The Foreign Service Journal, September 2010

J O U R N A L OREIGN ERVICE S F P RESIDENT ’ S V IEWS / 5 AFSA’s Role As a Professional Association By Susan R. Johnson S PEAKING O UT / 13 Recognizing Those Who Have Made a Difference By Edward L. Peck R EFLECTIONS / 68 Pop-Tart Diplomacy By Nina Killham L ETTERS / 6 C YBERNOTES / 9 M ARKETPLACE / 14 B OOKS / 62 I NDEX TO A DVERTISERS / 66 Cover illustration by Paul Levinson S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 3 C ONTENTS September 2010 Volume 87, No. 9 F O C U S O N T h e O f f i c e o f M e d i c a l S e r v i c e s T O Y OUR H EALTH / 17 The Office of Medical Services not only treats employees but evaluates their fitness for duty. Balancing those roles is a tricky business. By Shawn Zeller D OES S TATE D ISCRIMINATE A GAINST P EOPLE WITH D ISABILITIES ? / 27 When the medical clearance process intersects with personnel policies, the results can be unhealthy. By Carol Shuh A U NIQUE P RACTICE / 33 Practicing medicine in the Foreign Service is akin to working in a small town — a very small town. By Judie Pruett F E A T U R E P AKISTAN : W ASHINGTON ’ S B LIND S POT IN A FGHANISTAN / 36 By ignoring core issues and realities in South Asia, U.S. policy in Afghanistan inadvertently contributes to the very instability that leaders in Washington seek to forestall. By Malou Innocent F S H E R I T A G E A MERICA ’ S F IRST A MBASSADOR TO I SRAEL : J AMES G. M C D ONALD / 43 Meet an ambassador who spent the years before his appointment publicly denouncing the policies of the administration that sent him. By Frank Brecher