AFSANET: AFSA welcome message for Secretary-designate Clinton; Memorandum to State Transition Team

AFSANET: AFSA welcome message for Secretary-designate Clinton; Memorandum to State Transition Team
December 12, 2008

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1. This message is from AFSA State Vice President Steve Kashkett.

2. On December 10, AFSA issued the following Press Release welcoming the nomination of Senator Hillary Clinton to become the next Secretary of State.

3. BEGIN TEXT OF PRESS RELEASE:

On behalf of the 11,500 men and women of the U.S. Foreign Service assigned to the Department of State and to our embassies and consulates worldwide, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) warmly welcomes the nomination of Senator Hillary Clinton to be the next Secretary of State. We and our members look forward to working closely with the new Secretary to strengthen American diplomacy and to create a Foreign Service adapted to the demands and challenges of the 21st Century.

The next Secretary of State will oversee a Foreign Service that is in the forefront of U.S. efforts to combat terrorism, poverty, climate change, and HIV/AIDS; to promote democracy, trade, and respect for human rights; to assist U.S. citizens abroad and ensure that foreigners seeking entry into our country have legitimate reason to do so; to defuse foreign conflicts; and to defend U.S. interests in our management of bilateral and multilateral relations. The Foreign Service will provide Secretary-designate Clinton with wide-ranging, hands-on expertise in every area of foreign policy.

At the same time, we look forward to collaborating with Secretary-designate Clinton to develop management policies that address the concerns of our professional diplomats, who now spend the vast majority of their careers serving at dangerous hardship posts, including our two largest diplomatic missions in active war zones.

(END TEXT OF PRESS RELEASE)

4. Copied below is the text of a memorandum that AFSA delivered to the Transition Team at State. This memorandum, entitled “Foreign Service Priorities for the New Administration,” outlines the top, State-specific concerns that our State membership has conveyed to AFSA to put on the radar screen of the new Secretary of State. The memorandum was signed by AFSA President John Naland and AFSA State Vice President Steve Kashkett.

5. BEGIN TEXT OF MEMORANDUM TO TRANSITION TEAM AT STATE:

On behalf of the American Foreign Service Association and the 14,000 active-duty and retired Foreign Service members whom we represent, we welcome you back to the Department of State. As the statutory labor union for the Foreign Service, AFSA directly negotiates the conditions of work for our members in Washington and at all 265 U.S. diplomatic posts overseas. As the professional association for the Foreign Service, AFSA lobbies Congress for resources and legislation to strengthen U.S. diplomacy.

The vast majority of our members -- who range from the most senior career ambassadors to our newest entry-level officers -- believe that the U.S. Foreign Service today is in crisis. Our diplomats face an array of needs and challenges that the new Administration must urgently address in order to put American diplomacy back on track. In this memorandum, we offer a brief outline of our members’ most pressing concerns. We would welcome an early opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues in greater detail.

RESOURCES FOR DIPLOMACY: The outgoing administration’s focus on military and intelligence spending led to a serious neglect of the diplomatic component of national security. As a result, the new Secretary will inherit a State Department weakened by dramatic staffing and funding gaps. We now have staffing shortages averaging 20 percent at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world. Our posts lack funds for travel, training, and basic outreach tasks. In many countries, the vastly better-funded U.S. military has taken over certain diplomatic functions. Several recent think-tank studies have concluded that the Foreign Service at State needs over 3,000 new positions in order to meet the political, economic, human rights, health, environmental, and terrorism-related challenges we face in dealing with other nations in today’s more dangerous world.

REFORMING THE FOREIGN SERVICE: While additional resources are urgently needed, they alone will not be sufficient to renew American diplomacy. Instead, our Foreign Service also needs increased capabilities in areas such as foreign language fluency, advanced area knowledge, civilian-military inter-operability, leadership and management ability, public diplomacy know-how, program management skills, and job-specific functional expertise. AFSA stands ready to work with the new Secretary’s management team to strengthen the Foreign Service for 21st century diplomacy.

DIPLOMACY IN TOUGH PLACES: An unprecedented number of Foreign Service members are serving in war-zone Iraq and Afghanistan, which have become our two largest U.S. diplomatic missions and have strained our capabilities elsewhere. We urge the incoming Administration to review the size, effectiveness, and functionality of those embassies and Provincial Reconstruction Teams. It is important that our unarmed Foreign Service members only be posted where conditions permit them to do their assigned jobs. If future contingencies elsewhere around the globe call for an increased Foreign Service role in humanitarian crisis response and post-conflict stabilization, then we ask that our diplomats be given the necessary training, logistical resources, and security support.

ENDING THE OVERSEAS PAY DISPARITY: Junior and mid-level Foreign Service members assigned overseas are the only federal employees who do not receive locality pay. As a result, they now suffer a 21 percent gap between domestic and overseas base salaries. This disparity increases 2-3 percentage points each year, as locality pay rises. Hardship differentials and danger pay at our more difficult posts were never meant to replace basic locality pay that all federal workers get. Beyond the unfairness of this disparity, it creates a disincentive to serve overseas. With the support of key lawmakers, AFSA’s efforts to secure passage of overseas comparability pay almost reached a vote in both the House and Senate this year. We strongly urge that legislation to close the Foreign Service overseas pay gap be placed at the top of the new Secretary’s legislative agenda.

PRESERVING A FAMILY-FRIENDLY SERVICE: The world has become a difficult, dangerous place for U.S. diplomats. More than two-thirds of our overseas missions are classified as hardship posts, and State fills nearly 1,000 unaccompanied positions (in spots too dangerous for spouses or families) every summer. Our members spend most of their careers at hardship posts. Our profession’s long-term health requires new efforts to better balance this rigorous service with employees’ personal and family concerns. AFSA stands ready to present a range of ideas to the new Secretary, such as increasing support for separated families, accommodating domestic partners of members at foreign posts, creating flexible assignment rules that allow for personal circumstances, facilitating spousal employment, and addressing unique challenges of pregnancy/childbirth faced by Foreign Service families overseas.

RESTORING PROFESSIONAL PRIDE TO THE FOREIGN SERVICE: Our members are patriotic, seasoned experts in foreign affairs who have the unique, hands-on experience of living and working in foreign countries, often under extremely difficult conditions. We urge the new Secretary and President to empower our nation’s professional diplomats, to value their advice in the policymaking process, to give them primacy in senior diplomatic positions (including ambassadorships), and to foster open discussion in which dissenting opinions are welcome. We hope that the new Secretary will defend the Foreign Service when it is unfairly criticized and will honor the efforts of all Foreign Service members, not just those serving in high-conflict areas.

(END TEXT OF MEMORANDUM)

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