The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2013 7 s I complete my fourth and final year as AFSA president, I have been reflecting on what we have achieved together and on the challenges and opportunities ahead. I do so with a strong sense of the honor it has been to lead AFSA and to represent the Foreign Service. Service on the AFSA Governing Board has been an evenmore important responsibility than I had antici- pated, but it has also been highly satisfying and rewarding. In carrying out my responsibilities, I have been indebted to current and past boardmembers, committee chairs and members, and AFSA’s professional staff for their cooperation and support. I also want to thank the many members who have been regular correspondents, providing information, feedback and good sugges- tions. Your wealth of professional expe- rience and individual perspectives are inspiring and have helped advance AFSA’s fundamental mission: promoting a strong, professional career Foreign Service and thereby strengthening American diplo- macy and our nation’s interests. The professional career Foreign Service that I amproud to belong to will cel- ebrate its 90th anniversary next year. That milestone should inspire all of us to reflect upon the history and future of our institu- tion, as well as the challenges that all foreign affairs agencies face. Looking through the prism of my four years at AFSA’s helm, I see more clearly than ever that those challenges demand a Foreign Service of the high- est standards, one equipped to advance American diplomacy and provide the capacity that our Secretaries of State and presidents need. In that quest, we should always strive tomeet the aspirations set forth in the 1980 Foreign Service Act. That landmark legislation stipulates that “a career Foreign Service, characterized by excellence and professionalism, is essential to the national interest” andmust be “preserved, strengthened and improved to carry out its mission effectively in response to the complex challenges of modern diplomacy and international relations.” It also calls for a Senior Foreign Service “characterized by strong policy formulation capabilities, out- standing leadership qualities, and highly developed functional, foreign language and area expertise.” Toward that end, we need to nurture a culture of excellence and esprit de corps based on shared values and self- confidence, which are the attributes of a premier diplomatic service. Inmy previous columns, I have tried to consistently highlight the issues that shape the Foreign Service and the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Devel- opment, the Foreign Commercial Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, and the International Broadcasting Bureau—and are therefore central to AFSA’s agenda. I have also called on AFSA to use its voice to identify and advocate for the cultural and organizational changes that will strengthen the Foreign Service and American diplomacy. We must shift frombeing reactive to innovative, from resisting change to embracing and shaping it, and from ignoring the need for new approaches to professional education and training to seeking themout and valuing them. Finally, rather than pretending that they don’t exist, we must address institutional weaknesses and deficiencies with resolve and confidence. The Quadrennial Diplo- macy and Development process must focus on increasing Foreign Service profes- sionalism andmaking the Department of State the primary vehicle of American diplomacy. AFSAmust be involved in the QDDR process to bring about reform and restructuring grounded in our experience. With those goals inmind, the cur- rent AFSA Governing Board identified four strategic issues in a January letter to Secretary of State John Kerry which are worth recapping here: security/diplomacy and effective risk management and the imperative for continued engagement in the field; strengthening professional education and training in the practice of diplomacy; tangible recognition and fair compensation for the Foreign Service; and institutional reform and restructuring to ensure that the Foreign Service and State are institutions consistently capable of complex diplomacy. I leave the office of AFSA president with confidence that the incoming board will build on and carry forward what has been achieved. I urge AFSAmembers, wherever they may be, to come together in support of a strong and revitalized United States Foreign Service. n Passing the Baton BY SUSAN R . JOHNSON PRESIDENT’S VIEWS A Susan R. Johnson is the president of the American Foreign Service Association.