Letter from AFSA President Limbert to USAA

	June 16, 2004

Gen. Robert G. Davis (Ret.)
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
USAA
9800 Fredericksburg Road
San Antonio, TX 78288

Dear Gen. Davis:

I recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq to resume my duties as AFSA President. Upon my return, I found Ms. Karen Presley's letter of May 21 to AFSA Vice President Louise Crane on the subject of your association's exclusion of Foreign Service Officers from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Agriculture from membership. I have also seen copies of identical letters from Ms. Presley to Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, and USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios.

I can only conclude from Ms. Presley's letters that USAA, for reasons of its own, is determined to exclude this small group. Your initial argument was that the agencies did not have the appropriate mission statement, yet there was no change in your stance when we noted that State and USAID had the same mission statement. At that point, the argument became about national security. When it was clear that all Foreign Service Officers serve and protect U.S. national security, the argument yet again changed, now hitched to a point about a "niche market". Gen. Davis, whatever will USAA think of next?

Gen. Davis, what kind of niche includes hundreds of thousands of enlisted and commissioned military personnel and still excludes less than 2,000 Foreign Service Officers who serve their country in very dangerous places? I hope that USAA is not saying, for instance, that USAID employee Laurence Foley, murdered by terrorists in Jordan in October 2002, was not part of USAA's "niche market."

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.   

	Sincerely,
	Amb. John W. Limbert
	President

CC:	Donald L. Evans, Secretary of Commerce
	Andrew S. Natsios, Administrator, USAID
	Colin L. Powell, Secretary of State
	Ann M. Veneman, Secretary of Agriculture
	USAA Board Members