The Foreign Service Journal, April 2013

32 April 2013 | the foreign Service journal our legislative agenda and increase our bargaining leverage with management. Forming a congressional caucus requires two elements: a lead legislator and a compelling, bipartisan issue. For a leader, try Rep- resentative Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. The son of a Foreign Service officer and influential in his party, he has a strong constituent interest in the Foreign Service, given the number of FS families in Montgomery County, Md. (His predecessor, Connie Morella, noted that demographic in a sidebar conversation when I testified before a committee on which she served.) Ask Rep. Van Hollen to assign a staffmember to be the caucus coordinator and to work with AFSA to recruit at least 10 other members, five from each side of the aisle. Then expand the circle from there, based onmember constituent and policy interests. Next, ask him to help recruit a Senate counterpart with whomhe would be comfortable. The compelling issue?The safety of Foreign Service officers, specialists and their families serving abroad. In the wake of the 1998 attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, AFSA deplored the cycle of attention and neglect that character- ized the State Department’s approach to security, a cycle traceable fromBeirut in 1983 to Benghazi in 2012. Foreign Service employees and their families have seen security consistently take a back seat to policy, as soon as the memory of the most recent tragedy begins to fade. The Benghazi Accountability Review Board report stated: “One overall conclusion in this report is that Congress must do its part tomeet this challenge and provide necessary resources to the State Department to address security risks andmeet mission imperatives.” Fromdecades of experience, AFSA can state with confidence that Congress will not do this spontaneously, and the executive branch will not insist that it be done. To remedy this, AFSA should enlist a caucus of senators and representatives willing tomake a sustained commitment to the safety our people. That’s what unions do. Dan Geisler, president of AFSA from 1997 to 1999, is vice president of Eisenhower Fellowships. Year(s) in Office Name Title 2009-present Susan R. Johnson President 2007-2009 John K. Naland President 2005-2007 J. Anthony Holmes President 2003-2005 John W. Limbert President 2001-2003 John K. Naland President 1999-2001 Marshall Adair President 1997-1999 Daniel F. Geisler President 1997 Alphonse F. La Porta President 1993-1997 F.A. “Tex” Harris President 1992-1993 William A. Kirby Jr. President 1991-1992 Hume Horan President 1989-1991 Theodore Wilkinson President June 1987-1989 Perry Shankle President May-June 1987 Frank Young President July 1985-May 1987 Gerald Lamberty President July 1985 Robert Keeley President 1982-July 1985 Dennis K. Hays President July 1981-1982 Charles S. Whitehouse President May-July 1981 Antheas de Rouville President 1980-May 1981 Kenneth Bleakley President 1978-1979 Lars Hydle President 1977 Patricia Woodring President 1976 John D. Hemenway President 1975 Thomas D. Boyatt President Year(s) in Office Name Title 1973-1974 David H. McKillop President William C. Harrop Chairman 1972 Theodore L. Eliot Jr. President William Harrop Chairman 1971 Theodore L. Eliot Jr. President Charles W. Bray III Chairman 1968-1970 Philip Habib President Lannon Walker Chairman 1967 Douglas MacArthur II President David H. McKillop Chairman 1966 U. Alexis Johnson President John H. Stutesman Jr. Chairman 1965 Samuel D. Berger President W.T.M. Beale Chairman 1964 U. Alexis Johnson President Taylor G. Belcher Chairman 1963 Lucius D. Battle President Elbert G. Matthews Chairman 1962 Charles E. Bohlen President William Boswell Chairman 1961 Livingston T. Merchant President William L. Blue Chairman 1960 G. Frederick Reinhart President Thomas S. Estes Chairman Source: www.afsa.org/list_of_afsa_presidents.aspx List of AFSA Presidents (and Chairmen) from 1960 to the Present