The Foreign Service Journal, March 2020

6 MARCH 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 53 Honoring Early Diplomats and Consular Officers 54 State VP Voice—Being Treated More Like Our Military 55 USAID VP Voice—The FSA: It’s More Than Just an Act 56 Retiree VP Voice—Powerful Tools to Defend the Foreign Service 56 Congress Approves Paid Parental Leave for Federal Employees 57 Support AFSA’s Legal Defense Fund 57 A Letter to AFSA 58 Guidance on the Use of Diplomatic Passports 59 AFSA President Addresses Citizen Groups in Florida 60 2017-2019 AFSA Governing Board Term Report 66 2019 AFSATreasurer’s Report 68 Congress Passes 2020 Appropriations Package, Including 2.6 Percent Pay Increase 68 Hatch Act: What Every Employee Needs to Know 69 Updates to the 2019 AFSATax Guide 70 Remembering Anthony Bishop, AFGE State Vice President AFSA NEWS THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION On the Cover— “Empire Half-Light”(2016), by artist and former FSO Rosemarie Forsythe. Her style mixes matte gem tones with metallics to achieve a look reminiscent of Byzantine icons or 15th-century illuminated manuscripts. For this first piece in her “Empire Twilight” series, she incorporated her declassified reporting cables from 1989-1991 Embassy Moscow. This piece was shown at AFSA’s first FS Artists Show- case Feb. 6 and is now owned by fellow Soviet/Russia specialist Anita Friedt. Both worked with Ambassador (ret.) John Tefft. Marketplace 80 Real Estate 82 Classifieds 84 Index to Advertisers FOREIGN SERVICE 7 President’s Views The Foreign Service Act at 40 By E r i c Ru b i n 9 Letter from the Editor Going Through Things By Sh awn Do rma n 12 Message from the Hill We Need to Upgrade Our Diplomatic Capabilities By Re p re s e n t a t i ve B r i a n J e f f e r y Ma s t Perspectives Departments 10 Letters 14 Talking Points 71 In Memory 76 Books 19 Speaking Out Integrity First By A l a n L a r s o n 85 Reflections Sprint Training for Distance Runners By Ka t i e Ma s t i n 86 Local Lens Cúcuta, Colombia By Ke i t h M i n e s 53