The Foreign Service Journal, September 2015

54 SEPTEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Wanted: Your Solutions to Foreign Service Challenges STATE VP VOICE | BY ANGIE BRYAN Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA State VP. Contact: BryanA@state.gov | (202) 647-8160 As some of you may remember from the “Strong Diplomacy” campaign during the AFSA Governing Board election, my most recent assignment was as an asses- sor (for both generalists and specialists) with the Board of Examiners. I was so impressed by the caliber of the people join- ing the Service that I began to feel a sense of personal responsibility to leave them with the best Foreign Service possible—one they would be proud to call home not just for the next 10 or so years, but for an entire career filled with personally and profes- sionally rewarding experi- ences. As AFSA State vice president, I have the oppor- tunity to delve into the full range of issues affecting our membership, including allow- ances and benefits, work-life balance, legal rights, career development and assign- ments, and more. Although I’ve been on the job for only a few weeks, I’ve already learned that, in many instances, it is our members in the field who bring new developments to our attention and let us know how department poli- cies are affecting them. This feedback is critical to our ability to raise issues with management and to try to work out the kinks in a way that protects our members’ interests. What’s really exciting, though, is when members write to us with actual pro- posed solutions to specific challenges. We’re eager to hear what you have to say and how you think the department might best miti- gate a problem. Chances are, if you’re dealing with a dif- ficult situation, so are some of your colleagues elsewhere in the world. I’m also interested in hearing what topics you’d like to read about in more depth in future issues of this column. This column is an opportunity for me to go into detail about non-time-sensi- tive issues of interest to our members, and I’d like to tailor its content to be as relevant and useful as possible. AFSA often describes itself as “the voice of the Foreign Service,” but we can’t speak for our members if they don’t let us know what’s on their minds. I look forward to hearing from you at BryanA@state.gov. n FCS VP VOICE | BY STEVE MORRISON Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA FCS VP. Contact: steve.morrison@trade.gov | (202) 482-9088 Our agency is once again on the chopping block; this time, its very survival is at stake. Back in March, the Repub- lican House and Senate lead- ership struck a deal, as part of the 2016 budget resolution, to cut $5.5 billion dollars from the federal budget over 10 years. All taxpayers should applaud this valiant effort to get federal spending under control. But lost in the zeal to balance the budget was a proposal, under the head- ing “Eliminating Corporate Welfare,” to zero out the trade promotion activities of the International Trade Administration—including the Commercial Service—thereby saving roughly $400 million per year. It can be argued that more work needs to be done to quantify the Commercial Service’s contribution to the U.S. economy, but that is poor reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The Commercial Service and its parent agencies, Global Markets and the Inter- national Trade Administration, contribute significantly to U.S. exports, which hit a record high for the fifth straight year last year, reaching $2.34 trillion and supporting 11.7 million American jobs. Those exports are key sources of income to more than 300,000 U.S. compa- nies, 98 percent of which are small or medium-sized businesses. With nearly 95 percent of the world’s consumers living outside the United States and only a small, but growing, fraction of U.S. companies involved in exporting, now is not the time to cut back. That is why talk of elimi- nating trade promotion and the Commercial Service is so frustrating. We’ve only now— with our third straight new FCS officer class in June—set out to restore hiring to levels before 2007, when our officer corps dropped to an historic low of 228. If rumors of a government- wide shutdown or elimination of trade promotion and the Commercial Service are true, we might as well go back to the days of merchant ships sailing on dark, uncharted seas as is so aptly depicted on the emblem of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Extinguish the lighthouse beacon our overseas offices and officers represent? Rough seas and rocky shores ahead! n Zeroing Out U.S. Trade Promotion The Commercial Service and its parent agencies contribute significantly to U.S. exports. We’re eager to hear what you have to say and how you think the department might best mitigate a problem.