AFSANET: State VP update on summer 2009 assignments, new LNA regs, vacancy on AFSA Governing Board

This is an update from AFSA State Vice President Steve Kashkett covering a number of recent developments of concern to State members of the Foreign Service.

Iraq/Afghanistan Assignment Cycle
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AFSA has been in frequent contact with senior Department officials concerning the procedures for the upcoming summer 2009 assignment cycle, and we look forward to negotiations, where appropriate, and more discussions with our senior interlocutors in HR in the near future. In letters to the Director General, the AFSA Governing Board has set forth a blueprint for filling all positions in Iraq and Afghanistan with willing and qualified volunteers. We continue to believe that here remains a large pool of Foreign Service members prepared to come forward to serve in the two war zones and that - as was the case for the past five years - there will be no need for an identification process.   We also look forward to working closely with Department management to avoid the unnecessary, misleading, and ill-informed media commentary on Iraq assignments that occurred last fall.

Vacancy for DS Member on AFSA Governing Board
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The American Foreign Service Association is looking for an active-duty member serving in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security who is interested in becoming one of the State Department reps on the AFSA Governing Board for one year, until summer 2009. We have an unexpected vacancy as a result of the departure of one of our current elected State reps, who is a DS Agent transferring to an overseas assignment. Given the size of our DS constituency and the importance of security-related issues facing the Foreign Service, we would very much like to fill this vacancy with another DS officer.

This is an opportunity for a DS member to become a full voting member of the Governing Board and to help guide AFSA’s position and AFSA’s efforts on some of the major challenges confronting the Foreign Service, including Iraq/Afghanistan staffing, conditions of work in combat zones, overseas comparability pay, hardship service requirements, proposed changes in the assignments system, bidding procedures, EER/promotion matters, allowances, security clearance concerns, family member employment overseas, and many other issues. (These also include matters specifically impacting DS agents, such as fitness for duty regulations, LEO certification, LEAP issues). The DS member of the Governing Board also has the opportunity to participate in AFSA’s recruitment luncheons for newly hired FS Specialists, including all of those
entering DS.

You must be assigned to the Washington area to serve on the AFSA Governing Board.   The required time commitment is minimal - the Board meets just once a month at lunchtime on the first Wednesday of each month - but the rewards are substantial. Board members can play role in focusing AFSA on issues of particular interest to them and have the
opportunity to get involved in special projects and activities, if they wish. This is your chance to have a voice in determining the future of the Foreign Service.

Interested DS candidates should send a statement of interest and a brief career bio to Christine Warren at: WarrenC@state.gov .

New Regs on Limited Non-Career Appointments
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Members will recall that AFSA filed an institutional grievance in the fall of 2006 after the Department had appointed someone from outside the Foreign Service to a key SFS position in Brussels without allowing proper competition from interested Foreign Service candidates, as required by State Open Assignments agreement with AFSA. The Director
General at that time, Ambassador George Staples, settled the grievance with AFSA by agreeing that AFSA and Department management would renegotiate the rules that govern limited appointments of people from outside the Foreign Service to overseas positions. We have now completed that task, and the new regulations for Limited Non-Career
Appointments (LNA’s) will be published soon as 3 FAM 2220.

The new rules spell out the circumstances under which the Director General can consider LNA’s and impose new requirements on Department management to ensure that such appointments generally only occur when
there is no available Foreign Service candidate.   With few exceptions, this means genuinely hard-to-fill positions that have no bidders.

In the case of new or unexpected “exceptional circumstance” vacancies overseas, the Department is now required to advertise such positions by ALDAC cable, Dept Notice, and FSBid (for positions not previously posted on FSBid) for at least 15 working days. Only if no suitable FS employee comes forward can the DG then consider candidates from outside the Foreign Service. In such instances, the DG must provide AFSA with a signed Certificate of Need documenting the measures that were taken to find a suitable FS member for the job, the reasons why any FS bidder was not deemed suitable, and why a particular non-FS candidate possessed the right qualifications.

We are confident that these new regulations will ensure fairness and prevent abuses.

Overseas Pay Gap
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AFSA President John Naland has sent out numerous AFSANET messages to keep our membership informed of AFSA’s ongoing efforts to persuade Congress and the Administration to move forward with a long-overdue solution to the deepening inequity between the base salaries of FS members serving overseas and all other federal government employees in domestic positions. I would just like to offer praise and gratitude to two of the Foreign Service’s key friends in Congress, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), who on April 29 circulated an important letter to their colleagues in the House of Representatives in which they articulately and persuasively argue for passage of legislation that would authorize overseas comparability pay. A copy of this letter can be found at:
http://www.afsa.org/congress/dearColleague.pdf .

I would also draw State members’ attention to my last column in the Foreign Service Journal, entitled “Overseas Pay Disparity: Debunking the Myths”. This column (which can be viewed online at http://www.afsa.org/fsj/May08/afsa_news.pdf ), read along with the Smith/Payne letter, helps to clarify the arguments that we all should be using to fight this battle.

Foreign Service Journal Reader Survey
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Since the Foreign Service Journal began publication in 1919 as The Consular Bulletin, it has undergone numerous changes in design and content. The 2008 Reader Survey is your chance to give us your views on AFSA's flagship publication and how it is meeting your needs today. The survey contains 44 questions and should only require about 10 minutes to complete. To take the survey, please go to the following link:

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB227RRSTWU9R

All responses are anonymous and will only be used to improve the coverage and format of the magazine. Results will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal.

Thanks in advance for your participation!

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