The Foreign Service Journal, March 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2014 9 A Rich Legacy Steve Honley fully deserves all the praise he has received for the 12½ years he dedicated to refining and enriching the content of The Foreign Service Journa l— longer than any previous editor-in-chief except Shirley Newhall three decades earlier. During my 10 years as an FSJ Editorial Board member, six of them as chairman, I became a great admirer of Steve—not only for his editorial skills, but for his patience and adaptability in deal- ing with the often-competing demands of readers, the Editorial Board (some mem- bers of which were fond of proposing arcane topics, then leaving it to Steve and Senior Editor Susan Maitra to find con- tributors) and the AFSA Governing Board. Today’s magazine has been trans- formed from what it was at the beginning of Steve’s tenure, due in large part to his attention to ambitious focus sections addressing specific themes, and chal- lenging Speaking Out columns offering the opinions and insights of outliers. Steve was also an innovator, establish- ing the Talking Points (formerly Cyber- notes) department, featuring wide-rang- ing reporting on items of interest to the Foreign Service community, as well as periodic FS Heritage and FS Know-How columns. He also conducted 15 exclusive interviews with the winners of AFSA’s annual Lifetime Contributions to Ameri- can Diplomacy Award, and regularly previewed projected content to stimulate contributions from AFSA members. In addition, Steve presided over the magazine’s recent redesign, which by all accounts has been a great success; its ongoing efforts to adapt to the digital LETTERS age; and a more subtle, but still important, change in character from a relatively autono- mous publication (though obviously closely affiliated with AFSA) through which Foreign Ser- vice personnel can express themselves in print, into a policy instrument with closer supervision by, and increasingly spe- cific guidelines from, the AFSA Governing Board. Taking over from Steve will be a big challenge for Associate Editor Shawn Dorman, but her own proven track record with the Journal and FS Books, and the “dream team” she has inherited from Steve, are good omens for success. Ted Wilkinson III FSO, retired Washington, D.C. Happy Trails! I was pleased to learn in the recent Jour- nal of Editor Steve Honley’s departure. I say that only because he is moving on to other pastures. Steve and his colleagues have done an excellent job in bringing a new and active, exciting feel to the Journal . There is not only more content to read, but more of interest. And the balance is good. So thank you, Steve, for the many years you have given the Journal and AFSA. I wish you good fortune in your new adventures. Douglas Watson FSO, retired Arlington, Va . So Much for Merit I was one of the naive souls mentioned by George B. Lambrakis in his Decem- ber 2013 Speaking Out column, “A Plea for Greater Teamwork in the Foreign Service.” In it, he observed that “Failure to manage one’s career in a way that maximizes the chances of rapid promo- tion, and simply trusting the system on its own to reward one’s performance, can now lead to premature retirement.” Failure to cross the Senior Foreign Service threshold led to my own prema- ture and involuntary early retirement in 1993 at the age of 51, a personnel deci- sion that was profoundly wasteful for the Service and the country. The case achieved some notoriety at the time; I publicized it widely. In brief, as an FS-1 political cone officer, I followed my career counselor’s advice to accept an assignment in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs to achieve eligibil- ity to compete for promotion to Officer- Counselor rank in the multifunctional cone. However, before the 1992 promo- tion panels met, the State Department arbitrarily changed its multifunctional criteria in abstruse ways and denied me eligibility to compete in that cone. Thereby disadvantaged, and despite superb efficiency ratings, I was not promoted in the political cone and was involuntarily retired for time-in-class. To be sure, at the time there were other budgetary and legal pressures on the department bearing on total promotion numbers and, within those numbers, opportunities for women and minorities. A sizable cohort of colleagues was caught up in this situation. I grieved the decision, but the Foreign Service Grievance Board (Case No. 93-23, State), eschewing consideration First redesigned Journal, October 2012.