AFSA President's Update

1. Greetings from AFSA President John Naland. Here is what we are working on at AFSA headquarters. As always, I welcome your comments or suggestions at naland@afsa.org.

2. AFSA continues to push hard for pay modernization. Since my October 4 update message, we have made progress in securing the support of a key lawmaker. Also, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), a member of the House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, have formally joined the cause with co-sponsorship of bi-partisan legislation advancing a solution to the problem. Also as part of our fall push campaign to keep momentum moving forward, AFSA’s Director of Legislative Affairs Ian Houston has visited with the offices of 22 House and Senate lawmakers sitting on key authorizing and appropriating subcommittees. AFSA also mobilized former AFSA Presidents and Chairmen (17 names going back nearly 40 years) to sign a strong and unified message of support to key decision-makers in Congress.

3. Still, enabling legislation has not yet begun to move. Because Congress five years ago stopped the practice of passing bi-annual State Department authorization bills, we have no standing legislative vehicle to attach our provision to. We are pushing hard for a mini-authorization bill, but do not yet have bi-partisan agreement in both chambers of Congress. Alternatively, there remains an outside possibility that the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees will act on pay modernization as a single stand-alone measure.

4. On October 2, I wrote to Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte asking him to personally weigh in with key lawmakers to support ending the overseas pay disparity and expanding Foreign Service staffing. As your elected representative, I made the same request to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at our July 26 meeting. In an October 16 reply, Ambassador Negroponte affirmed that "both Foreign Service Compensation Reform and the Department's need for additional personnel are high on my priority list." He pledged to "engage Congressional leadership on both issues at an appropriate opportunity." AFSA welcomes such high-level engagement as we remain convinced that Congress will not act unless top State Department leaders weigh in with key lawmakers.

5. On the vital issue of funding for international engagement, despite the steadily growing deficit between the State Department’s and USAID’s missions and the resources available to carry out those missions, the President’s FY-08 budget request continues to make its way through the Congressional appropriations process at a level below request. For example, prospects are uncertain for funding the State Department’s FY-08 requested 254 additional positions. That comes on top of Congressional refusal to fund 221 additional positions in FY-06 and 100 positions in FY-07 to narrow worldwide staffing gaps.

6. The magnitude of current staffing shortfalls is astounding. A blue-ribbon report released on October 15 by the Center for Strategic & International Studies cites a State Department estimate that the Foreign Service is currently 1,015 positions short of what is required to staff existing positions (as documented by State’s rigorous staffing models). In addition, the CSIS report documents the immediate need for an additional 1,079 Foreign Service positions to meet expanded training and related needs. Thus, today’s deficit is 2,094 Foreign Service positions. Consider that figure along side the total of 11,500 current Foreign Service positions at State.

7. Actually, 2,094 was last week’s deficit. A report just presented to Secretary Rice by a team led by Ambassador Patrick F. Kennedy urges the Administration to seek immediate funding for an additional 100 Diplomatic Security Special Agent positions in order to beef up DS staffing in Iraq without stripping other missions of their security resources.

8. AFSA continues to urge the Administration to make it a top priority to obtain additional staffing resources for diplomacy. One would think that, at the very least, seeking $50 million to backfill the 270 Foreign Service positions currently in Iraq would be a totally defensible request. The same is true for seeking funding for at least 100 student positions for Arabic language training conducted by the Foreign Service Institute. Ditto for the additional 100 DS Special Agents.

9. While the pending $45.9 billion Iraq supplemental funding request might be an appropriate vehicle to seek funding for these Iraq-related positions, that one-time money could not pay to maintain the positions in future years. Thus, we return to the still-pending FY-08 State Department budget request. AFSA urges the Administration to make the strongest possible push in the coming weeks for Congress to use that bill to fund urgently needed staffing.

10. State is in the process of surveying a sample of 4000 retirees about services provided by the Retirement Accounts Division (RAD) and Retirement Office (HR/RET). The survey - which takes about 15 minutes to complete - asks retirees to assess how the department has responded to their written and telephone requests for information and assistance, took action on their retirement accounts and provided retirement counseling. If you received a survey, please take the time to fill it out. Your answers will not only help the department improve its services, but also help AFSA improve its advocacy on the behalf of retirees.

11. Over 3,300 active duty State members have already taken the quick online opinion survey that AFSA State Vice President Steve Kashkett launched two weeks ago. Active duty State members who have not taken it yet are urged to do so.

12. The survey asks for opinions on vital issues on which AFSA is engaged. These issues range from Iraq service to overseas comparability pay to concerns about promotions, political appointees, and family-friendliness in the Foreign Service. The quick, easy, web-based survey contains only 21 mostly multiple-choice questions and can be completed in just a few minutes. Its purpose is to give you a vehicle to tell us your concerns and to guide us on how best to represent you on the main issues confronting our profession in our discussions and negotiations with Department management.

13. AFSA will award $138,400 in Financial Aid Scholarships in 2007/08. In mid-August, we sent the first disbursement of need-based scholarships totaling $69,200 to the universities of the 52 undergraduate college students AFSA is funding in the 2007/08 school year. These monies went to assist students in paying their fall 2007 semester expenses. The remaining $69,200 will be sent in December to help defray student's spring 2008 semester expenses.

14. AFSA scholarship applications for the 2008/09 school year (need-based scholarships and merit awards) will be available November 1. The web site gives all the eligibility details. The scholarship application deadline is Feb. 6, 2008. Any questions can be directed toward Lori Dec, AFSA Scholarship Director at dec@afsa.org or 202-944-5504.

15. AFSA has two non-profit funds that federal employees can make a CFC gifts to:

-- AFSA Scholarship Fund (CFC #11759): In 2007, the AFSA Scholarship Fund provided need-based undergraduate scholarships to 52 Foreign Service kids totaling $138,400 along with providing $28,500 in Academic and Art Merit awards to 25 Foreign Service high school seniors. The overhead of the AFSA Scholarship Program is 10%. AFSA Financial Aid Scholarships range from $1,500- $3,500 and Merit Awards range from $500-$1,500. Your support stays in the Foreign Service community. Go to http://www.afsa.org/scholar for complete details.

-- Fund for American Diplomacy (CFC #10646): The Fund for American Diplomacy (FAD) is AFSA's public education arm. We explain to high schoolers, college students, business leaders, senior citizens, media, etc. just how critical U.S. diplomacy and the Foreign Service are to America's national security and economic prosperity. Our speakers’ bureau, high school essay contest, and best selling book "Inside a U.S. Embassy" are just a few examples of the grassroots programs we offer. FAD's overhead expenses are only 7.3 percent. Go to http://www.afsa.org/CFCFAD.cfm for complete details.

16. The November issue of the Foreign Service Journal is out. Its cover story, "In Their Own Write," spotlights new books by Foreign Service-affiliated authors, continuing an annual FSJ tradition dating back to 2000. Feature articles include Ambassador (ret.) Chas W. Freeman Jr.'s analysis of "Can American Leadership Be Restored?" and a USAID member's call for "A Marshall Plan for Latin America." The issue also contains a handy FS Know-How column, "Mail Handling Tips," a column by AFSA’s retiree coordinator about the mechanics of survivor annuities, and a timely “Speaking Out” column by Ambassador (ret.) David Passage contrasting his Vietnam War-era CORDS program experiences with that of colleagues today in Iraq.