The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY FEBRUARY 2015 11 United Nations General Assemblies. On leaving government service, I accepted the presidency of a private foreign policy organization in New York City, a job that entailed close liaison with the State Department and other agencies in Washington. What I quickly discovered was that neither my years of service nor my retiree ID card were of any practical use when it came to gaining access to the department. Although I was not one of the annui- tants cited by Cohen, my experience corresponds exactly: it was one of humili- ation and a total lack of endorsement. Ultimately, to avoid further embarrass- ment, I stopped trying. is has been my position for more than 20 years, and, unless the policies and procedures now in place change, I feel disinclined to return. Sadly, this indi erent attitude toward retirees is not limited to Washington; my recent experience with the consul- ate general in Amsterdam is yet another example. In June, I emailed both the consul general and the head of the American Citizens Service Unit asking for an appointment to have a document notarized before an onward trip through Europe. No response. At the State Department’s Benelux desk, no one returned my calls or other- wise acknowledged three detailed voice messages. Next, I contacted the AFSA retiree counselor, who later reported that his own follow-up calls to the desk were similarly ignored. Finally, my son, who lives in the Neth- erlands, managed to get us an appoint- ment, but we had to change our travel plans to keep it. My experience at the consulate was eye-opening in a way that went beyond my status as a retiree. Identifying myself as a retired FSO, I was told to join a