The Foreign Service Journal, May 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2020 69 a result of what his supervisors regarded as insubordination, but he was sanguine about never becoming an ambassador. He was identified for selection-out based on a claim that he was not producing enough reporting—even as the embassy refused to disseminate his cables—but an independent review overturned that finding. In 1984, AFSA presented Tex with the William R. Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent by a Mid-Level Officer for the “courage, strength of character and dedication to the Foreign Service” he demonstrated in Buenos Aires. The award specified that Harris displayed not only “physical courage” in the face of credible threats to his and his family’s lives, but “bureaucratic courage to stand up for what was right despite unnecessary obstacles placed in his way.” And in 1993, with the benefit of 15 years of historical hind- sight, the State Department conferred the Distinguished Honor Award on Tex for his reporting from Argentina. The damage was done, however. Although his Foreign Service career would last another 20 years after Buenos Aires, it was effectively stalled. His commitment to truth-telling continued during a detail to the Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1980s. Tex was the first person Anne Gorsuch, President Ronald Reagan’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator, fired for his efforts as head of the International Activities Office to ban chlo- rofluorocarbons, which were destroying atmospheric ozone. Overseas, he served in Durban and Melbourne, his final posting, where he was consul general. He retired from the For- eign Service in 1999. From Young Turk to “Mr. AFSA” In announcing his passing, AFSA rightly hailed Tex Harris as “one of the most consequential individuals in the history of the association, and a man who defined the term ‘larger than life.’” Over the past 50 years, Tex made enormous contributions to AFSA and the Foreign Service. In 1969 he joined with fellow “Young Turks” Lannon Walker, Charles Bray, Herman “Hank” Cohen and others to ensure that American diplomats had a clear voice in establishing the standards for their profession, and that AFSA was an institution that would defend both the Service and its members. As an attorney, Tex was AFSA’s in-house counsel in the early to mid-1970s. He went on to serve as vice president for the State Department constituency on the Governing Board from 1973 to 1976, during which time he worked with WilliamHarrop and Thomas Boyatt to turn AFSA into an effective union representing all Foreign Service employees. He was instrumental in drafting and negotiating the core labor-management agreements in the foreign affairs agencies, and was one of the four drafters of the 1976 legislation that led to the Foreign Service grievance system. He served two terms as AFSA president, from 1993 to 1997, fighting against reductions in force at USAID, government shutdowns, the appointment of unqualified political ambas- sadors and major management abuses (such as classifying dip- lomatic security protective detail agents as “managers” to avoid payment of millions of dollars of overtime). He succeeded in gaining significant benefit increases for service overseas. After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1999, Tex contin- ued his close involvement with AFSA. In 2000, he was instru- mental in the creation of the F. Allen “Tex” Harris Award for Constructive Dissent by a Foreign Service Specialist, to bring the same recognition to specialists for their intellectual cour- age as the association had been giving Foreign Service officers for more than three decades. The criteria for the Harris Award are phrased in a way that define his life and legacy: “To take an unpopular stand, to go out on a limb, or to stick his/her neck out in a way that involves some risk.” The AFSA membership elected Tex to multiple terms in the 2000s and 2010s as secretary and as a retiree representative— enabling him to continue contributing to setting AFSA’s agenda and policies. Continuing to Make a Difference For many years, Tex ran a one-man listserv, “AFSATEX,” and was active in several of AFSA’s sister organizations that work to advance the interests of the Foreign Service. He served several terms on the board of directors of the Association for Diplo- matic Studies and Training, and produced the ADST video/ podcast series Tales of American Diplomacy , which screened its first “TAD Talk” episode on C-Span in November 2019. Tex was also the host of the Foreign Affairs Retirees of Maryland and D.C. until his death. Tex Harris, one of the most consequential individuals in AFSA’s history, showed what professional diplomacy can accomplish in the face of internal and external opposition.