The Foreign Service Journal, June 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2014 53 AFSA NEWS On April 14, AFSA leaders met with Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss AFSA priorities and areas of mutual concern. AFSA officials began by thanking Secretary Kerry for his efforts to ensure that nearly 1,800 Foreign Service employees recommended for promotion, tenure and appointment were finally confirmed by the Senate. They noted that AFSA looks forward to working with his team to advance the nomina- tions of those career officers still awaiting Senate confir- mation to senior positions, AFSA Leaders Meet Secretary Kerry between USAID and State further exacerbate the problem. There were also a signifi- cant number of complaints from FSOs overseas that the ICASS consolidation system is highly unfavorable toward USAID needs. Looking into this issue, we found that the worldwide ICASS surveys do not show USAID’s reporting of dis- satisfaction to be significant enough to trigger corrective actions. However, we will investigate further to find out what the threshold for cor- rective action is. The ICASS survey is based on a 1–5 rating scale. Generally, State custom- ers ranked everything 4.1 or better, whereas USAID averages came in at 3.6, Commerce at 3.5 and Agri- culture at 3.8. USAID FSOs need to keep this in mind for the next ICASS survey. If anyone believes the ICASS survey needs readjusting to ensure it captures accurate USAID feedback, please send suggestions to my attention ( swayne@usaid.gov) . Leadership sets the tone of any organization. As the “Voice of the Foreign Ser- vice,” AFSA will continue to engage management on these issues. It is my hope that current leadership will choose to accept these results for what they are: valuable feedback on which to act to make this agency better. n –Sharon Wayne, AFSA USAID VP Finally, the AFSA team noted the launch of the 2014 Quadren- nial Diplomacy and Develop- ment Review; the Secretary said he wel- comed AFSA’s input into the conversation. AFSA President Silver- man was delighted with what he called a positive and productive meeting. He added: “AFSA looks forward to continuing our partnership AFSA President Bob Silverman talks with Secretary of State John Kerry. JEFFLAU DEPARTMENTOFSTATE both overseas and in the department. While on the subject of Congress, they reiterated AFSA’s desire to achieve permanent congressional authorization of Overseas Comparability Pay. Sec. Kerry said he supported that effort. Next, the AFSA team stressed the importance of fully funding language instruction and security awareness training, both to enhance professionalism and to keep Foreign Service employees safe overseas and protect their ability to engage with host-country contacts. with Sec. Kerry and his senior leadership as we continue to celebrate the 90th anniver- sary of the Foreign Service and AFSA.” n –Julian Steiner, AFSA Staff