The Foreign Service Journal, March 2010

The Memorial Plaques T he first AFSAMemorial Plaque was unveiled in1933by Secretaryof State Henry Stimson. There are now two plaques in the C Street lobby of the State Department honoring231members of the Foreign Service who have died in the line of duty. New names were unveiled during an emotional ceremony on May 1, at which Sec.ClintoneulogizedBrianDanielAdkins, a 25-year-old first-tour officermurdered in hishome inAddisAbaba. Theothernames addedwereof diplomats fromthepast: Felix Russell Engdahl died ina Japaneseprisoner- of-war camp in Hong Kong in 1942; Thomas W. Waldron, the first U.S. con- sul toHongKong, diedof cholerawhile on an official visit to Macau in 1844; and Edmund Roberts, a special envoy sent by PresidentAndrewJackson in1832 tonego- tiate treaties inAsia, died inMacauof dysen- tery while en route from Siam to Japan. 58 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / MA R CH 2 0 1 0 AFSA Annual Report 2009 C O N S T I T U E N C Y S U M M A R I E S I t was a pleasure to work for you last year. Many members visited me at the USAID AFSA office, and I came to knowmore of youpersonally. We achievedmany successes, buttheonemajoraccomplishmentwearemost proudof is, of course, obtainingoverseas com- parability pay. This is nowbeing phased in, at last,toendalongstandingunfairburdenonour officers. Manypeople fromtheAFSAstaff, as well as Governing Board members past and present, deserve credit for lobbying Congress and building support fromvarious organiza- tions to accomplish this. Iamdelightedthat,inadditiontoMichaelHenning, wenowhave asecondUSAIDrepresentative,GlennRogers,ontheAFSAGoverning Board as a result of reaching the 1,000mark in AFSAmembers. Solvingproblems, both serious and routine, for hundreds of our members does not get wide publicity due to the personal nature of the cases, but it is as valuable as ourmore prominent achievements. For example, we helped acquire donated annual leave for sever- almembers facing critical familyproblems, allowing themtoextend theirsick leave significantly. Likewise, our counselingandadvicehave assisted several junior officers in obtaining tenure, aswell as fairperformanceevaluations. Wehavealsoworkedwithmanagementtocre- ate assignments that are in the best interest of particular members. Wehave successfully resolvedmultiple for- mal disciplinarycaseswith lesserpenalties than proposed—insomecaseswinning total abso- lution. Numerous potential grievances were resolvedwithout filing formal litigation at the agency level. For the small number of griev- ances that were appealed to the Grievance Board, the satisfactory resolution ratewas, onaverage, about 85per- cent. Webelieveour interventionsonyourbehalfhavepositivelyaffect- edeveryonefromentry-levelofficerstomembersoftheSeniorForeign Service. We eagerly anticipate working with new USAID Admini- stratorDr. Rajiv Shah, whowill hear, throughAFSA representatives andleadership,yourmajorconcernsasexpressedinourrecentmem- ber survey. We are listening to you, and we look forward to hear- ing more from you. —Francisco Zamora, USAIDVP USAID VP: Achievements, Big and Small AFSA USAID VP Francisco Zamora (left) welcomes Sec. Clinton (center), as USAIDActing Administrator Kent Hill (right) looks on. USAID FILE PHOTO MIKKELA THOMPSON Secretary Hillary Clinton speaks at the AFSA Memorial Plaque Ceremony, flanked by the U.S. Armed Forces Color Guard (right), as AFSA President John Naland looks on, May 1. Y E A R I N R E V I E W