The Foreign Service Journal, April 2004

Recognizing Colleagues I commend Louise Crane on her AFSA News commentary “Shaddupa Ya Face” in the January issue. Her message should become a mantra for all of us. I agree wholeheartedly that we owe it to each other and to the health and vitality of the Foreign Service to express pride of profession in the face of public criticism and across all cones. AFSA has been instrumental, especially in its work on the Hill, in strengthening the image as well as the backbone of the Foreign Service. I remember from early in my career how hard my consular col- leagues worked, from Tehran to Warsaw to Manila. They not only had to staff the visa line, but after it closed, they spent many more hours process- ing their cases. They invariably stayed late and worked on weekends. They used their language training all the time in dealing with different kinds of applicants. They handled “congres- sionals,” letters from members of Congress asking why a relative of a constituent had been denied a visa. Our consular colleagues were some- times second-guessed by an ambas- sador if they denied a visa to someone well connected to the host govern- ment. This was demoralizing, because it called their judgment into question. I also remember the hard work of our management colleagues, especial- ly in Afghanistan after Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed. The entire American and international commu- nity was in shock. An evacuation of all dependents and non-essential people was ordered, and the task of helping them leave post fell to our manage- ment colleagues. Evacuations have become more common in recent years, ensuring even more work for management employees. Diplomatic and regional security officers at post have taken on increas- ing burdens to strengthen security measures and work with host country L E T T E R S 8 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