THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024 25 Democrats, bought access to lawmakers for AFSA’s leadership. The Foreign Affairs Council, another Boyatt project, brought 11 civic organizations together in support of a strong U.S. Foreign Service. A relaunched AFSA Fund for American Diplomacy raised money for outreach. AFSA President John Limbert (2003-2005), whose experience as a hostage in Tehran in 1978-1981 gave him an extra measure of credibility, was a strong public presence (his mantra: “Let no cheap shot go unanswered”). Television coverage reached the broadcast networks as well as Fox News, Bloomberg News, CNN, PBS, NPR, and BBC. The energy resonated in the Service. Membership reached record levels in 2003. The wars in Afghanistan and (especially) Iraq created new and severe problems. In 2005, two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the U.S. began to deploy civilian-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Iraq to build “a capability in [local] governing bodies to deliver to the people” the services that governments are supposed to provide. Most PRTs were led by U.S. Foreign Service officers (a few were led by civilians from allied countries) and relied heavily on Foreign Service personnel. Posts worldwide were stripped of personnel to fill positions in Iraq. By 2007, more than 22 percent of all Foreign Service personnel, all volunteers, had served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and 21 percent of other Foreign Service positions, overseas and in the department, were vacant. Yet staffing demands did not abate. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (2005-2009) was prepared to use directed assignments—orders—to get people to go where she wanted them to go. AFSA pushed back. State Vice President Steve Kashkett said: “We are not the military. Telling us—single mothers, middle-aged The department’s refusal to work with AFSA impelled the association to transform itself into a labor union with which management would be compelled to deal.
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