PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION NOVEMBER 2013 IN THEIR OWN WRITE BOOKS BY FOREIGN SERVICE AUTHORS WORKERS’ COMP AND THE FS THE TYRANNY OF NUMBERS FOREIGN November 2013 SERVICE Volume 90, No. 11 AFSA NEWS AFSA Holds Rally Against U.S. Government Shutdown / 49 VP Voice State: Union Democratic Governance—A Legacy Worth Preserving / 50 VP Voice Retiree: A New Approach to WAE Hiring / 51 VP Voice FCS: Challenges, New Developments and Progress / 52 AFSA in Action / 52 AFSA On the Hill: Non-Stop Advocacy—Not Just a Slogan / 53 AFSA’s Annual Audit: 2012 / 54 Coalition Protests Government Lockout / 54 FOCUS In Their Own Write AFSA Announces 2014 National High School Essay Contest: How Did Diplomacy Matter? / 55 Books by Foreign Service Authors / 19 Deputy Secretary of State Burns We are pleased to present this year’s roundup of books Visits AFSA / 55 by members of the Foreign Service community. Our Road Scholar Collaboration / 56 BY SUSAN B. MAITRA Dissent: Nominate a Colleague or Yourself / 56 Active After Active-Duty: Of Related Interest / 34 Former FSO Makes the Here is a short listing of books of interest to diplomats that Most of Her 105 Years / 57 have not been written by Foreign Service members. Sinclaire Awards Deadline / 58 COLUMNS President’s Views / 7 Due Process and FEATURE the Collective Good The Tyranny of Numbers / 45 BY ROBERT J. SILVERMAN Speaking Out / 16 Performance metrics are an excellent management control tool. Keeping Faith with State’s But to confine one’s attention to columns of numbers is naïve, Wounded Warriors if not downright dangerous. BY JULIET WURR BY CHARLES RAY Reflections / 73 Libyan Reflections BY WILLIAM V. ROEBUCK DEPARTMENTS Letters / 9 Talking Points / 11 In Memory / 60 Statement of Ownership / 72 Local Lens / 74 MARKETPLACE Classifieds / 66 On the cover: Bookshopping: iStock/Mie Ahmt Real Estate / 69 Index to Advertisers / 70 THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2013 5 FOREIGN SERVICE Editor Steven Alan Honley: [email protected] Senior Editor Susan Brady Maitra: [email protected] Associate Editor Shawn Dorman: [email protected] CONTACTS AFSA Headquarters: LABOR MANAGEMENT AFSA News Editor (202) 338-4045; Fax (202) 338-6820 General Counsel Donna Ayerst: [email protected] State Department AFSA Office: Sharon Papp: [email protected] Ad & Circulation Manager (202) 647-8160; Fax (202) 647-0265 Deputy General Counsel Ed Miltenberger: [email protected] USAID AFSA Office: Zlatana Badrich: [email protected] (202) 712-1941; Fax (202) 216-3710 Labor Management Specialist Art Director FCS AFSA Office: James Yorke: [email protected] Caryn Suko Smith (202) 482-9088; Fax (202) 482-9087 Labor Management Counselor Vacant Editorial Intern GOVERNING BOARD Senior Staff Attorney Valerie Sanders President: Neera Parikh: [email protected] Robert J. Silverman;[email protected] Advertising Intern Staff Attorney Secretary: Angela Dickey: [email protected] Tom van der Stelt Raeka Safai: [email protected] Treasurer: Hon. Charles A. Ford; [email protected] Staff Attorney Editorial Board State Vice President: Andrew Large: [email protected] Jim DeHart, Chairman Matthew K. Asada; [email protected] Executive Assistant Hon. Gordon S. Brown USAID Vice President: Elizabeth Lee: [email protected] Stephen W. Buck Sharon Wayne; [email protected] USAID Senior Labor Management Adviser Ruth Hall FCS Vice President: Douglas Broome: [email protected] Maria C. Livingston Steve Morrison; [email protected] USAID Staff Assistant Richard McKee FAS Vice President: Chioma Dike: [email protected] Beth Payne David Mergen; [email protected] John G. Rendeiro Jr. Retiree Vice President: MEMBER SERVICES Duncan Walker Lawrence Cohen; lawrencecohenassociates@ Member Services Director Tracy Whittington hotmail.com Janet Hedrick: [email protected] Clayton Bond (AFSA Governing Board liaison) State Representatives: Member Services Representative Clayton Bond Kristy Pomes: [email protected] Everett “Alex” Copher Administrative Assistant and Office Manager THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS Todd Crawford Ana Lopez: [email protected] PROFESSIONALS Chuck Fee The Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 E Ken Kero-Mentz COMMUNICATIONS, MARKETING AND Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is published OUTREACH monthly, with a combined July-August issue, by the Elise Mellinger American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), a private, Nancy Rios-Brooks Director of Communications nonprofit organization. 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Executive Director Javier Cuebas: [email protected] Ian Houston: [email protected] Legislative Assistant Postmaster: Send address changes to Executive Assistant to the President David Murimi: [email protected] AFSA Patrick Bradley: [email protected] Scholarship Director Attn: Address Change Lori Dec: [email protected] 2101 E Street NW BUSINESS DEPARTMENT Scholarship Assistant Washington DC 20037-2990 Director of Finance Jonathan Crawford: [email protected] Femi Oshobukola: [email protected] Controller Kalpna Srimal: [email protected] Assistant Controller Cory Nishi: [email protected] www.afsa.org 6 NOVEMBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Due Process and the Collective Good BY ROBERT J. SILVERMAN n my initial courtesy calls on several organization to play both roles, but AFSA systems designed for the collective good senior State Department officials, a is not unique. The Screen Actors Guild, work properly in practice. If an indi- common theme went something like for example, is also both, though its award vidual grievance causes management to Ithis: “Why did you AFSA guys repre- ceremony is more elaborate than ours. rethink a policy or process, perhaps that sent an individual in case x, when his The National Education Association is is a sign that it needs to be tweaked— interests went against the common good another example of a dual-hatted entity. not done away with. of your membership? How do you recon- The harder part to dismiss is that of If a conflict of interest would arise cile the roles of professional association a possible conflict of interest between between AFSA’s obligations to the col- and labor union?” individual representation and the col- lective bargaining unit or its members, These are serious questions, ones that lective good. For instance, management and an individual’s right of redress, AFSA lead me to offer the following observa- alleges that AFSA filed and won a griev- lawyers would refer the individual to tions about our organization’s dual roles, ance on behalf of individual members outside counsel. Luckily, our lawyers and about the dynamic between indi- undergoing a State Department inves- and outside counsel have both assured vidual rights and the collective good. On tigative process, and these victories me that such situations are rare. But I a lighter note, I’ll end with a quiz about prompted State to reconsider the process appreciate hearing of them. the Foreign Service. intended to benefit a wider group of And now for the quiz! Please reply to The easiest part of management’s Foreign Service members. me at the e-mail address below with your complaint to dismiss is the idea that The other side of the story comes answers. The first five respondents who AFSA’s roles as professional association from AFSA’s lawyers. They focus on the answer at least three of the questions and labor union are in conflict. As a due process rights of the individual, and correctly will receive AFSA’s handsome, union, AFSA represents the interests of if it appears there has been an abuse or industrial-size coffee mug. the Foreign Service collective bargaining failure to comply with existing rules, they • Name the author of the Long unit, which is comprised of all FS mem- assist the member in seeking redress Telegram who was also an editor of The bers except certain management offi- through established forums, such as the Foreign Service Journal in the 1940s. cials. The bargaining unit also happens Foreign Service Grievance Board. But • Which of the following is the closest to contain nearly all members of our that redress is limited to the correction of to the correct ratio in today’s Foreign Ser- professional association. Many manage- individual problems, and is not intended vice between generalists and specialists: ment officials are AFSA members active to overturn systems and processes that (a) 70/30 (b) 60/40 (c) 50/50 (d) 40/60? in the professional association.