AFSA NEWS 62 MAY-JUNE 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Service Disrupted Continued from page 58 Members of the Foreign Service community gathered in front of the White House during AFSA’s May 9, 2025, Solidarity Walk. AFSA/JOAQUIN SOSA from former Deputy Secretary of State and CIA Director Ambassador Bill Burns. Burns warned that weakening America’s diplomatic institutions would inevitably weaken the country itself, echoing the campaign’s central premise: The Foreign Service is a living institution whose health directly affects the nation’s ability to navigate crises, build alliances, and advance U.S. interests peacefully. In each edition over the past year, The Foreign Service Journal has published a Service Disrupted collection featuring member stories from the front lines of the dismantling of USAID, the realities they faced at post as a result of RIFs, illegal firings, and the 43-day government shutdown in 2025, all of which made it harder to assist U.S. businesses and citizens overseas, halt disease outbreaks, and conduct other important work of the Foreign Service. The campaign’s first live panel discussion, held on July 1, 2025, featured AFSA USAID Vice President Randy Chester and former AFSA Governing Board USAGM Representative and VOA Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman for a candid conversation about the human and institutional toll of the agency closures. Chester described the loss of development expertise as “generational,” while Herman recounted how Voice of America’s 83 years of continuous broadcasting came to an abrupt halt in March 2025, leaving audiences in some countries wondering whether a coup had taken place. Over time, Service Disrupted evolved into a sustained effort to explain, document, and challenge the accelerating disruptions facing the Foreign Service. The campaign framed these developments not as isolated administrative reforms but as part of a broader pattern of hiring freezes, sweeping reductions-in-force, dismantling of institutions, and executive orders that stripped away long-standing collective bargaining protections. AFSA recognized early that defending its members required public engagement, historical context, and an honest accounting of consequences. “From the beginning, we understood that these weren’t isolated events,” Gamer said. “When you look at the pattern of hiring freezes, dismantled agencies, workforce reductions— the cumulative impact on the Foreign Service becomes impossible to ignore. That’s why we felt it was so important to document what our members were experiencing and put real data behind those stories.” On September 4, 2025, AFSA held its second Service Disrupted webinar, examining the July 11 mass layoffs at the State Department. AFSA President John Dinkelman, himself laid off after 37 years of service, and AFSA State Vice President Ro Nepal described a process that was abrupt, arbitrary, and disconnected from merit. The layoffs triggered a devastating brain drain of critical language skills and regional as well as technical expertise, compounded by a deepening culture of fear in which officers were increasingly reluctant to provide honest reporting for fear of being seen as disloyal. “It is one thing to try to repair things,” Dinkelman said. “It’s another to burn down the house in order to fix it.” On November 20, AFSA held another virtual event exploring the accelerating war on federal labor unions. The conversation brought together labor historian Joseph McCartin, AFSA General Counsel Sharon Papp, and AFGE Deputy General Counsel Thomas Dargan, who explained how this bipartisan system, designed to ensure professional accountability and stable institutional performance, was strained to the breaking point. AFSA’s advocacy extended beyond public programming. On December 3, the association released its landmark report, “At the Breaking Point: The State of the U.S. Foreign Service in 2025.” The report documents the lived experience behind the headlines: collapsing morale, disrupted assignments, policy uncertainty, and mounting concern about whether the Service could continue to fulfill its mission.
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