The Foreign Service Journal, March 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2020 63 AFSA NEWS to FY2019 and is poised to increased that funding again by more than $500 million in a final FY2020 funding bill. AFSA also convinced Con- gress to encourage the State Department to establish more FSO positions overseas in the House and Senate FY2020 SFOPS appropria- tions reports. AFSA received the backing of the business community (96 organiza- tions) in a letter to Secre- tary of State Mike Pompeo supporting a field-forward Foreign Service. More broadly, AFSA has helped ward off proposed cuts to the international affairs budget—three years in a row—and many of the criti- cal operational appropriations accounts for Foreign Service agencies have even increased. This included the reversal of the decade-long decline in funding for core diplomatic capability (decreased 2008 to 2018) in FY2019. AFSA also successfully advocated for Congress to establish a floor for Foreign Service staff levels at State/ USAID in the final FY19 appropriations package, a floor that State/USAID are encouraged to hire above. AFSA’s advocacy also focused on shaping the first House State Authorization bill in six years. The Depart- ment of State Authoriza- tion Act and other pieces of legislation with AFSA input, such as the Championing American Business Through Diplomacy Act, have passed the House, and our efforts continue to focus on the Sen- ate’s passage of these bills with the hope that they will become law someday. Finally, AFSA worked with Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) to establish the Senate Foreign Service Cau- cus, which provides a direct channel to communicate with interested Hill staff on issues regarding the Foreign Service. Media and Communications AFSA’s media posture changed significantly dur- ing this period. As official agencies cut back on media interaction, AFSA found itself being increasingly sought out by national media outlets. Media engagements— whether on the record, on background or connecting Foreign Service experts to journalists—exceeded 250. AFSA’s media profile may have reached an all-time high. This higher profile has given the association a great oppor- tunity to get our messaging out to a national audience, beyond the Beltway, and to our own membership. AFSA’s website under- went a revamp in 2019, which resulted in a fresh, clean look and a firewall for certain content. As a result, the website has become a more important benefit of AFSA membership, as most of the association’s original con- tent, including guidance and information, is now available only to those who can log in as members. On social media, we con- tinue to increase our follower numbers and engagements. This rise has been particu- larly noteworthy on Twitter, where we more than doubled A still shot from AFSA’s “Economic Diplomacy” video. Speakers at the Athenaeum Hotel in Chautauqua, N.Y., for AFSA’s Sept. 30-Oct. 5, 2019, Road Scholar program. From left to right: Ambassador (ret.) Robert Gribbin, Ambassador (ret.) Shari Villarosa, Ambassador (ret.) Deborah Jones, AFSA President Ambassador Barbara Stephenson, Ambassador (ret.) Robin Raphel and Ambassador (ret.) Shaun Donnelly. AFSA/ÁSGEIRSIGFÚSSON AFSA NEWS GOVERNING BOARD REPORT 2017-19