The Foreign Service Journal, September 2004

AFSAMember Achievement Award C. Edward Dillery A mbassador C. Edward Dillery was honored with the 2004 AFSA Member Achievement Award for his contributions to Foreign Service youth through his many years of service as chair of the AFSA Scholarship Committee. Following a distinguished 38-year Foreign Service career, Amb. Dillery has contin- ued to serve the Foreign Service. He has given countless hours of his time to the AFSA scholar- ship program, which helps support Foreign Service children with funds for college. Dillery has also served as the AFSA vice president for retirees. He lends further assistance to the association as a speaker for AFSA-sponsored Elderhostel programs. The AFSA Scholarship Committee (also known as the Committee on Education) oversees the administration of the AFSA Scholarship Program. This includes the AcademicMerit and Art Merit Awards Program, which bestows awards in the spring, and the Financial Aid Awards Program, which bestows awards in the fall. Every year the committee awards approximately $150,000 to Foreign Service depen- dents around the world. The committee determines the policies of the scholarship program, reviews the performance of its $4.5-million endowment, provides guidance on fundraising and other scholarship issues, andmonitors the scholarship programbudget. “Ed presides over the scholarship committee meetings and is a great chair,” says AFSA Scholarship Administrator Lori Dec, who works closely with him. “Even with short notice he is always available to represent the AFSA Scholarship Committee, be it attending the AFSA Finance Committee meeting or accepting a scholarship check.” Dillery joined the Foreign Service in 1955 and during his long career served in Tokyo and Kobe; Brussels; Quang Ngai (during the VietnamWar); London; Nicosia; Suva; and Washington, D.C. His last overseas posting was as ambassador to Fiji from 1984 to 1987, where he was also accredited to Tuvalu, the Kingdom of Tonga and the Republic of Kiribati (the former Gilbert Islands). After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1993, he served for one year in the office of the under secretary of state for management. Amb. Dillery was born in Seattle, Wash. He earned his B.A. from Seattle Pacific University and anM.S. degree from The GeorgeWashington University. He and his wife, Marita, have three children and eight grand- children. 6 AFSA NEWS • SEPTEMBER 2004 CONTROVERSY AT VOICE OF AMERICA VOA Employee Petition Laments “Dismantling” BY SHAWN DORMAN O ver 450 current Voice of America employees—represent- ing almost half of the agency’s work force —have signed apetitionprotestingwhat they see as a growing loss of inde- pendence of the agency. The petition, submitted toCongress July 6, accuses the managing Broadcasting Board of Governors of set- tingout todismantle the 62-year-old service, andcalls for an imme- diate congressional inquiry. “U.S. international broadcasting is seriously threatened,” thepeti- tionbegins, “at a timewhen strong and substantiveAmericanvoic- es toother countries aremore important thanever. Althoughbroad- cast hours havebeen increased to theMiddleEast and Islamicworld, taxpayer-funded, pop-music networks have replaced comprehen- sivenews reporting andanalysis there. … Since 9/11, actions taken by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (the oversight entity for U.S. international broadcasting) have limited the scope and effec- tiveness of the Voice of America and its sister grantee radios.” Many of the VOA employees see the July 1 transfer of VOA News Director Andre de Nesnera to a correspondent position as part of the board’s move to gain more political control over broadcasting. De Nesnera, known for his strong commit- ment to balanced reporting, was hon- oredwith anAFSAconstructive dissent award in2002 for his insis- tenceonairing an interviewwithTaliban leaderMohammedOmar despite strong pressure not to do so. The boardhas establishedvarious newentities tobroadcast into theMiddle East, including Radio Sawa, al-Hurra (TV) and Radio Farda (for Iran). It hasdecided topull RadioFree Iraq,whichbroad- cast in Arabic, as of Sept. 30. The petitioners expressed concern that the new formats were not established under the 1976 VOA Charter, whichwas designed to ensure that VOAprovides a “reli- able and authoritative source of news” and toprevent government interferencewith reporting. Thenewprograms offer amixof news and entertainment, withmuch less time devoted to news than the traditional VOA programming. BroadcastingBoardofGovernorsChairmanKennethTomlinson issued a statement in response to the petition, noting that the pro- fessional standards of the new programs are “similar to those of the 1976VOAcharter” and that all servicesmust follow the “high- est professional standards of broadcast journalism.” He also stat- ed that the news coverage must be “consistently reliable, authori- tative, accurate, objective and comprehensive.” ▫ Amb. Dillery presents a scholarship certifi- cate to 2004 merit award winner Michael Young on Foreign Affairs Day, May 7. Jay Mallin Amb. Ed Dillery (right) receives the AFSA Member Achievement Award from AFSA President John Limbert. The petitioners expressed concern that the new formats were not established under the 1976 VOA Charter.