The Foreign Service Journal, April 2004

10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 4 L E T T E R S Last year I met an American grad- uate student at the University of Malta doing a dissertation on diplo- macy and dissent. In briefly dis- cussing the topic with her, I learned that she was not aware that the U.S. Foreign Service has a dissent channel and that people can actually receive awards for constructive dissent, some- thing she was then able to further research and include in her paper. Keep up the good work! Erik Holm-Olsen Public Affairs Officer American Embassy Valletta Retirement Age Disconnect Many Foreign Service employees who fall under the (new) FSPS pen- sion plan do not appear to realize the disconnect between the Foreign Ser- vice mandatory retirement age of 65 and the “full retirement age” at which they are eligible to collect full Social Security benefits. Social Security ben- efits are reduced by 6 2 / 3 percent for every year less than the full retirement age at which a person retires. A useful table, entitled “Age to Receive Full Social Security Bene- fits,” can be found on the Social Security Administration’s Web site at www.socialsecurity.gov. I raised the problem of the age dis- connect at a 1999 town meeting at Embassy Port-au-Prince chaired by then-Director General Edward W. Gnehm, Jr. I have also brought the issue up several times in the past with AFSA. To date, nobody has taken a serious interest in trying to address and correct this disconnect. The stock answer is that most FS members retire before they reach age 65, or that Social Security is broke, so whatever the case, the problem is academic. I intend to work as a Foreign Service officer until I reach age 65. With the fallout of the 2000-2003 bear market and its effect on Thrift Savings Plan balances, I assume there are quite a few other officers over age