The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

Bo i l ed down t o one sentence, AFSA’s mission is to make the Foreign Service a more effective agent of U.S. international leadership while also making it a better supported, more respected, and more satisfying place in which to spend a career. Key to accomplishing this mission is AFSA’s effort to build a domestic con- stituency for the Foreign Service. Without a constituency, the Foreign Service will continue to struggle to get the resources we need to do our jobs. Without better understanding by the general public, we will continue to suf- fer from unfair criticism by outsiders who do not understand what we do or why it is important. One way that AFSA seeks to educate Americans about the role and impor- tance of the Foreign Service is by reaching out to the media, both in Washington, D.C. and beyond the Beltway. For example, after the despi- cable murder of USAID officer Laurence Foley in Jordan last October, most of our nation’s major print and electronic media carried AFSA’s statement condemning the attack and pointing out that it under- scores the need for the president and Congress to dedicate additional resources to protect the men and women of the U.S. Foreign Service who advance our nation’s vital inter- ests in often dangerous locations. Among themedia outlets quoting that statement were: the Washington Post , Washington Times , New York Times , Wall Street Journal , Los Angeles Times , San Francisco Chronicle , CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, BBC World Service, Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg News. AFSA has other mechanisms by which we educate our fellow citizens about issues affecting their Foreign Service. They include AFSA’s: • Speaker’s Bureau that, within the past year, has sponsored 230 presenta- tions by retired Foreign Service mem- bers to diverse audiences in 33 states; • Annual national high school essay contest that, in 2002, drew contributions from 802 students from 49 states writing about the role of the Foreign Service; • Senior-citizen Elderhostel (adult education) program that has told the Foreign Service story to over 3,000 people from 46 states since 1996; and • International Associates program that brings together major American corporations with State policy-makers to explain the role of diplomacy in pro- moting U.S. economic interests. Obviously, it costs money to organize and conduct these and other outreach activities. The good news is that, way back in 1956, AFSA established our Fund for American Diplomacy (origi- nally called the AFSA Fund) to sup- port public education on the unique contributions of the Foreign Service to the public good. The bad news is that, unlike the AFSA Scholarship Fund, the Fund for American Diplomacy has no endowment. That is why AFSA members receive a letter once a year asking for dona- tions to the Fund for American Diplomacy. While we realize that not everyone is able to contribute, those who do provide vital, irreplaceable support for this important effort. Last year, members contributed $27,000 to the Fund for American Diplomacy. The 2003 drive is now under way and we hope to raise $30,000. If you wish to contribute, please return the enve- lope that you should have received in the mail last month or contact Lori Dec at dec@afsa.org or 1 (800) 704- 2372, ext. 504. Your tax-deductible contribution to the Fund for American Diplomacy will help us to connect to our fellow citizens at a time when their need and desire to understand U.S. international engage- ment has never been greater. P RESIDENT ’ S V IEWS Telling Our Story B Y J OHN K. N ALAND J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 5 John K. Naland is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. The Fund for American Diplomacy enables AFSA to support public education on the unique contributions of the Foreign Service to the public good.