The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2017 57 AFSA NEWS ily participate regularly in board meetings. The Governing Board believes it is more important for board members to partici- pate than to simply reside in the Washington area. The intent of this change is to follow best practices for boards and prevent cases in which elected board members do not take up their obligation to serve, regardless of where they reside. This change ties participation to one of the most important activities of the board, the monthly board meeting required by the bylaws. At these meet- ings board members vote on what actions AFSA will take, and it is important for board members to be fully engaged and participating. There is no intention to use AFSA funds to pay for the travel of board members to attend board meetings from afar. This bylaw change increases the pool of eligible candidates for serving on the Governing Board. In the case that a vacancy is created, the respective Sec- tion 6 of the bylaws man- dates that the board fill the vacancy by appointment, so long as the vacancy is filled from the respective constit- uency. These appointments are a regular occurrence and most often happen when board members are trans- ferred overseas. 3. Proposal to Require that Active-Duty Members Presenting Themselves as Candidates for AFSA Presi- dent or Vice President Hold a Security Clearance. At its Oct. 3, 2016, meet- ing, the Governing Board voted to propose to mem- bership a bylaw amendment to add a security clearance requirement for an active- duty individual presenting themselves as a candidate for AFSA President or AFSA Vice President. The Governing Board recommends that members support the amendment of Article VII (Elections) Sec- tion 1 of the AFSA bylaws b y adding “active-duty mem- bers presenting themselves as candidates for president or constituency vice presi- dent must hold an active security clearance.” The revised section would read as follows: “Candidates: All regular members of the associa- tion in good standing are eligible to be candidates for the officer or repre- sentative positions on the board; active-duty members presenting themselves as candidates for president or constituency vice president must hold an active security clearance.” Justification: The intent of this bylaw change is to strengthen AFSA by preventing a potential conflict of interest that could arise when an active-duty AFSA president or one of the constituency vice presidents—the main AFSA officers who negotiate with management—does not have a valid security clear- ance. The potential conflict of interest arises because the AFSA officer is reliant on management to approve his or her appeal to reinstate the security clearance. The proposed bylaw change applies only to active-duty members and only to the AFSA president and vice president positions. The requirement for a security clearance does not apply to active-duty members presenting themselves as candidates for other posi- tions on the board. Procedures The complete bylaw amendment procedure can be found in Article IX of the AFSA bylaws, which are available online at www. afsa.org/bylaws. The AFSA Committee on Elections is responsible for conducting the polling on amendments. The process of amending the AFSA bylaws requires notification to the AFSA membership, with a 45-day period for submission of statements in opposition. Statements opposing the proposed bylaw amend- ments require signatures from no fewer than 10 AFSA members in good standing and must be received within 45 calendar days of publica- tion of this article. Statements or questions may be sent to: Chair, AFSA Committee on Elections, 2101 E Street NW, Wash- ington DC 20037, by fax to (202) 338-6820, or by email to election@afsa.org . n AFSA/JOSH