The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

T he following is condensed from a cable by AFSA General Counsel Sharon Papp. For the full text, visit www.afsa.org/contactreporting.cfm. For more than five years, AFSA has undertaken vigorous efforts to bring about a long-overdue update of the reg- ulations governing the reporting of for- eign contacts, cohabitation and intent to marry foreign nationals. The Bu- reaus of Diplomatic Security and Human Resources have finally revised the Foreign Affairs Manual, working closely with AFSA lawyers and accept- ing many of our suggestions. HR has rescinded 3 FAM 4100 Ap- pendix B (old 3 FAM629, 1988) and de- veloped a new chapter, 3 FAM 4190: Marriage Requirements of an Employee to a Foreign National or to a U.S. Citi- zen. DS has developed an entire FAM chapter, 12 FAM 270: Security Report- ing, that is intended to be the primary resource for security reporting require- ments. 12 FAM270 covers processes re- lating to marriage to and cohabitation with foreign nationals, implications of dual citizenship for the security clear- ance process and other incidents that employees with clearances must report. AFSA encourages all members to fa- miliarize themselves with the new rules, especially those relating to foreign na- tionals from countries with critical human intelligence threat posts and travel to critical-threat posts. For a clas- sified list of these countries, see the Se- curity Environment Threat List, which can be accessed on the DS Source Web page. Because failure to comply with these regulations can result in the sus- pension or revocation of your security clearance, curtailment from post and H owmany Foreign Servicemembers have heard the ques- tion, “What is the Foreign Service, anyway?” Or, “What do you actually do overseas?” One of the biggest hurdles facing the State Department and other foreign affairs agencies is the lack of knowledge on the part of the average American about what it is we do at missions abroad. And such a void in understanding can easily be filled with misperceptions. AFSA has striven for many years to demystify the public image of diplomacy. This outreach has included releasing a number of books, including: Tales of the Foreign Service (Uni- versity of South Carolina Press, 1978); Duty & Danger: The American Foreign Service In Action (booklet, 1988); Inside a U.S. Embassy (1995, 1996, 2003, 2005) and The Foreign Service Reader (1997). However, it was not until issuing the 2003 edition of Inside a U.S. Embassy , compiled and edited by FSJ Associate Editor Shawn Dorman, that AFSA began to look seriously at market- ing, promoting and distributing its own book about the Foreign Service. Six years after publica- tion, the book is still in steady demand, with average sales of 400-500 copies a month. To date,AFSAhas sold over 70,000 copies. Updated and revised in 2005, Inside a U.S. Embassy contains Foreign Service stories from around the world, as well as essays about embassy life and work. These include “day in the life” journals that show in detail what a typical day is like for people in various embassy positions, from ambassadors to economic officers and infor- mation management specialists. This past spring, as AFSA was making plans to put together a new edition of the book, the question arose: Should we find a O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 67 American Foreign Service Association • October 2009 AFSA NEWS Continued on page 74 Continued on page 71 DIPLOMATIC SECURITY AND HUMAN RESOURCES REVISE FAM Foreign Contacts Reporting: An Update THIRD EDITION OF POPULAR BOOK WILL BE RELEASED NEXT YEAR AFSA Embraces Role as Publisher BY FRANCESCA KELLY