The Foreign Service Journal, May 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2013 C AFSA NEWS | 2 1 53 WOMEN IN SECURITY AND DEVELOPMENT FOCUS AFSA NEWS CALENDAR 5/1/2013 12:00 - 2:00 PM AFSA Governing Board Meeting 5/3/2013 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Foreign Affairs Day/AFSA Memorial Plaque Ceremony 5/5/2013 8:00 AM Public Service Recognition Week 5K Run/Walk 5/22/2013 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM AFSA Book Notes: “Master Class” 5/27/2013 Memorial Day: AFSA Offices Closed 6/2 - 6/7/2013 AFSA Road Scholar Program 6/5/2013 12:00 - 2:00 PM AFSA Governing Board Meeting 6/6/2013 9:00 AM Deadline for Completing AFSA Governing Board Online Election Ballot 6/7/2013 12:00 PM Luncheon: Incoming FCS Class 6/27/2013 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM 2013 AFSA Awards Ceremony THE OFFICIAL R CORD OF THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION In March 2010, Anne Smed- inghoff joined the other members of the Department of State’s 151st A-100 class (an orientation program for new Foreign Service officers) at an AFSA recruitment luncheon in Washington, D.C. Typical of these events, the room was filled with conversation, questions and excitement as she and her classmates embarked on their new career. On April 6, a little more than three years later, Anne, 25, was killed in Afghanistan, along with other Americans and Afghans, by a suicide bomber as they attempted to deliver books to a school in Qalat, a town in Zabul province. While on a diplomatic mis- sion in Istanbul, Secretary of State John Kerry said, “Our State Department family is grieving over the loss of one of our own, an exceptional young Foreign Service officer. A brave American who was determined to brighten the light of learning through books written in the native tongue of the students that she had never met, but whom she felt compelled to help. And she was met by cowardly terrorists determined to bring darkness and death to total strangers.” Secretary Kerry had met Anne during his visit to Kabul only a week before. After high school in Oak Park, Ill., a village adjacent Together We Grieve for a Young Foreign Service Officer to the west side of Chicago, Anne attended Johns Hop- kins University, where she graduated with a degree in international relations. She joined the Foreign Service shortly thereafter. Her first posting was Caracas, and before the end of her tour of duty there, she volun- teered for a public diplomacy assignment in Afghanistan, where she was serving as an assistant information officer at the time of her death. “For Anne, the Foreign Service was a calling,” said her parents, Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff, in their statement after her death. “She particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people, and was always looking for oppor- tunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a coun- try ravaged by war. We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world. She died doing a job she thought must be done.” AFSA President Susan R. Johnson added, “During the past year the Foreign Service family has suffered great losses. We grieve today Continued on page 56 On April 6, Foreign Service officer Anne Smedinghoff was killed by a terrorist attack in Afghanistan. Below, a woman signs a memorial board at AFSA. PHOTOBYTOMSMEDINGHOFF BY DONNA AYERST, AFSA NEWS EDITOR PHOTOBY IANHOUSTON