The Foreign Service Journal, January 2006

in combating terrorism worldwide and seeks to benefit from a range of expertise in foreign affairs. I draw heav- ily on my previous FS experience in Washington and at all of my posts overseas to help perform that function. I found the Retirement Seminar and the Job Search Program to be outstanding. The Transition Center really does what it says. I arrived from overseas unsure of my worth to the world outside the FS, uninformed about what the opportunities were, uncertain of recent commercial developments and unschooled in the best techniques of self-marketing. The Center’s courses, taught by skilled personnel, along with the two months of paid time to con- sider and pursue options, helped a great deal on all counts. My wife and I were underwhelmed by the Retirement Division, but our sense is that under David Dlouhy things have turned around and the division is now pro-active, user-friendly and helpful. RNet is a great development. A last word of advice: One’s most marketable attribute may well be a security clearance, including access to intelligence material, so be sure to keep it current. Employers do not want to wait while time-consuming background investigations and updates are performed. Mort Dworken Tampa, Fla. utu Not Fully Retired I am a WAE and am also employed as director for aca- demic programs at the Washington Internship Institute. As I have two jobs, I guess I’m not fully retired! I have been a WAE in the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs for almost two years, working with the 24/7 “PMAction Team.” This group is mostly WAEs, and it was easy to get in once I proved my experience in PM work. That led to my getting my security clearance renewed. The work is very satisfying and always interest- ing, always changing because we are, to some extent, on the front line, acting as the key liaison between State and the Department of Defense. In that sense it is dif- F O C U S J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 65