For Immediate Release
January 26, 2021
Contact: Executive Director Ásgeir Sigfússon | sigfusson@afsa.org

Washington, D.C. – The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the professional association and exclusive bargaining agent of the United States Foreign Service, welcomes the Senate’s confirmation of Antony Blinken as our nation’s 71st Secretary of State.

Leadership of the Department of State, our nation’s oldest cabinet agency, represents a great responsibility. As we have done for his predecessors, AFSA extends our congratulations and welcome to Secretary Blinken. We wish the Secretary and his team the best of luck in the years ahead. AFSA and its members pledge to work alongside them to strengthen the career Foreign Service and protect and enhance the institution that is American diplomacy.

As the State Department’s leadership team is announced and confirmed over the coming weeks and months, AFSA and its members stand ready to do our utmost to ensure the success of America’s foreign policy.

AFSA, the voice of the Foreign Service, is the professional association and labor union of the U.S. Foreign Service. Founded in 1924, AFSA represents 31,000 active and retired Foreign Service employees at the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, Foreign Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.