The Foreign Service Journal, October 2007

68 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / OC T OB E R 2 0 0 7 The meeting was held at the invitation of Sec. Rice. ParticipantswereAFSAPresi- dentJohnNaland,StateVicePresidentSteve Kashkett,AFSAattorneyNeeraParikh, act- ingDirectorGeneralHeatherHodges,Chief of Staff Brian Gunderson, and State’s Chief LaborManagementNegotiator Steve Polson. Naland remarked that his election campaign had focused on AFSA’s interest inmaintaining apositivedialoguewith the Secretary and other key interlocutors. Sec. Rice said that her topprioritywas “ourpeo- ple and what happens to them” and expressed great respect for the Foreign Service. Naland raised the urgent need to address the pay disparity issue and obtain more resources for diplomacy, asking the Secretary to contact key members of Congress, at the appropriate point, tourge them to pass legislation that would elimi- nate the overseas pay disparity and to fully fund the StateDepartment’s FY2008bud- get request. Sec. Rice expressed strong sup- port for those legislative goals, adding that shehadpersonallyplayedakeyroleinsecur- ingWhiteHouse support for correcting the overseas pay disparity. Turning to Iraq, VP Kashkett affirmed that AFSAremains committed toworking with thedepartment to findcreative incen- tives to encourage voluntary bidders — rather than resort to directed assignments — for the many positions in Iraq, as the associationhas done for thepast twoyears. He noted that AFSAhas agreed tonumer- ous StateDepartment initiatives andassign- ment rule changes toencouragebiddingon theseextremehardshipposts. Kashkett reit- erated AFSA’s desire for an increase in the Separate Maintenance Allowance. AFSA seeks to avoid directed assign- ments to a war zone, believing that would bedetrimentaltotheindividual,thepostand theForeignService. The Secretary said that she, too, hoped to continue to rely on vol- unteers, but that staffing Iraqwas a toppri- ority and she was prepared, if needed, to direct Foreign Service members to serve there. One persistent concern raised by AFSAmembers thatKashkett put forward atthemeetingisthesafetyofresidentialtrail- ers atEmbassyBaghdad. TheSecretary said that she did not believe that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security would allow an inse- cure condition to go unaddressed. Asked her view of the future of Provincial ReconstructionTeams in Iraq, the Secretary said that the PRTs have been a success. She said that while an original plan may have envisioned a scaling back of the teams, this would likely wait until Iraq has been stabilized to the point that traditional consulates and other diplo- matic-presence posts can take over local coordination. Naland raised the plan to create a Museum of American Diplomacy in the MarshallWingof theTrumanBuilding. He noted the potential for this project to edu- cate the American people on the vital role of diplomacy. Sec. Rice agreedon theneed to tell the storyof diplomacy, but expressed concernabout securingprivate funding for the$30-million-plus startupcost,which, she said, should not be funded with State Department money. She encouraged Naland toseeksolutions andget back toher with ideas. On July 30, Naland toured the space reserved for the museum and plans to pursue options for supporting the pro- ject. Sec. Rice closed themeeting by urging AFSA to do whatever it could to support greater diversity in Foreign Service hiring. AFSA, in fact, has a solid track record in this area, including sponsorship of a minority internshipat State, thenationwide High School Essay Contest and the wide distribution of AFSA’s book, Inside aU.S. Embassy . Subsequent to the meeting, AFSA scheduled meetings with the Bureaus of Legislative Affairs and Diplomatic Security for follow-up. AFSA looks for- ward to continued discussions with the Secretary. was “TheBirthofDemocracy: TheRole of the Foreign Service in Establishing a Democracy in Sudan.” The third-place prize of $750 went to Michelle Fang, a rising senior at Milton Academy in Milton, Mass., who is from British Columbia. Her essay topic was “ReformingLiberia, StabilizingWestAfrica: TheWork of the Foreign Service toCreate Good Governance in Liberia.” Twenty-three finalists received honor- ablemention certificates for their excellent essays. AnAFSAadvisorypanel of judges select- ed thewinners. This year the top threewin- ners’ essays were separated by only one point, making this the closest competition in the history of the contest. The goal of AFSA’s essay contest, now in its eighth year, is to encourage interest in possible Foreign Service careers among top-quality high school students nation- wide. AFSA promotes the contest wide- ly throughdirectmailings to social science teachers, as well as through listings on var- ious Web sites popular with students. Teachers become AFSA’s key promoters and mentors of the contest in schools. Sumit Malik’s English teacher and men- tor, Michael Miller, was also received by Sec. Rice during her meeting with Malik and his parents. For the 2007 essay contest, AFSA receivedmore than 100 submissions from high school students nationwide covering awidevarietyof topics. Studentswereasked toanalyze andexplainhowForeignService members promote U.S. national interests byparticipating in the resolutionof today’s major international problems. The contest is open to all students in grades nine through 12 attending a public, private, parochial or home school; or par- ticipating in a high school correspondence program in any of the states, Washington, D.C., orU.S. territories; orU.S. citizen stu- dents attending schools overseas. Students whose parents are members of the U.S. Foreign Service or have served on the Advisory Committee are not eligible. AFSA consultant Perri Green deserves muchcredit for ablyadministering the con- test since its inception. A F S A N E W S Relations Renewed • Continued from page 61 Essay • Continued from page 61