The Foreign Service Journal, October 2011

O nAug.3,thenewAFSAGoverningBoardbegan itsmeet- ingwith an appreciation of how fortunate we are at this moment in time, not only in terms of where we could be now, but in terms of where the road ahead may take us. Happily, AFSA is on a strong financial footing. Last year we helped to put a 16-percent base salary increase into the pockets of our members via Overseas Comparability Pay — but that may well be taken back. There has been a real emphasis—backed by our Defense Department colleagues— on the importance of diplomacy and “smart power.” Unfortunately for thoseof us in theForeignCommercial Service, this has not translated intomuchmore than a lot of nice words about the National Export Initiative. Budget FCS faces enormous interlocking challenges and opportuni- ties. The three major ones are: the budget, trade reorganization and regionalization. Theoverall budget issues aremostlybeyond our control. Just when it looked like the hardworkwe haddone onCapitol Hill over the last two yearsmight pay off with at least another$10million increase inFCS funding,thebudget capagree- ments have likely sidelined it. Nevertheless, the need to increase the FCS budget and extend OCP to the entire Foreign Service are still worth writing your elected representatives about (see www.afsa.org/PolicyandLegislation/Issues/OCP.aspx). T here is no excuse not to do so; just Google for theirWeb sites and send them an e-mail. Regionalization Regionalizationwill be our next big internal issue. FCS man- agment is determined to downsize the number of posts and regionalize our coverage. But to be honest, regionalization and post closings are not things we would undertake if we had ade- quate resources. Wewouldnot be closing posts like Switzerland, with an economy of $327 billion and a growth rate of 3 per- cent; or Nagoya, Japan, the industrial heartland of the world’s third-largest economy. FCS returns more than $135 in revenue for every dollar allocated. There is no doubt that in the markets we are clos- ing —which are also key to the larger markets — the return on investment more than justifies funding. The bottom line is that we should be coveringmoremarkets, not fewer (as was planned under the President BarackObama’s National Export Initiative proposal). FCS post closingswill have a spillover effect,increasing client pressure on the State Department. That department’s budget will be severely strainedby the dangerously nonsensical require- ment of maintaining an enormous presence in Iraq—after the real protection of the military is gone— in the midst of an era of automatic budget cutbacks. My goal on regionalization and closings will be to continue toworkwithmanagement (who,while agreeing to the same goals, have not always been forthcoming) to keep the process open, transparent and informative. Iwill keepAFSAmembers informed on developments. Reorganization Reorganization of the trade agencies is where we must real- ly put our oars in the water for the next two years or more, as it ismost likely tobe the singlemost important factor inour future. The next sixmonths will be critical. The conventional wisdom is that nothing will happen on this front until after the election. However, it is possible that the severe budget caps might force the cards to be played even earlier. A recent NewYork Times article (the first news about this we have seen from an administration source) reported that the administration may merge the Office of the U.S. Trade Repre- sentative and State’s Bureau of Economic Affairs under a reor- ganized and renamed Commerce Department. This could be just what the country needs to raise trade to a higher platform. But we must be involved to help it happen in the right way, or we could fall out of the frying pan and into the fire. As these crucial times confront us, I ask you, my colleagues inFCS,tokeepme informedof what ishappeningon the ground, to work to reach a consensus and to help me get the job done right. Please e-mail your congressional representatives and sen- ators now! FCS returns more than $135 in revenue for every dollar allocated. There is no doubt that in the markets we are closing — which are also key to the larger markets — the return on investment more than justifies funding. V.P. VOICE: FCS BY KEITH CURTIS What Lies Ahead? 62 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 1 1 A F S A N E W S