Welcome to the FAS page of the AFSA website. I look forward to working closely with the membership to establish priorities and set an ambitious agenda for the next two years. There is a lot of activity within the Agency that involves AFSA and our members' concerns. My number one priority is to ensure that this is a membership-driven process. While I know AFSA can't do everything, with your involvement I am confident we can make a difference.

You may e-mail me at david.mergen@fas.usda.gov. The FAS representative on the AFSA governing board is Andrew Burst; he is available at andrew.burst@fas.usda.gov. Please feel free to get int ouch with us at any time.

Please check this page frequently for recent updates and helpful links as well as general information regarding our work.

Visit the Foreign Agricultural Service web page.

• Message on OCP, August 30 2011
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Lateral Entry Process
• Fact Sheet on Locality Pay
• Performance Management
• Results of FAS-AFSA Human Capital Survey (pdf)
• Selection Boards and Promotions

Please click here to read the frequently asked questions.

• Linking U.S. Agriculture to the World (April 2012)
• A Year of Transition and Challenges/Annual Report Message (March 2012)
• Rising to the Challenges (June 2011)
• Foreign Service Bumper Stickers (April 2011)
• To Boldly Go and Justify/Annual Report Message (March 2011)
• Revise the Expiration Date and Throw Out the System (December 2010)
• Train and Retain (October 2010)
• Up or Out: Back to the Future (Part Three) (July-August 2010)
• Up or Out: The Theory (Part Two) (May 2010)
• Up or Out: The Five-Stars (Part One) (April 2010)
• 2009 AFSA Annual Report Message (March 2010)
• Been There, Done That - No FAS Assimilation Into State, Please (December 2009)
• Mission Cleavage (September 2009)
• Why FAS Adopted the Foreign Service System (March 2009)

• Leadership Skills
• Management Effectiveness
• Operational Effectiveness
• Interpersonal Skills
• Communication/Collaboration Skills
• Development Continuum (doc)
• Managers as Mentors (doc)
• Mentoring 101

• FAS Performance and Budget Integration Plan [pdf] [MS Word doc]
• FAS Annual Performance Plan (PDF)
• www.governmentleaders.org
• www.fas.usda.gov