THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2024 29 The Foreign Service has been through a challenging period, and it may not be the last. BY P. MICHAEL MCKINLEY P. Michael McKinley is a retired Foreign Service officer who served as ambassador to Peru, Colombia, Afghanistan, and Brazil, and as senior adviser to the Secretary of State before resigning in 2019. T he end of Eric Rubin’s tenure as president of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) in July 2023 marks the passing of an era that began with the second term of Barbara Stephenson’s presidency in 2017. It is difficult to think of an equivalent time since the 1950s when the Foreign Service has faced so many sustained challenges on multiple fronts, or so needed the courageous and principled leadership Stephenson and Rubin provided, supported by a dedicated team of professionals at AFSA. Every member of the career Foreign Service community owes them a personal debt of gratitude for speaking out and defending our profession in a politically charged environment targeting the Foreign Service. As proposals for a new Schedule F intended to eviscerate the federal bureaucracy gain wider currency, and as presidential candidates again threaten to dismantle the “deep state,” it is important not to take for granted what AFSA leaders fought for on our behalf. They set an example for how the Foreign Service may again need to respond in the not-so-distant future. Challenging Times To say that Stephenson and Rubin worked in challenging times is to understate what they faced. The assault launched on the State Department in 2017 continued in different ways through 2020. Both Senior Foreign Service officers and former ambassadors, they may have anticipated a difficult moment, but nothing quite like what they confronted. LEST WE FORGET The Importance of Leadership in a Time of Adversity
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