The Foreign Service Journal, October 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2014 7 his month let’s take a look at two institutions of the Foreign Service that deserve wider recognition and appreciation. e AFSA legal division and the Senior Living Foundation of the American Foreign Service are each important to our careers and our moral well-being. e legal teamat AFSA is an agent for change. In U.S. history, change often begins not through legislation or executive at but in case-by-case legal challenges that go beyond the individual context to alter procedures, laws and eventually societal consensus. at has been the way of the AFSA legal team. Here is one example from recent his- tory. Two decades ago, being gay or lesbian in the Foreign Service could have led to a determination that one was an unac- ceptable security risk, resulting in the loss of one’s clearances and the end of one’s career. e theory was that homosexuals were susceptible to blackmail from foreign spies based on their sexual orientation. is theory perfectly dovetailed with social prejudices, but faced a problem: the lack of factual evidence supporting it in individual cases. at is where AFSA’s legal teamcame in. It represented employees in security inves- tigations and in grievances before the Foreign Service Grievance Board. AFSA’s general counsel led an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals on behalf of a gay Foreign Service o cer. Over the years, AFSA lawyers, alongside representatives fromGays and Lesbians in Foreign A airs Agencies, continued to challenge homophobic biases. Today societal views have changed, and policies are catching up. At the start of my Foreign Service career, that wasn’t the case. Personally, I wondered about the justi ca- tion for this policy, but like somany others I did nothing, unfortunately. And to be hon- est, AFSA itself as an organization was not in the forefront of challenging this policy. AFSA lawyers were. eir role in the system is to advocate for individuals, and they did their jobs well. In the end, they also helped shape policy, under the old common-law approach of one case at a time. I had never heard of the Senior Living Foundation before starting this assignment one year ago. After working with Executive Director Paula Jakub over the past year, I want to report to you how vital this institu- tion is. e foundation supports retired Foreign Servicemembers and their families who need nancial help and personal care. Here is the reality we are all aware of: spending our lives largely overseas oftenmeans we have not built and sustained the family and domestic networks needed in retirement. e foundation steps into that gap and helps, fromone-time grants for a wheelchair or hospital co-pay tomonthly visits froma volunteer and support over the course of one’s retirement. e foundation helps a lot of Foreign Service folks, more than 1,200 since it started in 1988. I have seen it intervene to prevent the eviction of a Foreign Service widow, who was selling her personal possessions to pay her rent andmedical expenses. In another case, a retired FS O ceManagement Spe- cialist neededmonthly assistance as her diabetes worsened and she was paying for insulin out-of-pocket. Here’s the problem: the Foreign Service leadership of the foundation, people like Joan Clark, Bill Harrop, Roz Ridgway, Alan Lukens and Bob Blake Sr., are themselves not getting any younger. We needmore support from recent retirees and active- duty folks to ensure that the foundation remains healthy into the future. If you want more information on ways to support this worthy cause, please visit the foundation’s website at www.SLFoun dation.org or contact Paula Jakub at (202) 887-8170. ese two institutions aren’t really secrets, but they do deserve to be better known. Each in di erent ways keeps us on the straight and narrow. Be well, stay safe and keep in touch, Bob Silverman@afsa.org n PRESIDENT’S VIEWS T Robert J. Silverman is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. Two Secrets of the Foreign Service BY ROBERT J . S I LVERMAN The legal team at AFSA is an agent for change, and the Senior Living Foundation helps retirees in need.