THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2025 75 AFSA educated FAS management on provisions related to creditable service, domestic employees teleworking overseas (DETO) arrangements, and severance pay as well as Foreign Service retirement benefits and available resources, improving conditions and outcomes for FAS Foreign Service members. Prior to the tumult, AFSA provided more routine but no less valuable advocacy on behalf of the FAS Foreign Service. Sustained AFSA engagement brought clarity, transparency, and parity to the FAS Senior Foreign Service (SFS) pay policy, addressing a long-standing discrepancy between SFS and Senior Executive Service colleagues. The FAS VP conducted a retirement experience survey and developed a 17-point plan to improve agency retirement services. The FAS VP resolved a more than 10-year-old issue by providing access to AFSA resources for first-tour Foreign Service officers before they depart for their first assignment. This knowledge has helped first-tour officers sever leases, better appraise their state tax options, and plan ahead for retirement. The FAS VP closed out a long list of long-running payroll and benefit issues that plagued Foreign Service members for years, which led—in part—to FAS launching a Human Capital Management Service Desk and improved accountability for human capital services. The FAS VP secured a waiver that ended collection efforts against FSOs for incorrect pay withholdings. And the FAS VP helped hold AFSA to account for its handling of the possible lapse in overseas comparability pay that, thankfully, did not come to pass. FAS VPs advanced and initiated efforts to change FAS’ internal culture regarding grievances, parental leave, dissent, premium pay, knowledge management, and the persistent divide between Civil and Foreign Service communities. AFSA advocated strongly against changes to the process for approving R&R travel, against changing the new officer intake process, in favor of Foreign Service–designated positions in Washington, and in favor of expanding a Fly America Act waiver for four-legged family members to FAS FSOs. The AFSA team stands ready to continue defending the interests of FAS Foreign Service officers, aggregating the perspectives and knowledge of our officer corps, and advocating on behalf of AFSA members as FAS serves U.S. farmers, ranchers, growers, producers, and processors by growing U.S. agricultural exports. In 2024 AFSA worked closely with USAGM leadership to represent and advocate for Foreign Service staff during a period of transition and restructuring. This included addressing the closure of key transmission sites, including the legacy shortwave stations in São Tomé and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and preparing for workforce impacts and operational handovers at these locations. AFSA USAGM Representative Gunter Schwabe, who has overseen multiple overseas USAGM transmitting stations, led efforts to ensure that the perspectives of field-based engineers, transmission experts, and correspondents were considered during strategic planning. He advocated for stronger support mechanisms for personnel working in isolated and logistically challenging environments and pushed for clarity and transparency in workforce decisions affecting the Foreign Service corps. AFSA continued its dialogue with USAGM leadership regarding the status and future of VOA Foreign Service correspondents, reaffirming their nonpartisan and independent journalistic role. This followed earlier concerns U.S. Agency for Global Media over perceived confusion between Foreign Service membership and State Department influence—misconceptions that AFSA continues to challenge in support of career journalists’ integrity and mission. Additionally, AFSA emphasized the need for better coordination and integration of USAGM Foreign Service professionals within broader interagency career development and assignment planning, particularly as the agency shifts toward more digital-forward and regionally distributed operations. This was written before the March 14 executive order on reducing the federal bureaucracy called for the elimination of most USAGM functions. Since that time, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) imposed a 30-day total freeze on funding to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Network, with plans to make the cuts permanent. On March 15, journalists from VOA, RFE/RL, and other U.S.-funded outlets were placed on administrative leave. For more on the latest developments, go to page 19. n AFSA TERM REPORT
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