The Foreign Service Journal, September 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2013 21 First given in 1968, the Harriman and Rivkin Awards were joined the following year by the Christian A. Herter Award , honoring constructive dissent by Senior Foreign Service officers. And in 2000, AFSA created the F. Allen “Tex” Harris Award for dissent by Foreign Service specialists in honor of the renowned FSO and AFSA activist, who himself received the Rivkin Award in 1984. Ambassador Thomas D. Boyatt, himself the recipient of two AFSA dissent awards, points out that in a culture where peer regard is very highly prized, these awards bestow extraordinary distinction. Moreover, most Harriman and Rivkin awardees have gone on to enter the Senior Foreign Service, and account for a much higher percentage of ambas- sadors than the Service as a whole. Together, the four AFSA constructive dissent awards con- stitute a program unique within the federal government, one that celebrates the courage and integrity of Foreign Service personnel at all levels who have challenged the system from within. The association confers its dissent awards, as well as performance and other awards, each June in the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the Department of State in the annual AFSA Awards Ceremony, which is co-sponsored by the director general of the Foreign Service. The Secretary of State or Deputy Secretary has frequently attended the ceremony, as well. (Coverage of this year’s cer- emony, which took place on June 27, and detailed profiles of all this year’s winners begin on p. 63.) A Unique Program Commenting on the distinctiveness of the AFSA construc- tive dissent award program in a September 2010 Speaking Out column, retired Ambassador Edward L. Peck, the 1973 recipient of the Rivkin Award and a longtime member of AFSA’s Awards and Plaques Committee, observed: “Doing battle with authority is certainly not a major facet of the Foreign Service’s public persona. When people think of us at all, they tend to do so in terms of good manners, a care- fully balanced approach, extensive use of the passive voice and, perhaps as much as anything else, conflict avoidance. In the real world, however, only the Foreign Service, acting through AFSA, publicly commends members who are willing to advocate and pursue changes in policies or management. No similar program exists in any other organization.” It is important to emphasize that the subject of the dissent does not have to be related to foreign policy. It can involve a management issue, consular policy or personnel regulations. Some nominees may have used the formal State Depart- ment Dissent Channel to express their views, but that is not a requirement to receive one of AFSA’s constructive dissent awards. From 1968 through 2011, AFSA conferred the Harri- man Award on 36 entry-level officers and, collectively, the Embassy Tehran hostages (in absentia in 1980 and in person in 1981). Over the same period, the Rivkin Award went to 43 mid-level FSOs, as well as the Iran hostages and, in 1994, a group of 13 officers who dissented over the Clinton adminis- tration’s initial refusal to intervene in Bosnia. In addition to the group awards for the Iran hostages in 1980 and 1981, 38 Senior Foreign Service officers received the Herter Award from 1969 through 2011. And since 2000, 10 spe- cialists have won the Harris Award for constructive dissent. AFSA also issued a special posthumous award for con- structive dissent in 2002 to Hiram “Harry” Bingham IV. Dis- obeying State Department orders, Bingham issued life-saving visas to more than 2,000 Jews and anti-Nazi refugees in Mar- seilles in 1940 and 1941. For this act of courage and human- ity, he was eventually forced out of the Foreign Service. Calling the Honor Roll The names of all past winners of AFSA’s constructive dissent awards are posted on the AFSA Web site (www.afsa. org/dissent_and_other_awards.aspx). Even new entrants to the Foreign Service will likely recognize the names of at least some recipients. Here is a small sampling of awardees and the issues about which they dissented. John Paul Vann , deputy director of the Civil Opera- tions and Revolutionary Development Support program The purpose of this program is to celebrate the courage and integrity of Foreign Service personnel at all levels who have challenged the system from within.