The Foreign Service Journal, June 2005

V.P. VOICE: STATE BY LOUISE CRANE The Foreign Service Profession in a 3-D Environment A retiree recently wrote to me to complain that while I appeared to spend a lot of time on the nuts and bolts like locality pay and allowances for the active-duty, he thought I had neglected the “professional development” side of my portfolio and AFSA’s mission. Well, I disagree. However, I have apparently failed to explain all that AFSA has been doing to enhance the Foreign Service’s capabili- ties to conduct diplomacy in the 21st century. A lot has happened in the past four years, and several of the changes resulted from AFSA initiatives. “Fair Share” is one. This rule requires a Foreign Service member who is bidding and who has not served in a hardship post for the past six years to include hardship posts in his/her bid list. The depart- ment has adopted fair share and has tightened the rules. But fair share was never going to fill the one-half of our posts that are classified as 15-percent-or-greater hard- ship. Fair-share bidders average only 500 a year and a lot of them opt for domes- tic assignments. AFSA argued for a hardship requirement for promotion. Management liked it and adopted it. It first ruled that hardship duty was a requirement for crossing the threshold for current FS-1s. Then it added duty at a 15-percent-or-higher post as a requirement for FS-2s and below. This requirement recognizes that the Foreign Service lives up to its advertising as being “worldwide available,” and it also recognizes the reality of this cen- tury thus far— the world is a difficult and dangerous place. AFSA never liked multifunctionality, which allowed certain employees in out- of-cone jobs to be considered, once “certified” eligible, for promotion by another, “multifunctional” board. A quick glance at the promotion statistics shows that those who criticizedmultifunctionality as favoring the political cone were right. Classwide competition has replacedmutlifunctionality, and AFSA applauds this change. This is partnered with an HR-conceived career development model which requires gen- eralists to secure assignments outside their cones —whether on the Hill, over at an NGO or in a global bureau or another cone. The choice is wide and applies to all. No one has to be certified to compete for promotion classwide. The goal is to have a Foreign Service corps that is more broad gauged than pre- viously, when specialization was the rage. Our rising generalists will have a wider knowledge of issues beyond the confines of their home bureaus and home cone. This new career development model also rewards employees for improving their language skills, whether it’s acquiring a second language, or bringing their current one to the 4/4-or-higher level. AFSA appreciates that the department has includ- ed it as a partner in the conversations and discussions onwhat is amomentous change to the traditional Foreign Service career model. To AFSA and department management alike, these changes to the classic Foreign Service professional model recognize two realities. One is that as the world grows more complex, so do the diplomatic issues our Foreign Service is called upon to address. The other reality is that it’s not a tea party out there: all too often we are called upon to work and live in a 3-D environment, where life is difficult, danger- ous and dirty. These changes to our profession recognize this early-21st-century reality. r JUNE 2005 • AFSA NEWS 5 The TEX HARRIS AWARD , for a Foreign Service specialist: F. Scott Gallo , Regional Security Officer, Embassy Nairobi Runners-up: Timothy W. Alexandre , Embassy Kabul; and Marilynne Bonner , Embassy Pretoria EXEMPLARY SERVICE AWARDS These awards, which recognize exem- plary performance and extraordinary contributions to professionalism, morale and effectiveness are: The AVIS BOHLEN AWARD , for a Foreign Service family member: LisaK. Vershbow , EmbassyMoscow Runner-up: Fatima Goodspeed , Embassy Amman The DELAVAN AWARD , for extraordi- nary contributions by an Office Management Specialist: Nancy Alain , Embassy Baghdad Runner-up: Anissa A. Hanson , Embassy Cairo The M. JUANITA GUESS AWARD , for outstanding service as a Community Liaison officer: Marilyn Tarter and Catherine McSherry , Embassy Bangkok Runner-up: Ceres C. Busa , Embassy Addis Ababa AFSA SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD David Dlouhy , Director, Office of Retirement This year, AFSA is honoring Office of Retirement Director DavidDlouhy with a special achievement award, in appre- ciation for his leadership in improving retiree services at theDepartment of State. AFSA greatly appreciates the efforts of all those who sent in nominations or served on a panel this year. A warm thank-you also goes to Director General W. Robert Pearson for co-sponsoring our annual awards ceremony, which is open to any employee wishing to attend. Articles about the award winners will appear in the July/August Journal. r Awards • Continued from page 1