The Foreign Service Journal, January 2004

10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 4 Census Test to Count Americans in Three Countries The U.S. Census Bureau is conduct- ing test censuses beginning in February in three nations — Kuwait, France and Mexico—as the first step toward deter- mining the feasibility of counting all Americans overseas in the 2010 census ( www.census.gov/PressRelease/ww w.2003/cb03cn03.html ). Between three and six million Americans are currently estimated to be living abroad, a feature of the increasing integration of the world economy. But to date, only federal civilian employees, military personnel and their respective dependents have been included in the decennial census. The results of this test will help deter- mine whether to include the rest of the overseas Americans — retirees, stu- dents and business people — in the 2010 census, and how to do it. The three nations chosen for the sample are geographically diverse, but all have large populations of Americans. The Census Bureau, working through American business and civic groups and English-lan- guage media in the three countries, is informing people about how they can participate. An Internet site has been set up with information about the test, including “frequently asked questions” and confidentiality infor- mation ( www.census.gov/overseas 04 ). In February, U.S. citizens will be able to respond to the census test online at this site. They may also request that a questionnaire be mailed to their overseas address, or pick it up at embassies and consulates or from partner organizations serving American overseas. Meanwhile, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., introduced a bill in September calling for a series of overseas census tests, and mandat- ing that all Americans residing abroad must be included in the 2010 Census. The “Census of Americans Abroad Act” (S.1682) states that because of the threat of terrorism in the world today, especially against Americans, it is vital to keep a tally on where Americans are and what their status is around the world ( http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ query/z?c108:S.1682 ). T he legis- lation has been sent to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. (So far, no similar bill has been intro- duced in the House.) How Much Rank Does State Pull? NASA and the National Science Foundation are the top two federal agencies to work for, according to the first-ever “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” rankings released Nov. 12 by the Partnership for Public Service and American University’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation ( www. bestplacestowork.org ). T wenty- eight cabinet departments and inde- pendent agencies and nearly 200 sub- agencies were ranked. State’s ranking in the different cat- egories is instructive. On overall employee satisfaction, State ranked 19th out of 28. Its best showing was in the category of support for diversity (12th), with a middling standing in strategic management and work/life balance (both 16th), and in effective leadership and pay & benefits (both 15th). The rest was downhill: perfor- mance-based rewards and advance- ment (20th), teamwork (21st), em- ployee skills/mission match (22nd) and training and development (25th). As far as the category of family friend- ly culture and benefits is concerned, State hit rock bottom (27th). “Best Places to Work” was created by the Partnership for Public Service and the ISPPI to promote excellence and improve performance within fed- eral agencies by creating a baseline for measuring employee commitment and engagement. The Washington, D.C.-based Part- nership for Public Service ( www. ourpublicservice.org ), a nonparti- san, nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing public service, was C YBERNOTES I really could use you … on those diplomatic conferences that I have to go to, sitting there all day long. … Man, you could have livened up things at the end of a long day, when we were all dying to reach an agreement on something! I can just see you now, jumping up, throwing off the cape. Get up! Get up! Get off of that thing! … Godfather, I hereby appoint you Secretary of Soul and Foreign Minister of Funk. — Colin L. Powell, speaking to Kennedy Center Honors winner James Brown, Dec. 6, www.state.gov .