The Foreign Service Journal, January 2005

includes risks to which their overseas employment in any manner exposes them, even though activities such as traveling to and from work or stop- ping on the way home at a gymnasi- um would not so clearly be related to employment were the FSOs employed in the United States? • Should the State Department’s policies concerning availability of automobile liability insurance be reviewed and strengthened to be certain that whenever an FSO, in response to a department rule, order, suggestion or encouragement, uses a private automobile in place of an automobile owned and provided by the government, that insurance is, to an absolute certainty, immedi- ately available from the FSO’s first use of the car? • Are there reasons to inquire concerning the existence of influ- ences and obstacles, such as inade- quate funding and the like, that hin- der fair and unbiased consideration of FSOs’ requests that they be certi- fied to have been acting within the scope of their employment? For example, in Mr. Kent’s case the Department of State might well choose not to protect Mr. Kent in order to protect itself from the diplomatic fallout of being associat- ed with an allegedly drunken and crass American, no matter how unfair and distorted those allega- tions. These and other matters that might occur to readers after they have pondered the factual scenario this article details are offered as examples of problems that persist and that ought to be addressed to help meet the goal of more fully securing to FSOs the promise of productive careers inherent to the position of “Foreign Service officer.” At a min- imum, whatever the outcome of the pending case, every Foreign Service employee should be aware that the “24/7 rule” only defines the FSO’s duty to the agency — not the agency’s duty to the FSO.  J. Michael Hannon and James F. Bromley are with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Thompson, O’Donnell, which is representing FSO Douglas Kent in his case Aleksandr Kashin v. Douglas Kent, on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. The firm has repre- sented Foreign Service employees and their families for over 50 years. J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 25 F S K N O W - H O W u SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE AMERICA S I NCE 1 9 7 1 2004 represents our 34 th year helping to maintain America’s fleet of vehicles throughout the world. All of us at D & M consider it an honor to have worked with all of you through these years. We are aware of the importance of your official and private vehicles, forklifts, generators, tools and equipment. We look forward to continuing this service in a professional manner. We are here to help, just ask! Gary Vlahov www.dmauto.com (516) 822-6662; FAX: (516) 822-5020; E-mail: info@dmauto.com