The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2016

26 JULY-AUGUST 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL them easier to access through a single portal,” Kathryn Scha- low, the new special representative for QDDR, told the blogger known as Diplopundit , who wrote about the interview in an Aug. 31, 2015, post. The commitment may be there, but no timetable has been established or goal set for completion of the task. And though on paper these programs seem to offer exactly what qualified EFMs are looking for—real professional jobs with real responsibil- ity—they, in fact, have few actual openings. In addition, because of the hoops EFMs are required to jump through to qualify for these jobs, and because of the nature of EFM status and the mechanism of FMA hiring, these programs are not always seen in a positive light by the very people for whom they are designed. One EFM describes the positions offered by EPAP and the consular adjudicator programs as just a “drop in the EFM bucket” and advised other spouses to “get off the EFM no-job, no-continuity merry-go-round and find something else.” Security Clearance Delays A major stumbling block to EFM employment within the mission is the length of time it takes for an employee to receive a security clearance. Over the past year, the length of time needed, on average, to obtain a security clearance has increased across the federal government. According to Assistant Secretary of State for Diplo- matic Security Gregory Starr, the delay can be attributed to the “increased workload, the shutdown of the Office of Personnel Management’s e-QIP (electronic questionnaire for investigations processing) system and a growing backlog of required checks that are provided to DS by other agencies.” In the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2015, Starr reports, the government-wide average for top-secret clearances was 179 days. The State Department averaged 150 days. Starr says the State Department average is expected to improve further over the next few months—“bringing us closer to and hopefully within the ODNI [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] goal of 114 days.” Though the State Department average is lower than the governmentwide figure, many EFMs still report long wait times for clearances. (One EFM at an NEA post reported waiting nine months for her clearance.) And if the EFM is foreign-born, the delay is often even longer. (The number of foreign-born spouses in the Foreign Service is not tracked, though the population feels fairly sizable. AAFSW reports having more than 300 members in its foreign-born spouse group.) For an EFM at a two-year post, a nine-month wait for a clear- ance is interminable—especially when he or she will have to do it all over again at the next post. Introducing the Foreign Service Family Reserve Corps There may be a light at the end of the very long security clearance tunnel, however. On May 3, Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy sent a cable to all diplomatic and consular posts (an ALDAC) announcing the Foreign Service Family Reserve Corps (16 State 49074). “The FSFRC will create a workforce capable of rapid assign- ment to positions overseas, including sensitive positions,” the cable reads. In a nutshell, the FSFRC will be open to U.S. citizen spouses or domestic partners of employees and will allowmembers to retain their “eligibility for access to classified information”—i.e., their security clearances—as they move frompost to post. “Once fully implemented,” the cable reads, “the FSFRC will improve efficiency in the hiring and entry-on-duty process for appointment-eligible family members, centralize the adminis- tration of family member hiring and allow for certain efficiencies in security clearance processing.” The department will begin phasing in the implementation over the next two years. The program will be managed out of the Bureau of Human Resources, Office of Shared Service, in Charleston, and FLO will handle communication. FLO’s website already includes an overview of the program, as well as an FAQ. Working in Washington For many family members, a move back to Washington, D.C., is just as difficult as an overseas assignment, if not more so. “Washington can be the hardest transition, because you don’t have the infrastructure there to help you that you have when you come to an embassy,” says FLO’s Frost. Frost reports that FLO is always working on measures to help ease the transition on return to the United States. To help EFMs make the most of the non-competitive eligibility they may have earned overseas—a goal of the 2015 QDDR—FLO has col- laborated with HR Shared Services to create a Register of those eligible for Non-Competitive Employment. Announced by the State Department as we headed to press, this initiative will connect department hiring managers with potential job applicants, and ultimately facilitate their hiring across the federal government. In addition, last September FLO hired a Washington-based GEA to offer the same kinds of coaching and career counseling it offers overseas.