The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2006

72 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / J U L Y - A UGU S T 2 0 0 6 A F S A N E W S D issent does not always mean say- ing no or sending a Dissent Channel message. What first- tour officer Christopher C. Allison did was challenge the status quo and ask dif- ficult questions, as well as suggest solu- tions for a problem he saw in the pro- cessing of temporary-worker visas in South India. His efforts led to positive changes in H-1B visa processing. For constructively challenging the status quo, Christopher C. Allison was selected for the 2006W. Averell Harriman Award. While working in the fraud pre- vention unit in a traditionally high- fraud environment, Allison discov- ered that many questionable H-1B temporary-worker visa petitions seen by Consulate Chennai were being approved by Department of Homeland Security officers even though some petitioners appeared not to have the required job waiting for them in the U.S. The practice was not clearly definable as fraud, and the Foreign Affairs Manual states that consular officers are not allowed to re-adjudicate a DHS peti- tion approval. Consular officers may, however, return problematic cases for review if new information unavailable to the DHS approving officer at the time of the approval arises later. Allison went to work trying to fix the system. He worked with the consular fraud unit at the Kentucky Consular Center, the H-1B visa desk officer in the Bureau of Consular Affairs and contacts he had made within DHS to determine what, if any- thing, he could do regarding such cases. Through that coopera- tion, he was able to target his interviewing and bring out new information. The interagency discussions led to efforts by DHS colleagues to improve their temporary worker visa processing. It would have been easy for Allison to say that the law prohibited re-adjudi- cation of DHS decisions and to con- clude that it was too hard to fight the system. Consulate Chennai’s workload is notoriously heavy, and taking the time to pursue this course meant lots of extra work with the possibility of no change at all in procedures. “Chris’s willingness to ask questions and not just accept the status quo, while at the same time working within the system,” notes the colleague who nominated him, “is an example of how one per- son can make a big difference.” Allison is finishing up his first tour in Chennai. He tells AFSA News that the work he did “would not have been possible without the active encouragement of my super- visors and the support and assistance of my colleagues at post, particularly the other H-1B adjudicators and the outstanding fraud prevention unit staff.” His next post is Tokyo, for another consular tour. Chennai consular officers (from left) Franc Shelton, Hilary Dauer and Chris Allison promoting grass-roots diplomacy at the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, India. W. Averell HarrimanAward FOR AN ENTRY-LEVEL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER Christopher C. Allison AFSA’S 2006 DISSENT AWARD WINNERS Allison and his wife, Beth Rollins, riding in an autorickshaw in Mysore, India. Allison contemplating the Lisbon skyline while on R&R in 2005.