Lockheed Martin and AFSA have initiated an exciting new speaker series, which will bring high-profile speakers to AFSA in order to discuss the topic “Promoting Excellence and Deepening Impact – Resources and Skills for Diplomacy and Development in the Age of Smart Power." Our kick-off event will take place on Wednesday, April 7 at 11 am right here at AFSA HQ. The speaker will be former Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who also served as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, the UN, Mexico, Honduras, and the Philippines. Ambassador Negroponte also served as Director of National Intelligence. This event will be moderated by Ambassador Edward Gnehm Jr., former Director General of the Foreign Service as well as Ambassador to Kuwait, Australia, and Jordan. We hope you will be able to join us for this event, which will be the first of many this year. Mark your calendars! If you are able to join us, please RSVP by April 2 to paintern@afsa.org.  Our next event in this series has been tentatively scheduled for May 12^th with Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Clinton. This program is run through our 501(c)(3) organization, the Fund for American Diplomacy (FAD). FAD sponsors all of our outreach and publicity programs, and your kind – and tax-deductible – donations are always appreciated: www.afsa.org/CFCFAD.cfm.

 

2) FOREIGN AFFAIRS DAY 2010 AND AFSA MEMORIAL PLAQUE CEREMONY

 

This year’s Foreign Affairs Day will be celebrated on Friday, May 7. As is the tradition, AFSA’s annual memorial plaque ceremony will be held during the morning in the C Street Lobby at the Department of State. This year, we will honor the memory and work of three dedicated colleagues by inscribing their names on the plaque: Victoria J. DeLong, Dale J. Gredler, and Terrence L. Barnich. The plaque ceremony will begin at 10:25 am. We invite all friends of the Foreign Service community to join us for this solemn occasion (please note that the ceremony will also be taped for BNet). We will provide additional details about Foreign Affairs Days and this ceremony closer to the date. If you have questions about the ceremony or the memorial plaques, please contact AFSA’s Coordinator for Special Awards and Outreach Perri Green at green@afsa.org.

 

3) CALL FOR NOMINATIONS – AFSA POST REP OF THE YEAR

 

AFSA encourages all members to consider submitting a nomination for AFSA Post Representative of the Year. If you think your post rep has gone above and beyond, been visible, supportive, and engaged in issues at post, they might be a great candidate for this award. The winner will be honored at our annual awards ceremony in June, where they will receive a framed certificate as well as a check in the amount of $1,000. Please send your nominations, explaining why you think your rep should be the winner, to green@afsa.org by April 5th.

 

4) LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

On February 1, 2010, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2011 Budget for the Federal Government. AFSA President Susan Johnson released an AFSAnet regarding the FY11 Budget (http://www.afsa.org/president/022510presupdate.cfm), as well as a briefing sheet on the key points for each Foreign Service agency (http://www.afsa.org/congress/FY11.pdf). Over the next few months, AFSA will be working closely with key Members of Congress as they begin to develop their budget to ensure that the Foreign Service has the tools and resources for the future.

5) ATTENTION AFSA POST REPS!

With spring just around the corner, many Members of Congress and staff will begin to travel the world on congressional delegations (CODELS). Many times when they are in country, they will set up meetings to speak with groups of people who work at the Embassy, Consulate, or USAID Mission. This presents an excellent opportunity to inform them about key issues important to the Foreign Service. Your AFSA professional staff wants to help! If you know of an upcoming CODEL that is coming to your country, please e-mail our Legislative Director, Casey Frary (frary@afsa.org), to let us know when those CODELS are expected and what Members of Congress are coming, and we will help generate information and questions for you to ask them.

 

6) AFSA SPEAKER MEETS WITH RETIREES, STUDENTS IN TEXAS

 

Ambassador Charles Ford delivered an outstanding series of speaker programs in central Texas from March 1-4. This included a talk March 4 on "Perspectives on State, U.S. Diplomacy, and the Foreign Service" to retirees of the Foreign Service Retirees – Central Texas group in Austin, at a luncheon arranged by John Wood. University of Texas Diplomat-in-Residence William Stewart reported that Ford delivered two outstanding programs March 4 to undergraduate classes and selected faculty. Amb. Ford also spoke to six classes at Angelo State University in San Angelo, as well as a group of business leaders. AFSA is grateful to Amb. Ford for his tireless efforts in explaining the critical importance of the Foreign Service and U.S. diplomacy to important university audiences, retirees, and opinion leaders in Texas.  This program was made possible by donations to our Fund for American Diplomacy.

  

7) NEW FSJ IS OUT!

 

The March 2010 Foreign Service Journal is in the mail to members and available online at www.afsa.org/fsj.  In addition to AFSA's 2009 Annual Report, the issue contains four articles focusing on "Iraq & Its Neighbors" by journalist Selig Harrison, retired Ambassadors Ross Wilson and Chas Freeman, and former State Department Civil Service analyst Charles Duelfer.

  

8) CALLING ALL FOREIGN SERVICE AUTHORS

 

The November issue of the FSJ will feature "In Their Own Write," a list of recently published books written by Foreign Service-affiliated authors.  FS authors whose books have been published in 2009 or 2010, and have not been featured in previous roundups, are invited to send a copy of the book, along with a press release or other background material, to: Susan Maitra, Senior Editor, Foreign Service Journal, 2101 E St NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. Deadline for submissions is Sept. 1.  For more information, please contact Susan directly at maitra@afsa.org.

  

9) BECOME AFSA’S FACEBOOK FAN NO. 1,500!

 

We continue to be pleasantly surprised with the popularity of our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/afsapage. We are now sitting at just over 1,400 fans, and are hoping to get to 1,500 soon. If you haven’t joined us on Facebook yet, please do so. Whoever becomes fan no. 1,500 will receive a nifty AFSA coffee mug!

  

10) PLEASE UPDATE YOUR ADDRESS!

 

Did you receive the February issue of the Foreign Service Journal? If not, it’s probably because we don’t have your correct address. Your home agency does not supply AFSA with address updates if you move to a new post, so please help us know where you are by visiting www.afsa.org/addressChange.cfm or e-mailing member@afsa.org. It only takes a few seconds.