The Foreign Service Journal, April 2018

32 APRIL 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL I n 2015 the AFSA Governing Board affirmed the Journal ’s editorial independence. The Journal Today Shawn Dorman was selected for the editor-in-chief posi- tion in late 2013, when Steve Honley stepped down, taking up the post in January 2014. She expanded the occasional letter from the editor into a monthly feature aiming to frame each issue, especially the focus theme of the month. The Journal has continued to take on sensitive topics of con- cern to its members. With the demise of the Secretary’s Open Forum (born in 1967, abandoned and left for dead around 2002), the Journal in many cases serves as the only space for public dis- cussion within the Service of such issues as expeditionary diplomacy (September 2011) , managing risk and security after Benghazi (May 2015) or the militarization of dipl o- macy (June 2017) . In Dorman’s words, the Jour- nal “aims to shine a light where light is needed.” The Journal , she says, “occupies a unique space as the publication that puts a Foreign Service and diplomacy lens on the issues of the day.” She sees the magazine as a vehicle for sparking discussion and debate about the role of diplomacy and development, and, when possible, advancing the conversation inside and outside the Service. In 2015 the AFSA Governing Board affirmed the Journal ’s editorial independence, although no serious disagreements have emerged since then to put the proposition to the test. On the contrary: if AFSA is the voice of the Foreign Service, the Journal has been its megaphone. AFSA President Barbara Stephenson used her December 2017 “President’s Views” column to call attention to the erosion of the senior ranks of the Foreign Service and to ask, “Where is the mandate to pull the Foreign Service team from the field and forfeit the game to our adversaries?” The column, released before its official publication, was widely read and quoted, revealing a depth of congressional and public support for diplomacy and the career Foreign Service that few knew or believed existed. Representative Tim Walz (D-Minn.) cited it in a piece he wrote for the January-February 2018 Journal , “Dear For- eign Service: We’ve Got Your Back.” Walz’s message was the first of a planned series from members of Congress, whose bylines had been almost wholly absent from the Journal since 2000. In March, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) offered his “Mes- sage from the Hill,” calling for a national conversation about the role of the United States in the world. In 2017 AFSA completed the digitiza- tion of the Journal ’s back issues, from March 1919 on, all of which are now available in a searchable archive at www. afsa.org/fsj-archive. Making this trove accessible to researchers, policy professionals and the public will help to dispel the widespread igno- rance and misunderstanding of the U.S. Foreign Service and what it does. But Foreign Service people should take a word of warning from the writer of this article: Poking around in the archive will stir the sediment of memory in ways that are informative, revelatory, provocative and habit- forming. Today The Foreign Service Journal has a print circulation of about 18,000 copies, and a digital edition, acces-