Here is your update from USAID Vice President Francisco Zamora. Please send any comments and questions to fzamora@usaid.gov.

Holiday Wishes: This will be the last message from us here at the AFSA/USAID office this year. You will be hearing much more from us in the New Year, including the results of the recent member survey. We anticipate offering a public presentation of the results for those who are interested, and they will also be detailed in the February edition of the Foreign Service Journal. In the meantime, we wish you all a peaceful holiday season, and hope that you will find some time to spend with loved ones as you reflect on the year about to end, and look forward to the new year ahead of us.

The New Vanguard Is Out : The December issue of The Vanguard is now out and ready for your perusal. This month’s edition includes a close look at the recent HELP Commission report on U.S. foreign assistance, a member-contributed article on the current state of affairs at USAID, and some positive success stories from the field.

Welcome : AFSA offers an official welcome to new USAID Administrator Henrietta Holsman Fore, who was sworn into her new position this morning at the Reagan Building, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in attendance. AFSA looks forward to a fruitful working relationship with the new Administrator and her staff.

Holiday Attendance : While we always welcome visitors here in the AFSA office, located in RRB 2.10-C, we may become a bit hard to find over the peak holiday period. I will be away from December 17 through January 2, but I will always be available by e-mail at fzamora@usaid.gov, which I check frequently. Senior Labor Management Advisor Doug Broome will be away until the beginning of the new year, and Asgeir Sigfusson will be away from December 17 through January 7. If you have any urgent issues and cannot get in touch with any of us, please contact the main AFSA office at 202-338-4045. The AFSA staff roster is available here: http://www.afsa.org/staff/.