The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2015

72 JULY-AUGUST 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Formula for Success? FAS VP VOICE | BY MARK PETRY AFSA NEWS Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA FAS VP. Contact: mark.petry@fas.usda.gov or (202) 720-2502 The Foreign Agricultural Service and its officers have undergone a strenuous few years. While most remain hopeful for the future, chal- lenges abound. Thankfully, FAS weath- ered the storm of seques- tration and is now seeing both a rebound in financial resources and a passing of the self-defeating “more with less” mantra. However, FAS members still face uncer- tainty in several areas. The most basic of these is organizational in nature. It remains to be seen how the Department of Agriculture will act on the 2014 congres- sional provision mandating the establishment of an under secretary for trade and foreign affairs and how that position might affect FAS. In addition, the proposed organizational tinkering with the agency under the term “Refresh” gives pause to those of us who lived through the not-so-successful reorga- nization of 2006. Uncertainty is one of the main contributing factors to low overall morale in FAS, as measured by the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. To the credit of the current leadership, FAS has engaged the Partnership for Public Service to try to diagnose the problems and involve all employees in solutions. However, the question remains whether Foreign Service issues can com- mand attention in an agency in which FSOs are numeri- cally smaller than both the Civil Service and Schedule B employee categories. The second key area of concern is FSO demograph- ics—primarily the impact of retirements. While FAS recently made a significant change when it opened up its officer intake system to allow outside candidates to compete for those positions, years of very low intake in the early 2000s and the high numbers of recent retire- ments have put great stress on the system. For example, FAS now has fewer FO-1 officers than posi- tions at that grade overseas, and 40 percent fewer FO-1 officers than in 2006. This demographic reality puts stress on employees at all grades, including pushing more than 35 percent of all officers into stretch positions. Put simply, neither the absolute number of officers nor the number of officers necessary at each grade is keeping pace with retire- ments. Worryingly, the problems won’t ebb soon, for 50 percent of all FAS FSOs will be eligible for retirement within five years. In the long term, proper management of the intake system has the potential to dramatically increase the FAS FSO pool and amelio- rate the demographic crisis. However, in the short run, demographics suggest that officers will continue to face pressing demands for which answering the call is largely not rewarded. AFSA’s task in this time of transition is threefold: work with management to advance long-term staffing plans that rectify the demographic crisis; seek recognition and advancement of an officer corps working effectively at higher levels of responsibility; and ensure that resources remain sufficient for FAS to serve its overseas mission. Only by increasing the focus on employees and adequate staffing can the agency succeed in promoting U.S. agriculture overseas. n Implementing the 2015 QDDR Now that the 2015 Qua- drennial Diplomacy and Development Review has been released, the American Foreign Service Association is focused on understand- ing better how the strategic priorities and proposed set of reforms will be implemented, and how these changes will affect AFSA members. AFSA was in the audience when Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom and Special Representative for the QDDR Tom Perriello held a May 12 town hall meet- ing with State Department employees to run through the report and answer ques- tions. The 88-page report has been criticized for being weak on details, and the town hall discussion did not reveal much more. Participants had barely enough time to touch on a handful of matters during the hourlong session, ranging from how to take advantage of the pilot sabbatical and how the data hub will make knowledge sharing more convenient, to understand- ing how the department will AFSA State Vice President Matthew Asada asks a question at the town hall meeting on how the QDDR team proposes to improve risk management. AFSA/MARIAC.LIVINGSTON