The Foreign Service Journal, January 2008

A swe approach the summer 2008 assignment periodand my own reassignment fromAFSAVP to a foreignpost, thoughts of a succession loom just as the FCS man- agement team(at least theofficers) is also turningover enmasse. What can I tellmy eventual successor about theups anddowns of being the AFSA VP for Commerce/FCS? WithinCommerce/FCS, it iswell known that theAFSAVP position is a half-time job. For several years, the other half of the jobhas been as senior adviser to the deputy assistant secretary for international operations. Commerce/FCS is the only Foreign Service agency that has a non-full-time AFSA VP. Having just gone through the 2007 Selection and Promotion Boards cycle, along with the “pay for performance” (or, if youprefer, “performance pay” cashawards) exer- cise, the first thing I can tell a successor is that this job provides virtually no chance for promotionand little tonochanceof cashawards, regardless of how well the AFSA VP performs under either of the two hats. (On the plus side, there is time-in-class relief.) The secondpiece ofwisdomtopass on is that theAFSAVPhas excellent opportunities topro- vide significant and responsive support to FCS AFSAmembers facing problems big and small. Inthat task, despite thehalf-time statusof theposi- tion, the AFSA VP receives a great deal of sup- port from the AFSA Governing Board and the AFSA staff. On the other hand, our own agency appears to be only half-serious about its rela- tions withAFSA. Our 2005 proposals were finally accepted (in part) inmid-2007, but our 2006 and 2007 proposals have remained largely in limbo, with only promises of responsiveness. The AFSA VP’s relations with management may be contentious (as they were under Peter Frederick) or amicable (as they were under Chuck Ford). My experience has been that relations tend to be mostly cordial but also largely ineffectu- al, with a fewexceptions. Our agency hasmaintained a dysfunctional approach todeal- ing with AFSA. What about day-to-day operations and impact? TheAFSAVP canbring customer service to bothmembers andmanagement in the same way that FCS is highly respon- sive to companies seeking export promotion assistance. The VP handles grievances, problems related to tenure anddiscipline, assignments, benefits andahost of other issues that affect our officer corps of over 200 (admittedly small compared to the thousands at State). The best way to gain a sense of the issues we deal with year-round is to visit our page of the AFSAWeb site at www.afsa.org/fcs/. The future of Foreign Commercial Service officers at the Department of Commerce is ambiguous. As I noted in one of my first VP columns (“Whither the Commercial Service?” AFSANews , December 2005), our budget and roles encompass numerous strains that influence decisionmakers inWashington. The influence of AFSA on the Foreign Commercial Service is a small part of larg- er relationships— the administration vs. Congress, State Department vs. Commerce, and FCS within the International Trade Administration — that seem to leave com- mercial officerswith little clout. That said, AFSA is all we have. Please keep yourmem- bership current and supportmy successor—AFSA is still your key advocate and your voice back home. V.P. VOICE: FCS BY DONALD BUSINGER On the Job AFSA NEWS BRIEFS the West Bank and Gaza. Before entering the Foreign Service, Steinger worked as a science policy analyst at both the National Institutes of Health and NASA, where she began her federal career as a Presidential Management Fellow in 1991. During a three-decade Foreign Service career, Barbara Bodine served as ambas- sador to the Republic of Yemen from 1997 to 2001, as deputy principal officer in Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq War and as deputy chief of mission in Kuwait during the 1990 Iraqi invasion and occupation. In 2003, she was seconded to the Department of Defense to return to Iraq. Since retiring from the Foreign Service in 2004, Amb. Bodine has held positions at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and MIT’s Center for International Studies, and lectures at a number of other universi- ties. Josh Glazeroff left the FSJ Editorial Board last fall and David McFarland joined. AFSA appreciates Glazeroff’s valuable contribu- tions to the Journal . AFSA also appreciates the service to the Governing Board and the membership of all the departing board members. Welcome to the new members of both boards. Last Call: AFSA Scholarship Applications Due Feb. 6 Children of Foreign Service employees who would like to be considered for the AFSA financial aid college scholarship program for the 2008/09 school year need to submit their applications by Feb. 6. Only tax-dependent children of active-duty, retired, separated and deceased Foreign Service members are eligible to apply. AFSA funds students who attend both domestic and overseas colleges and universities. Academic and Art Merit Award appli- cations also need to be submitted by Feb. 6 by Foreign Service high school students in their senior year. Please visit www.afsa.org/scholar/ for AFSA Scholarship Program details or call Scholarship Director Lori Dec at 1 (800) 704 2372, ext. 504, or (202) 944-5504. 62 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / J A NU A R Y 2 0 0 8 A F S A N E W S Board • Continued from page 58 The best way to gain a sense of the issues we deal with year-round is to visit our page of the AFSA Web site at www.afsa.org/fcs/.