The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

4 AFSA NEWS • JANUARY 2003 AFSA NEWS BRIEFS Help Give Them a Clue About What You Do AFSA has completely re-done the 1995 book Inside a U.S. Embassy: How the Foreign Service Works for America. It offers an inside look at the people who work in U.S. missions around the globe, and is written for the layperson. Entries are short and highly readable. The new version contains profiles of outstanding colleagues serving in every kind of Foreign Service job in an embassy. The book also includes a series of “day in the life” entries —hour-by-hour accounts of a “typical” day on the job. And then there are the stories of the extraordinary —how our Foreign Service colleagues handle the coups, the riots, the natural disasters and the evacuations. We’ve got entries from every region of the globe, and from people serving in every kind of Foreign Service position. Look for Inside a U.S. Embassy in late January. You will be able to order copies through a link on the AFSAWeb site at www.afsa.org. Dreyfus Scholarship Program from DACOR Children of active and retired FSOs are eligible to apply for several scholarships and fellowships sponsored by the DACOR Bacon House Foundation for study at the Hotchkiss School and Yale University for the 2003-2004 academic year. The Hotchkiss School seeks to select one qualified enrolled student for a $5,000 scholarship. Applicants should contact the Director of Financial Aid, The Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, CT 06039-0800. Awards to Yale students, based on merit, will be made by the DACOR Bacon House Foundation in consultation with Yale University. At Yale, the fellowships are coordinat- ed by the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Henry R. Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven, CT 06520. Awards for undergraduates may be up to $5,000 and up to $10,000 for graduate students. Application materials must be sent to William Hamilton at the DACOR Bacon House Foundation, 1801 F St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20006. For further information, contact Taushia Walker at DACOR by phone: (202) 682-0500, ext. 17 or 1 (800) 344-9127, or by e-mail: prog.coord@dacorbacon.org. The application deadline is March 15, 2003. Continued from page 2 JOSH CONNIE MCLENNAN Messaging the SMART Way By the end of 2004, the State Department expects to have a new user- driven communication system that is smart, simple and secure. When it is fully operational, SMART (State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset) will integrate what we now know as cables (classified and unclassified), e-mails, and memos into a single system. This will simpli- fy the way you produce and receive messages, ensure that you can access the information you need, and permit searching of archived mes- sages. You will be able to log in to SMART much as you do already with MS Outlook. A prototype of the new system has been designed based on input from users inWashington and the field, but more feedback is needed to ensure that the new systemmeets your needs. Check out the SMART Intranet Web site at http://messaging.irm.state.gov an d send in your comments. Use this chance to help build a system that gives you the tools you need. Scholarships from AFSA Each year, AFSA provides over $150,000 in college aid to almost 100 Foreign Service chil- dren. High school seniors and college under- graduates of Foreign Service employees can apply for AFSA one-time-only academic and art merit awards and renewable need-based financial aid awards. Awards range from $1,000 to $3,000. Applications are now avail- able and the submission deadline is Feb. 6, 2003. Visit AFSA’s Web page at www.afsa.org/scholar/index.html for complete details or contact Lori Dec at dec@afsa.org or 1 (800) 704-2372, ext. 504. Briefs • Continued on page 10