President’s Views

BY JOHN “DINK” DINKELMAN
JUBL JANA, SLOVENIA, SEPTEMBER 25, 2025

It seems only fitting that I am writing this column from the former Yugoslavia, given that this edition of the Journal marks the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords with fascinating ADST oral history excerpts from diplomats who were there.

Coincidentally, the former Yugoslavia is where—after nine grueling months of FSI convincing me that some of us will never have the knack for Slavic case endings—I started my first Foreign Service assignment in the summer of 1989, in Embassy Belgrade’s consular section.

And who knew that marrying a math professor on the Alternating Sign Matrices speaking circuit would afford me the chance years later to play trailing spouse for a few days and revisit the places where I’d served as an entry-level Foreign Service officer.

The “front-row seat” that first assignment provided to the nightmare of Yugoslavia’s subsequent disintegration was one of the most formative events of my life—both personally and professionally.

While it was painful for me, as a young man in my late 20s, to watch a rational, reasonable, progressive Western society quickly transition into ethnocentric, xenophobic tribalism, I find it even more painful today, as a “boomer” in his mid-60s, to see many of those same trends threaten other nations—including my own.

When Will It End?

In those waning days of Yugoslavia, people watched, usually with frustration, then anger, then horror, as their societal norms, protocols, and institutions fell apart—first slowly, then incrementally, and finally catastrophically.

When they dared discuss it with me, they would skirt the critical questions: “When will all this end?” and, more importantly, “How will all this end?” It hurt too much for them to speculate—so we mostly just trudged on day after day not speaking of the house burning down all around us.

Over the past months since taking office at AFSA, I have found myself starting to ask the same questions.

Seemingly without so much as the smallest consideration given to the long-term effects on the federal workforce, much less the Foreign Service, State Department leadership continues to roll out uncoordinated revisions to the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), ill-conceived rule changes, and short-sighted reductions in force (RIFs)—all in the name of addressing perceived flaws in the system.

These officials seem to have forgotten that they are dealing with a profession where consideration, coordination, and collaboration are the fundamental tools needed to get things done.

They don’t realize that if you are to gain lasting change, you need to bring your people along with you. They don’t understand that unilaterally implementing broad structural changes cannot and will not work without “buy-in” by the rank-and-file. Stephen Covey is undoubtedly rolling over in his grave.

I’ve stopped asking myself when and how all this will end, because the truth is that, for AFSA and its new president, this will never end. As long as there are dedicated Americans willing to submit themselves and their families to the challenges of serving our country overseas, AFSA will continue to fight for them. They can rest assured that the northwest corner of 21st and E Streets will continue to serve as an island of sanity and stability in the midst of all the turbulence and uncertainty engulfing Foggy Bottom.

Weathering the Storm

In his State VP column, Ro Nepal does an excellent job painting the sad picture of the present work environment at State. I would expand on his timely theme of “You Deserve Better,” because it doesn’t just apply to one agency.

AFSA continues to receive disturbing reports from its members in all the (remaining) foreign affairs agencies confirming that the malaise and trepidation in Foggy Bottom is not unique to the State Department.

As AFSA membership represents the spectrum of the Foreign Service—from those unceremoniously “shown the door” over the past months, to those “left behind” to clean up the mess, to the younger, fresher talent on whom we rely for long-term institutional continuity who have one eye on the door—I feel it safe to say that while we are certainly not all in the same boat, we all remain in the same storm.

As long as there are dedicated Americans willing to submit themselves and their families to the challenges of serving our country overseas, AFSA will continue to fight for them.

The gale warnings persist. Both from Washington, D.C., where Foreign Service careers are placed on the chopping block in the name of partisan budgetary battles, and from overseas, where, among the myriad challenges, FS employees and their families serve as 21st-century “guinea pigs” for what appears to be some tyrant’s newest weapon as AHI (anomalous health incident) attacks ravage their cranial nervous systems.

They all deserve someone in their corner. For the day-to-day challenges—vouchers are still not processed in a timely manner, education allowances continue to be improperly denied, and household effects inexplicably find their way to the bottom of the Indian Ocean—AFSA will remain dedicated to ensuring that the interests of the Foreign Service, its members, and their families remain at the center of all we do. We’re still here, and we’re not going anywhere, folks!

I’d note that this edition of the Journal is being published on November 1—my first day of retirement. Hopefully at that time I will have reason to thank the very overworked Office of Retirement for seeing to my smooth transition to retiree status. If not, I can be grateful for my colleagues on the member services team at AFSA, who never cease to amaze me in their understanding of the intricacies of processes—even in the present “dynamic” environment.

In a sign of the times, I will be the first retiree serving as AFSA president that the organization has seen in its 101-year history, one of the effects of the president’s executive order discontinuing AFSA’s collective bargaining status.

While AFSA will continue to fight this in court, the reconfiguration of the AFSA presidency opens up a new realm of possibilities for me, since I am no longer bound by the limitations that come with federal employment.

I intend to take full advantage of this unexpected change and will be able to “speak truth to power”—something that an increasing number of AFSA members are no longer able to do.

Change and Challenges

So here I sit at a table across from University of Ljubljana’s math and physics campus on a brisk September morning listening jealously as energetic students decline the vocative, locative, and genitive cases with ease. I am heartened that, since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, many in their region’s successor nations have made progress in moving past ethnocentric xenophobia and resolving difficult problems.

But I realize that while different from the existential challenges faced by their parents and grandparents, these students are in just as great need of advocates and defenders against the challenges that confront their own generation. So it is for AFSA and the Foreign Service. So it will always be.

Human history is characterized by constant changes in social organization, technology, and culture that bring ups and downs, crises and challenges, as well as the potential for happiness and well-being.

I’m reminded of a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring sent to me recently by a sanguine Foreign Service friend who has weathered more than his share of storms. It serves as a good reminder of the role we all play.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”