The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2021

72 JULY-AUGUST 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL disappointed that the department did not do more to secure supplemental funding under the CARES Act in 2020. US&FCS was the only foreign affairs agency that did not receive supplemental funding in 2020. AFSA is also in the process of resolving several issues relating to delays in processing the 2018 and 2019 Senior Foreign Service nominations for promotion. To mitigate issues with future promotions, AFSA proposed a new policy to more efficiently vet nominees recom- mended for promotion to the Senior Foreign Service. The proposed policy clearly delineates the full scope and pur- pose of the vetting process and the duties and respon- sibilities of those conducting reviews of the candidates, and it includes reasonable deadlines for completion. AFSA also introduced a number of midterm bargain- ing proposals that include revisions to the Assignments and Tours of Duty policy, revisions to the selection board precepts and adjustments to time-in-service limits. Revisiting the composition of the assignments panel is a priority, as is establishing clear recusal rules. Another bargaining priority is an adjustment to the time-in-service requirement for FO-4 through FO-1 offi- cers. FCS currently has the shortest time-in-service limit by several years compared to State and USAID. Foreign Agricultural Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service A FSA’s Foreign Agricultural Service represen- tative, Mary Parrish, has been busy renego- tiating the Washington assignment process, both on an annual basis and to create a more permanent future process. We are also gearing up to negotiate the parties collective bargaining agreement, which FAS has notified us it intends to open up for renegotiation. FAS formally went through a reorga- nization in November 2019, and AFSA has been establish- ing channels of work and communication with the newly established FAS Human Capital (formerly serviced by APHIS HR). Finally, AFSA continues to support mem- bers as they navigate the complications of the COVID-19 environment. AFSA’s APHIS representative, Russell Duncan, has been working to establish a more regular dialogue to engage management in reviewing key parts of its person- nel policies and procedures. U.S. Agency for Global Media T he small but influential Foreign Service com- ponent of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly the Broadcasting Board of Gover- nors) is facing existential challenges. USAGM Representative Steve Herman, VOA’s White House bureau chief, speaks for career foreign correspon- dents of the Voice of America, as well as supervisors and engineers at isolated overseas sites that provide short- wave, mediumwave and FM broadcast transmissions for Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Radio Sawa. When Amanda Bennet was director of VOA she made clear her desire to remove VOA correspondents from the Foreign Service, believing erroneously it denoted State Department influence, or the appearance thereof, over the journalists. There was no opportunity for extensive communications between AFSA and USAGM leadership during the brief tumultuous tenure in 2020 of Michael Pack as USAGM’s CEO, when VOA’s editorial firewall was targeted by the political appointees of the previous administration. But USAGM and VOA are now under new management with an acting CEO and, respectively, an acting director. Since January AFSA has held intermittent discus- sions with USAGMmanagement to attempt to clarify the broadcasting agency’s stance on the future of Foreign Service journalists, both for the VOA correspondents and the USAGM technical staff who serve in some of the most remote locations for any members of the U.S. Foreign Service. The VOA Foreign Service dates back to when the broadcaster was under the U.S. Information Agency, which was dissolved in 1999 and its broadcasting func- tions were moved to the newly created BBG. n AFSA TERM REPORT