1. Condolences: AFSA joins the entire Agency in mourning the deaths of Margaret Alexander, USAID Deputy Director in Nepal, and Dr. Bijnan Acharya, a USAID environmental officer, in a tragic helicopter crash late last month.

Read AFSA statement on death of AFSA member Margaret Alexander and USAID employee Dr. Bijnan Acharya (no registration required): http://www.afsa.org/press_release092806.cfm

2. Blog Success: I was very pleased to see the positive and enthusiastic response to my initial blog. We had many responses to the Lafayette Federal Credit Union issue, overwhelmingly against the proposed conversion. While there is no news to report yet on this issue, it is immensely helpful to have such a sense of the membership as we deal with any fallout – positive or negative – from this action. I urge you to keep visiting the blog at www.afsa.org/usaid (click on the blog link at the top of the page) and please keep commenting. Letting us and others know how you feel about current issues at USAID is very helpful. Look out for a new blog posting on the Manage-to-Budget initiative, which will also be the subject of my inaugural VP Voice column in the October Foreign Service Journal. In addition, we will create a blog on the current assignment cycle now that the Major Listing of Positions is out.

3. Major Listing is Out: For those of you who are eligible, the USAID Foreign Service Assignment System (2007), Major Listing of Positions is now available. The deadline for submission of bids using the EBF (Employee Bidding Form) is October 16, 2006. Full instructions on bidding are available in the General Notice which came out on September 25, 2006. However, if you have any questions or comments just send me an e-mail or post a comment on our new blog. Good luck with your assignment!

4. Welcome to our New AFSA Representative: I want to formally welcome Michael Henning, who arrived from Sarajevo last week, to our AFSA family. Mike was recently director of the Democracy Office at USAID/Bosnia-Herzegovina. He will be assigned to the PPC/Policy office based at the State Department working out of the F Bureau for USAID. He will be attending his first AFSA Board meeting this week. We all thank Mike for volunteering to be the USAID AFSA Rep and look forward to working with him for your benefit.

5. The Cycle is Complete: The 2005-2006 ratings period has come to an end with the announcement of promotions into and within the Senior Foreign Service. It goes without saying that AFSA heartily congratulates all those who have reached this milestone. We have posted the list on our web site – simply go to http://www.afsa.org/USAID/SFSpromotions06.cfm.

6. Catching Up on the News: Some items that may interest you.

a) Congress is working on the ’07 federal pay raise.
b) New (and better?) health benefits for feds.
c) More on this subject.
d) See who makes the TSP run smoothly.
e) News on the administration’s workforce reforms.
f) What’s Karen Hughes up to these days?
g) Unions not happy with private sector bidding on federal work.
h) More on pay-for-performance.

7. Federal Employees and Political Activity: Now that the November elections are near, it is prudent to remind everyone of what sort of political activity federal employees are allowed to participate in, and also what they should refrain from doing. Problems arising from this occur every election year. Please read the Hatch Act for clarification of the rules. You can read the act right here: http://www.afsa.org/StateVP/politicalactivity.cfm.

8. New USAID Regulations: We know these regulations change often, and it’s hard to keep track. We do urge you to read the Agency notices on changes in two important regulations. One concerns the use of sick leave to care for a family member, while the other pertains to business class travel regulations. The former can be found in the notice section for September 28, while the latter was issued on September 29.

9. The Journal is in the Mail: The October issue of the Foreign Service Journal will be published this week. The focus subject is public diplomacy – not exactly a boring topic these days. My first VP Voice column is in this issue, and we will add it to our web page (www.afsa.org/usaid) as soon as it becomes available. As always, if you are not getting your Journal, please update your address at http://www.afsa.org/comment.cfm.