The Foreign Service Journal, March 2023

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2023 17 No other group has as much in common with our military as the Foreign Service, especially in risking their lives abroad to protect our national interests and citizens abroad. —Paul Krizek, Virginia House of Delegates member, in a Dec. 22, 2022, message to constituents about his proposed state budget amendment to expand partial retirement income tax exemptions for FSOs. Contemporary Quote Finally, political appointee Richard R. Verma was nominated to replace Brian McKeon as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources (D/MR). As of this writing in mid-January, AFSA is tracking 29 ambassador vacan- cies around the world, 12 of which do not yet have a nominee. Among the vacancies are major posts such as Italy, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, and India. Rule Change for Special Envoys O n Jan. 3, a new rule went into effect requiring candidates for special envoy positions to be confirmed by the Senate. The rule was intended to close a loophole that allowed administrations to circumvent the confirmation process and quickly select appointees for high- level foreign policy positions. The State Department has more than 50 special envoys including ones for the Arctic, Yemen, the Horn of Africa, and other regions or subject matters that would seem to overlap with the jobs of ambas- sadors or other senior State Department officials. The Biden administration pushed to add more special envoys ahead of the deadline, including Hady Amr, new special representative for Palestinian affairs; Kelly Fay Rodríguez, special representative for international labor affairs; and Abby Finkenauer, special envoy for global youth issues. On Jan. 24, President Biden also nominated Julie Turner, the current director of the Office of East Asia and the Pacific in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, to be the first special envoy for human rights in North Korea since 2017. On Jan. 4, the State Department announced the creation of the Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology. Former NSC historian Seth Center was selected as deputy envoy; he will report to Ambas- sador-at-Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy Nate Fick. Attention Parents: Special Needs Education Allowance Update T he State Department approved amendments to the Special Needs Education Allowance (SNEA) section of the Department of State Standardized Regulations (DSSR 270), effective Nov. 20, 2022. The amendments are intended to increase transparency and to make it easier to calculate the rate of the allow- ance. The full current DSSR is available on the Office of Allowances’ internal and external website, with all recent updates indicated by an asterisk. The Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) 3280 Special Needs Education Allowance revisions outline SNEA application timelines, documentation requirements, eligible services, and the appeals process. AFSA inquired about the changes to SNEA implementation and was able to confirm that the changes would not result in less SNEA funding available to Foreign Service members and families. For more, AFSA members can go to the members page on the AFSA website. Contact AllowancesO@state.gov with general questions; for questions specific to your family situation, contact MED/ CFP at MEDCFP@state.gov . Font Modernization A January cable from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the department made headlines with its headline. “The Times (New Roman) Are A-changin’” announced a department- wide change from Times New Roman to 14-point Calibri as the font of choice for all official department communications. While this change might seem trivial, it is part of an effort to be more inclusive: The change was recommended by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion because Calibri is easier to read for people with disabilities who rely on screen readers and other adaptive technology. It’s a move in the right direction for the department. But will it last? Microsoft announced in April 2021 that it would soon be phasing out Calibri in favor of five new custom fonts, one of which will replace Calibri as the default font. Watch this space for more. Former Hostages to Receive Congressional Gold Medal O n Dec. 27, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law H.R. 1179, which provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to the 53 hostages of the Iran