The Foreign Service Journal, April 2013

the Foreign Service journal | April 2013 31 When the bill was called up, AFSA enlisted Senator Paul Sar- banes, D-Md., to speak against it on the floor, using points AFSA provided, in detailed, persuasive terms. That intervention effec- tively killed the Helms initiative. AFSA was also the voice of the Foreign Service community on the Hill in the wake of the August 1998 bombing of our mis- sions in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. We were asked to testify alongside Admiral William Crowe, chair of the Accountability Review Board formed after that tragedy, and used that forum to point out how the department’s management policies had AFSA has a lively tradition of advocacy on behalf of the Foreign Service on Capitol Hill. Here is a sampling of recent activity. Top left: AFSA Executive Director Ian Houston, AFSA USAID VP Francisco Zamora and former AFSA Presidents John Naland and Dennis Hays with Sen. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., in 2008. Top right: American Academy of Diplomacy President Ambassador Ron Neumann and AFSA President Susan Johnson testify on Foreign Service staffing in the Senate on March 8, 2011. Second row left: USAID VP Francisco Zamora, Ian Houston, former AFSA President F.A. “Tex” Harris, former AFSA President Tom Boyatt and former AFSA State VP and board member Willard De Pree with Senator Richard Lugar, R-Ind., recipient of AFSA’s Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy in 2007. Second row right: Ian Houston, Rep. Christopher Van Hollen, D-Md., and former AFSA President Tony Holmes. Bottom left: John Naland and Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. (now a senator), in 2007. Bottom right upper: Former AFSA State VP Steve Kashkett testifies in Congress on PTSD in June 2007. Bottom right lower: Jim Kolbe, former representative from Arizona and now adviser on foreign policy to the German Marshall Fund of the United States, with AFSA President Susan Johnson and Ian Houston in 2012. FSJ Photo Archives and Josh Dorman exacerbated the losses we suffered—much to the dismay of the senior State Department officials who were sitting behind us waiting to testify. A Foreign Service Caucus The 40-year mark is a golden opportunity to expand AFSA’s profile on the Hill. One concrete step would be to persuade sym- pathetic representatives and senators fromboth parties to organize formal House and Senate caucuses of legislators who are interested in supporting American diplomats, and then use them to advance