The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2012

10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 2 Honoring Public Diplomacy’s Best Successful public diplomacy re- quires leadership, imagination, re- sourcefulness and determination under challenging conditions. Each year the Public Diplomacy Alumni Association (formerly the USIA Alumni Associa- tion) recognizes the achievements of those PD practitioners, whether over- seas or in Washington, D.C., who ex- emplify these qualities. This year’s three winners were feted at PDAA’s 15th annual awards dinner, held on May 6 in Washington, D.C. They are: Heather Grace Eaton , public af- fairs officer at Consulate General Naha since 2010, received an award for in- novative leadership and creativity in advancing U.S. strategic objectives in Okinawa. Operating with limited re- sources in a historically difficult public affairs environment, Ms. Eaton built a collaborative network of American and Japanese civilian and military public diplomacy professionals, educators, li- brarians and volunteers, which she used to expand outreach and refocus programming on core, security-related themes. Sharon Hudson-Dean , counselor for public affairs at Embassy Harare since 2010, was honored for excep- tional courage, creativity and persever- ance in the face of daunting political and communications challenges. She cultivated new, effective platforms for U.S. engagement with Zimbabwean youth, women, opposition groups and hostile media; established bilateral partnerships; achieved exchange alum- ni support for public diplomacy efforts; and harnessed the power of social media to outstanding effect. Jean Manes , director of resources in the Office of Policy, Planning and Resources in the Bureau for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs since 1993, was cited for outstanding initia- tive, insight and determination in lead- ing a thorough strategic review of State Department public diplomacy person- nel and budgets. She effectively advo- cated for public diplomacy resources and field-directed input, and tutored a generation of PDmanagers in building the foundations for long-term resource planning. For more information about the awards and the work of the Public Diplomacy Alumni Association, visit the organization’s Web site ( www. publicdiplomacy.org ). — Steven Alan Honley, Editor Are Federal Workers’ Personal Data Safe? The Federal Retirement Invest- ment Board ( www.tsp.gov ) a n- nounced on May 25 that personal information belonging to more than 120,000 federal employees and other account holders enrolled in the Thrift Savings Plan was accessed last year in a “sophisticated cyberattack.” (As most FSJ readers know, the TSP is a 401(k)- style retirement plan available to active and retired federal employees and uni- formed services personnel. About 4.5 million individuals currently have ac- counts with it.) The names, addresses and Social Security numbers of 43,587 individu- als were in the affected files, along with financial account numbers and routing numbers in some cases. Another group of 79,614 TSP participants had C YBERNOTES N orth Korea always returns evil for good, and the Chinese government always swallows the humiliation and the anger. Who would dare do this to American fishermen? — “The Far Off Time,” a pseudonymous user of www.Weibo.com, a C hinese microblogging site, reacting to North Korea’s seizure of 28 Chinese fishermen; translated and quoted in the May 24 Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com)