The Foreign Service Journal, May 2003

M any of you are already get- ting ready to come back to the Washington area for a new assignment this summer. So I would like to take this opportunity to invite active and retired Foreign Service employees from all foreign affairs agencies to nominate them- selves or colleagues for a two- year term on the Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board beginning in September. Because of normal turnover and moves abroad, the Board expects to have at least three vacancies this fall. Board members set the general editorial direction of the Journal , in consultation with the AFSA Govern- ing Board and editorial staff. They evaluate submitted manuscripts, choose future focus topics, and weigh in on other matters affecting the Journal ’s style, substance and process. Please note that board members must be able to attend monthly mid- day meetings in Washington and should be able to devote several hours a month to reading articles and con- sidering other Journal -related matters. If interested, please get in touch by June 1 with me (preferably by e-mail: honley@afsa.org), se nding some infor- mation about yourself (or the col- league you are nominating) and explaining why you would like to serve. The Editorial Board will evalu- ate the candidates and propose a list to the incoming AFSA Governing Board for approval. Editors are trained to smooth the transitions between sections of an arti- cle or column. But we were recently confronted with the kind of abrupt ending that even the best-chosen words just can’t fix. In mid-March, we learned of the untimely death of retired FSO Arnold Schifferdecker, who, among many other distinctions, was chairman of the Foreign Service Journal Editorial Board. You will find an “Appreciation” of Arnie on page 51 of this issue, but I would like to say here how grateful I am to have had the privilege and the pleasure of working with him, both at the Journal and when we served together as FSOs on the Board of Examiners nine years ago. Arnie was — to quote a phrase I’ve heard many others use about him — the “very model of a Foreign Service officer.” He will be sorely missed. On a brighter note, I’d like to remind you of the focus section topics our Editorial Board has identified for this fall (the summer issues are already largely set) and invite you to con- tribute articles or Speaking Out columns addressing them: SEPTEMBER Foreign Service Specialists OCTOBER Judicial Issues and Diplomatic Tradecraft NOVEMBER “In Their Own Write” DECEMBER The World Politics of Energy As you can see, most of these themes relate directly to Foreign Service professional and lifestyle issues, so I hope many of you (par- ticularly specialists) will consider sharing your insights and expertise on them with your colleagues. For the “In Their Own Write” compilation, we invite Foreign Service-affiliated authors who have had a book published either by a commercial or academic publisher in the past two years (2002-2003) that has not previously been fea- tured in the roundup, to send a copy of the book, along with a press release or backgrounder with informa- tion on the author, to Associate Editor Susan Maitra. The deadline for inclu- sion is Sept. 1; please contact Susan directly at maitra@afsa.org w ith any questions. Finally, I hope you will keep in mind that the Speaking Out column is your forum to advocate policy, regulatory or statutory changes to the Foreign Service. These can be based on personal experience with an injustice or your insights into a foreign affairs-related issue. Please note that all submissions to the Journal must be approved by our Editorial Board and are subject to editing for style, length and format. For information on how to submit a column, article or letter, please con- tact us at journal@afsa.org an d we will be delighted to respond. Let us hear from you. M A Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 7 L ETTER FROM THE E DITOR