit and intend to call and e-mail ily member in embassy Part-Time, In- War II–era Colonial and said, “Let’s frequently. But it will not be the same termittent, Temporary positions. So film a family scene in the kitchen.” as being there. My family understands she knows her way around the bureau- But as soon as he saw that postage- and accepts the reasons why I have cracy and is plenty resilient. stamp-sized room, he immediately volunteered for this major dislocation But why leave her with, for exam- said, “Well, how about if we film in the in our intertwined lives. I just hope ple, a 25-year-old cooling system that dining room?” that the personal cost is balanced by could give up the ghost any day (most Given that accurate assessment of my being able to do some good where likely in mid-August)? So I resolved the limitations of our old kitchen, my I am headed. to do as much as I could to get our wife and I resolved to plunge ahead on I also hope that more Americans house into shape before I departed. the major remodeling job that we had come to recognize the sacrifices being I recently learned another reason talked about ever since we bought our made by today’s Foreign Service fam- behind my maintenance impulse: Ac- house 10 years earlier. If you have ilies in this new era of widespread un- cording to the Myers-Briggs gurus, my ever dealt with a contractor on a major accompanied tours. Toward that end, type (INTJ) responds to stress by remodeling, then you know that it is a maybe CNN could return next win- seeking to impose order on the world. very involved process that takes your ter to interview my family while I CNN also played a key role in fix- mind off all your other concerns for am gone. If so, our kitchen will be ing up our house. Soon after I volun- months on end. ready. I teered for Iraq, the fact that the AFSA Our renovation is now complete, so president had taken that step was re- I am starting to focus on other aspects John K. Naland, an FSO since 1986, is ported in the media. When the net- of preparing for my upcoming unac- president of the American Foreign work called asking to do a story about companied tour. I have signed up for Service Association.

76 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL/MARCH 2009