The Foreign Service Journal, October 2006

OC T OB E R 2 0 0 6 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 77 tial inthepast eight yearshas fulfilledhis/her fair-share requirements. Member feedback revealed clearly that a tremendous number of our colleagues oppose limiting domestic service to two consecutive assignments. Many FS employeeswith families seek outmultiple overseas assignments — often hardship postings — during years when their kids are young, but then want the flexibility to serve four, five or six years inWashington at some point inorder tohave time toput a couple of kids through high school in a stable American environment. A small number of people find that they need to stay in Washington for a particular peri- od of time due to other compelling per- sonal reasons, suchas sickparents or other relatives, child custody issues or spousal career concerns. This does notmake them any less committed to the “foreign” aspect of the Foreign Service. In fact, many only try todo their six-year domestic stint after having spent far longer overseas, andmost return to overseas service afterwards. AFSA did not concur with the DG’s pro- posal to scale back the 6/8 year rule, which will therefore remain in force for the time being. AFSAurges all ForeignService employ- ees to read carefully through these bidding instructions in order to understand the areas in which the rules have been modi- fied. While some of our members had fearedthat thechangeswouldbeDraconian andwoulddisadvantage large numbers of people, we believe that a dispassionate analysis of the actual rule changes institut- ed by the DG reflects a somewhat more gradual evolution in our assignment sys- tem, albeit an evolution toward greater hardship service. AFSA calls on the department to enforce the newrules evenhandedly,mak- ingexceptionsonly for employeeswithgen- uinely extenuatingpersonal circumstances. In this regard, we advisemembers to take noteof the various standardoperatingpro- cedures that governHR’s decisionmaking processes forhandlingassignments,waivers and other special issues. These SOPs can be found on the HR Intranet Web site at: http://hrweb.hr.state.gov/prd/hrweb/cda/ sops.html . AFSA— and the Foreign Service as a whole—has a fine line towalk at this piv- otal moment in time. Staffing nearly 800 unaccompanied positions every summer presents a challenge that the Foreign Service cannot ignore. We all want a fam- ily-friendly Service that gives ourmembers wide latitude toplan their owncareers, that enables them to determine the places where they serve, and that recognizes excel- lent work regardless of where it is per- formed. But wemust also ensure that the most difficult overseas positions, which the administration has defined as high prior- ity, are filled. If we cannot accomplish this objective through the traditional voluntary bidding process, the alternative will be directed assignments. AFSA continues to believe that directing people into assign- ments, particularly to those located inwar zones, would be detrimental to the Foreign Service on many different levels. Avoiding this eventuality will require us all to make some concessions and accept some changes thatwemight not otherwise prefer. A F S A N E W S AFSA Staff Notes Ian Houston joined the AFSA staff as director of legislative affairs in September. Prior positions include legislative director and foreign policy advisor for Representative George Radanovich, R- Calif., and director of legislative affairs and public policy for InterAction. He has held several positions with USAID develop- ment groups including TechnoServe, FINCA and America’s Development Foundation. Houston has a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Kent, Canterbury, England, and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. Andrew Kidd joined the Foreign Service Journal staff as business manager in September. Kidd came to AFSA from a position as a copy editor with Circle Solutions, Inc. He has a B.A. in English, with a concentration in technical writing, from Virginia Tech. Support AFSA through CFC Donations Don’t forget to make your Combined Federal Campaign pledge to support AFSA! Designate: #2422 – The AFSA Scholarship Fund (providing scholarships to Foreign Service kids) #2460 – The Fund for American Diplomacy (supporting pub- lic education programs that promote U.S. diplomacy) For more information, contact AFSA at 1 (800) 704-2372, ext. 504, or dec@afsa.org. Stay in the Loop with AFSAnet AFSAnet is a free service of the American Foreign Service Association, providing e-mail updates on items of interest to the foreign affairs communi- ty. If you’d like to receive AFSAnets, please sign up at www.afsa.org/forms/ maillist.cfm . AFSA NEWS BRIEFS FOR REFERENCE, Key Reads: In case you missed any of the pieces of the new staffing procedure puzzle, be sure to take a lookat State 121681, sent July25 (“Requests forExtensions at Four-YearPosts”); State 133247, sent Aug. 15 (“Foreign Service Assignments: The Future Is Now”); Aug. 15 AFSAnet message (“State Department Proposals to Reengineer the Foreign Service OpenAssignments System”); State 147530, sent Sept. 7 (“ForeignServiceAssignments: Questions and Answers”) and finally, the “Instructions on Bidding and Assignments” for the2007openassignments cyclepostedonAug. 28 (availableontheHumanResources IntranetWeb site at: http://hrweb.hr.state.gov/prd/hrweb/cda/Bidding_Instructions. html ).