The Foreign Service Journal, December 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2013 39 AFSA NEWS DECEMBER 2013 WOMEN IN SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT FOCUS AFSA NEWS CALENDAR THE OFFICIAL R CORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION 12/5/2013 12:00 - 2:00 PM AFSA Governing Board Meeting 12/13/2013 3:00 - 5:00 PM AFSA Labor Management Holiday Open House at HST 12/16/2013 1:00 - 3:00 PM AFSA Holiday Party AFSA Offices Close at 1 PM 12/25/2013 Christmas AFSA Offices Closed 1/1/2014 New Year’s Day AFSA Offices Closed 1/8/2014 12:00 - 2:00 PM AFSA Governing Board Meeting 1/20/2014 Martin Luther King Jr. Day AFSA Offices Closed 2/5/2014 12:00 - 2:00 PM AFSA Governing Board Meeting 2/6/2014 Deadline for Academic/Art Merit Awards 2/17/2014 President’s Day AFSA Offices Closed 2/28/2014 Deadline for Dissent and Performance Awards Nominations Consular work, especially adjudicating visas, is never easy. It is especially diffi- cult when there is pressure to overturn a refusal, and becomes even more difficult when that pressure comes from more senior officers, immigration attorneys, members of Congress and even the Bureau of Consular Affairs. Dissent Is About Making the Right Decision BY AFSA PRESIDENT ROBERT J. SILVERMAN Call for Nominations: AFSA Constructive Dissent Awards Nominations are now being accepted for AFSA’s Con- structive Dissent Awards. In June 2014, recipients will be honored at the annual awards ceremony that will also celebrate the 90th anniversary of AFSA and the Foreign Service. For more than 40 years, AFSA's constructive dissent awards have recognized Foreign Service colleagues who work within the system to change policy and regula- tions for the better. No other government-related asso- ciation offers an award for constructive dissent. While members of the Foreign Service may express their dissent in public meet- ings, e-mails to superiors, memoranda, cables or other formats, an AFSA dissent award recognizes an employ- ee’s concerted and ongoing efforts to effect change. Although our Foreign Service culture values con- sensus, many award winners have risen to the highest ranks of the Service thanks to the same intellectual and personal qualities that led them originally to dissent Please help AFSA con- tinue to honor and recognize honesty and independent thinking by nominating a colleague for one of the constructive dissent awards described below. Any Foreign Service member of any rank and of any agency may be BY AMBASSADOR JAMES WARLICK nominated for the following dissent awards: the Christian A. Herter Award for Senior Foreign Service officers, the William R. Rivkin Award for mid-level FSOs, the W. Averell Harriman Award for entry-level officers and the F. Allen "Tex" Harris Award for Foreign Service specialists.  This year, we are honored to announce that the Una Chapman Cox Foundation has come on board as the new sponsor of the W. Averell Harriman Award. Their sup- port is greatly appreciated and will help ensure the ongoing viability of our dis- sent awards program. For nomination guidance go to www.afsa.org/dissent. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 28, 2014. n In 2003, I received AFSA’s Christian Herter Award for dissent, which I shared with three of my colleagues in the consular section at the U.S. embassy in Moscow. As consul general, I was the final word on visa adjudication, but my dissent was a team effort. The visa applicant was a Theodore Lyng, the 2013 recipient of The William R. Rivkin Award, is congratulated by his family at AFSA’s annual awards ceremony on June 4. Dissent continued on page 51 DONNAAYERST