THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2026 7 Stand with AFSA BY JOHN “DINK” DINKELMAN John “Dink” Dinkelman is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. PRESIDENT’S VIEWS This edition of the Journal marks the halfway point in my two-year term as AFSA president and one year since the State Department began the largest reduction in force (RIF) in its history. I was one of the unlucky 1,350 taken off the job for no reason other than being assigned to the wrong office at the wrong time during the “reorganization.” While most of the July 11, 2025, RIF cohort was unceremoniously and expeditiously separated in early September, I am sure that none of us could have anticipated it would take almost 10 months for the department to cut the rest of us loose as they finally did on May 5. Also, I could never have imagined that I’d be in such an adversarial, acrimonious, antagonistic relationship with the organization to which I had devoted my entire professional life. Nevertheless, here we are. Like so much else over the past year, the unimaginable now seems to be the norm. I sat down to write this column just after a phone call with a member of the State Department’s exit interview team. I had the opportunity to sum up my 38-year Foreign Service career in a 10-minute call that will, undoubtedly, be of no interest to decision-makers who no longer listen to their workforce. Kudos to my interviewer, however, who was prudent enough to skip the question on what I thought was the main factor leading to my departure. I suspect their team learned quickly that, at least in the case of an involuntary separation, such a question is best left unasked. So it is that far too many important questions remain unasked in the present environment. Which is precisely why AFSA will ask them. What We Will Do AFSA will not only continue to serve as the voice of an increasingly silenced Foreign Service but will also continue to be the “adult in the room” and the “port in the storm” while the leadership we once counted on to defend the institution has now joined in the attack on it. In addition, AFSA will continue to: • call attention to an Employee Evaluation Report (EER) fiasco at State that is harming (almost) everyone in the Service; • catalogue the effects of an opaque bidding process that—notwithstanding the tremendous loss of personnel from the Foreign Service ranks over the past year— seems to lack enough positions for those surviving the purges of 2025; and • push for the changes that will best serve a professional, nonpartisan Foreign Service as efforts on the Hill to reform the Foreign Service Act of 1980 move forward. Simply put, you can rest assured that AFSA will continue to say in the open what you can no longer say even in private. We will continue to stand with you and stand up for you. Are You with Us? The critical question now is: Will you stand with AFSA as we stand up for you? When payroll and annuity deductions were discontinued in 2025, thousands of you stepped up to pay dues directly online. Now, one year later, membership is up for renewal again. If you have not taken the step to “set it and forget it” through an automatic payment option, please do this now. Make the decision to stay with AFSA to ensure that we can support you and defend the Foreign Service—our Foreign Service. We are stronger together. In addition, you all should have received notification of a referendum we are conducting. Among the items for your consideration is a request for a one-time increase of all member dues by 5 percent. As our membership rolls declined, our expenses—including legal costs to fight off multiple attacks on our members and our Service—increased exponentially, and we need your support. We must maintain AFSA’s membership services and communication, congressional liaison, and public media engagement at present levels. Ballots will go out on July 8, and I solicit your affirmative vote on this question by no later than 8 a.m. ET on July 21. By voting yes, you ensure an additional $200,000 for AFSA’s budget each year, an average of about $16 per member annually. We’re in this for the long haul, folks. Rest assured that AFSA isn’t going anywhere. With your support, we’ll keep up this fight as long as needed. Stay with us! n
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