The Foreign Service Journal, March 2008

M A R C H 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 5 Thirty years ago, a group of Foreign Service members sued the U.S. government, charging that the mandatory retirement age for the Foreign Service amounted to unconstitutional discrimination. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 8-1 in Vance v. Bradley, 440 U.S. 93 (1979), that Congress was justified in setting a mandatory retirement age in recogni- tion of the fact that Foreign Service members are subject to uncommon wear and tear by extended overseas duty under difficult and often hazard- ous conditions. If anything, that Supreme Court- certified “wear and tear” factor has increased in recent decades. Violent crime, health risks, terrorism and other difficult living factors have turned nearly two-thirds of our overseas posts into hardship assignments. An unpre- cedented number of posts have been designated as unaccompanied or “limit- ed accompanied” due to extreme physi- cal danger. I mention this to underscore the fact that Foreign Service members really do earn their keep, including retirement benefits. But, looking forward another 30 years, it is safe to predict that the baby boomer retirement wave will put pressure on Congress to re-examine federal retirement benefits. Thus, one of the most important roles that AFSA plays, both for active-duty and retired members, is to keep our eyes and ears open for potential moves to trim back the Foreign Service’s well-earned retirement benefits. Clearly, any cutback aimed at all federal employees would also be resisted by the large Civil Service unions and by groups such as the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. But, if a benefits cut were to be aimed just at the Foreign Service, it would be up to AFSA to lead the opposition. For AFSA to exercise such long- term vigilance, we must continue to maintain our small but talented legislative affairs and retiree affairs staffs. To do that, we rely on member dues. Thus, it is alarming that only 25 percent of Foreign Service retirees pay AFSA dues. There are several reasons for this low percentage. One is that AFSA membership does not automatically carry on into retirement; instead, retiring employees are asked to rejoin AFSA by filling out a form during their hectic final weeks on duty. Another reason is that some employees believe that retiring will mean an end to ever needing AFSA’s help to rectify some bureaucratic glitch or investigate some question. Unfortunately, that is often not the case. As documented in the AFSA An- nual Report contained in this issue of the Journal , AFSA’s Retiree Affairs Coordinator Bonnie Brown is constant- ly working to assist individual retirees. Her 2007 casework count shows she assisted 452 individuals. For example, she helped 103 people with health care questions or problems, 46 people with annuity questions or problems, and 46 others who needed help getting a satisfactory response from some State Department office. She also publishes retiree guidance in plain English on a variety of helpful subjects and assists survivors when retirees die. As you can see, the value of AFSA membership does not decline upon retirement. In fact, it is hard to imagine who would need AFSA more than a retiree living far from Washington faced with sorting out some problem with a non-responsive government office. The bottom line, therefore, is that AFSA needs your help now (via membership dues) so we can be there to help you in the future. We need active-duty employees to continue their membership after they retire. We need retired members to maintain their AFSA membership. And we need lapsed members to rejoin. If you know retirees whose mem- bership has lapsed, please urge them to join you in supporting AFSA. They are benefiting from our advocacy of issues affecting Foreign Service retirees but are not contributing to the operating budget that funds that advocacy. Their support, added to yours and mine, will strengthen AFSA’s ability to defend the future of us all. P RESIDENT ’ S V IEWS Defending Our Future B Y J OHN K. N ALAND John K. Naland is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.