AFSA FCS Vice President Update August 22, 2006 AFSAnet

AFSA FCS Vice President Update: August 22, 2006
1. Request for Mid-term Proposals Fall 06 AFSA FCS has received an extension on the deadline for submitting mid-term proposals for Fall 2006 until September 30. Your suggestions/proposals urgently needed. Management just responded after 11 months to the Fall 05 midterms and, believe it or not, there appears to be some progress on the number one issue. AFSA and management are still debating about the negotiability of the Spring 06 midterms. 2. Profile of FCS and FCS AFSA Members As your Vice President, I assume the responsibility for keeping a fully accurate list of all FCS officers and AFSA members and doing at least an annual update. Here are the results of the mid-August 2006 update (tally unofficial): We FCS (U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service) have a total of 245 officers, of which 227 career and 18 limited appointments [the latter include mainly an increasing number of representatives from other ITA and Commerce units such as trade policy & compliance (MAC), export controls (BIS), and intellectual property (PTO), as well as three officers with AIT (Taiwan)]. Of the 227 career officers, 167 are AFSA members (74 percent). Among the 227 career officers, there are 35 Senior Foreign Service (SFS) officers and 192 non-SFS officers. Among SFS officers of 27 men and 8 women, there are 12 MC and above and 23 OC, with 8 serving domestically and 27 overseas. 86 percent of SFS officers are AFSA members (30/35). Among the 192 non-SFS officers, there are (again unofficial tally) 52 FS-1s, 55 FS-2s, 35 FS-3s, and 50 FS-4s, with the latter including the most-recently hired entry-level officers. Of the 192, there are 162 serving overseas and 30 serving in domestic assignments (of which 23 in Export Assistance Centers in Domestic Operations field offices, 4 in HQ, and 3 in language training at the moment). 71 percent of non-SFS officers are AFSA members (137/192). Among new recruits at the FS-4 level (which includes of course non-tenured officers), there has been a very high proportion of women inducted into the service.