The Foreign Service Journal, September 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2017 49 with the department’s legal advisor, and continued to raise it during the following three years. Cecilia Choi took the baton in 2012, working with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to try to come to a fair solution. In 2013, The Washington Post featured an article on the subject, “At the State Department, Diversity Can Count Against You,” highlighting the perspectives of seve ral Foreign Service officers. In 2015, Thomas Wong presented a white paper to then- Deputy Secretaries of State Antony Blinken and Heather Hig- ginbottom, requesting the establishment of an independent and timely appeal mechanism. Along with then-AFSA Vice President Matthew Asada, he organized an event featuring panel speakers from DS and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commis- sion to discuss the issue directly with department employees. Assuming the AAFAA presidency in 2016, Chris- tina Le continued to raise assignment restrictions with Deputy Secretary Hig- ginbottom throughout the summer of 2016, asking her to press DS to establish language in the Foreign Affairs Manual. Ms. Le raised the topic with AFSA President Ambassador Barbara Stephenson and met with AFSA Vice President Angie Bryan on multiple occa- sions to discuss AAFAA members’ concerns. AFSA was a strong supporter of AAFAA’s request, and played an integral role in the negotiations with DS to ensure the language for the FAM is fair and reflects the interests of AAFAA. In October 2016 President Barack Obama released a presi- dential memorandum, “Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the National Security Workforce.” In particular, Section 2(c) cov- ers the need for all national security agencies, among them the Department of State, to institute a review process for security and counterintelligence determinations that result in assign- ment restrictions. Section 3(c) makes “unconscious bias train- ing mandatory for senior leadership and management posi- tions, as well as for those responsible for outreach, recruitment, hiring, career development, promotion and security clearance adjudication ” (italics added). A Way Forward Finally, at the end of 2016, the State Department published new assignment restrictions guidelines in the Foreign Affairs Manual. 12 FAM 233.5 addresses the reforms we requested: notification to employees of the factual grounds for their assignment restriction; the opportunity to request a second review of the decision by the director of the Bureau of Diplo- matic Security (principal deputy assistant secretary of State for DS/DSS) and submit updated information for reconsidera- tion; and empowerment of the director to reverse improperly imposed assignment restrictions. The new FAM language is a welcome step toward establish- ing the transparency, fairness and accountability on which the State Department prides itself. Ultimately the new process should allow the department to fully deploy its most valu- able resource—its people—to places where U.S. interests will best be advanced. We are proud that our dissent led to this important change in department policy and applaud the department for its efforts to provide more oversight and trans- parency in the assignment restrictions process. We are tremendously grateful to former Deputy Secretaries Blinken and Higginbottom; our past and present leadership liaisons, Legal Advisor Harold Koh and Ambas- sadors Hans Klemm and Alexander Arvizu; AFSA; and DS for their leadership and advocacy. This newly articulated process, which includes the opportunity to provide additional relevant information, will benefit not only AAFAA members but all State employees. The new process will create a more transparent and equi- table environment for those affected by assignment restric- tions. Thanks go to some two dozen employees for their moral courage in coming forward, both publicly and privately, and sharing their personal stories with us, enabling us to frame our advocacy on the issue. We also thank all AAFAA members who have been involved in this process over the years, including former AFSA Vice President Matthew Asada, for their sup- port, hard work and resolute efforts to effect positive change, all while working within a bureaucratic system that was often inflexible and unyielding. As a group, we tested the system, stood firm, offered a con- structive way forward and, in the end, made a lasting, positive impact on the State Department and its workforce. n We pushed this issue forward despite concerns about possible detriment to our own professional career advancement.