The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2014

14 JULY-AUGUST 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA Scholarship AFSA.org/Scholar Clements Worldwide clements.com Diplomatic Automobile diplosales.com Embassy Risk Management embassyrisk.com The Hirshorn Company hirshorn.com/USFS McGrath Real Estate Services homesdatabase.com/jimmc- grath PROMAX Management Inc. promaxrealtors.com WJD Management wjdpm.com I think Americans have learned that it’s harder to end wars than it is to begin them. Yet this is how wars end in the 21st century: not through signing ceremonies, but through decisive blows against our adversaries, transitions to elected governments and security forces who take the lead and, ultimately, full responsibility. We remain committed to a sovereign, secure, stable and unified Afghanistan. And toward that end, we will continue to support Afghan-led efforts to promote peace in their coun- try through reconciliation. We have to recognize that Afghanistan will not be a perfect place, and it is not America’s responsibility to make it one. The future of Afghanistan must be decided by Afghans. But what the United States can do—what we will do—is secure our interests and help give the Afghans a chance, an opportunity to seek a long-overdue and hard-earned peace. —President Barack Obama, speaking at the White House on May 27 following his return from Afghanistan. Contemporary Quote covert activities threatens the present participants and future potential of much of what we undertake internationally to improve health and provide humanitar- ian assistance. As public health academic leaders, we hereby urge you to assure the public that this type of practice will not be repeated.” In the spring of 2014, the World Health Organization and others reported polio outbreaks in at least 10 countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the majority in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Ministry of Health, in accordance with WHO guidance, began requiring all travelers leaving Pakistan to show proof of polio vaccination on June 1. On May 16, the White House responded to the public health school deans and shared the response with th e media. The memo, from Lisa O. Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, says: “The United States strongly supports the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and efforts to end the spread of the polio virus forever. In response to your January 2013 letter to the president expressing concern about the safety of vaccination workers, I wanted to inform you that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency directed in August 2013 that the agency make no operational use of vaccination programs, which includes vaccination workers. “Similarly, the agency will not seek to obtain or exploit DNA or other genetic material acquired through such pro- grams. This CIA policy applies worldwide and to U.S. and non-U.S. persons alike.” CIA Director John Brennan made the decision, according to CIA spokesman Todd Ebitz, because he “took seriously the concerns raised by the public health community. By publicizing this policy, our objective it so dispel one canard that militant groups have used as justification for cowardly attacks against vaccination providers.” —Shawn Dorman, Editor Changing the Voice of America A bill to overhaul the Voice of America has prompted an intense debate between supporters, who say the changes would better equip the broadcast news