The Foreign Service Journal, September 2013

20 SEPTEMBER 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA’S DISSENT AWARDS HONORING THE BEST AMONGUS AFSA’s four constructive dissent awards constitute a program unique within the federal government. BY JOHN W. L I MBERT I n December 1967, as the Vietnam War was raging, AFSA unveiled two annual awards to recognize and encourage constructive dissent and intellectual courage by Foreign Service professionals: the W. Averell Harriman Award for constructive dissent by junior officers (FS-6 through FS-4) and the William R. Rivkin Award for mid-level officers (FS-3 through FS-1). A Foreign Service Journal editorial that month expressed the hope that the awards would “result in even higher professional standards in the Foreign Service. In this regard, we are particularly pleased that in stress- ing excellence, these two awards are to be received primarily by those officers who show intellectual courage or creativity.” John W. Limbert, a retired Senior Foreign Service officer, chairs AFSA’s Awards and Plaques Com- mittee. He was ambassador to Mauritania from 2000 to 2003 and AFSA president from 2003 to 2005, among many other assignments. In 2009 and 2010, Ambassador Limbert took leave from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he is the Class of 1955 Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, to serve as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (with special responsibil- ity for Iran). He is the author of Iran: At War with History (Westview Press, 1987), Shiraz in the Age of Hafez (University of Washington Press, 2004) and Negotiating with Iran: Wrestling the Ghosts of History (U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 2009). FOCUS AFSA’S AWARDS PROGRAM