The Foreign Service Journal, October 2022

12 OCTOBER 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL the Foreign Service. At that time, it was almost completely a white male bastion. I also read about the discrimina- tion against women officers, who were forced to resign their commissions when they married. Later, I read about Alison Palmer’s lawsuit against the department for sex discrimination, especially in assignments and promotions. It took the State Department 14 years to settle the case. Meanwhile, dozens of women left the service. As an AFSA vice president for USIA (1995-1996) with AFSA President Tex Harris, I became well informed about several discrimination cases involving women officers. Glover makes a crucial point about discriminatory practices. In the case of women officers, a protracted lawsuit ended in a victory for women—but at a price. Many of the plaintiffs lost out on better assignments and promotions despite their qualifications. Glover, himself, may have been shorted on a promotion despite his service in Kabul under harrowing circumstances. His experience and his description of Avraham Rabby’s experience under- lines continued discriminatory practices and personal struggles to overcome them. The Foreign Service has lost many superlative officers due to different forms of discrimination. Glover’s experience also reflects the sad history of prejudice among some FSOs and senior managers, who appar- ently believe that only certain kinds of people are entitled to be in the Foreign Service; and, among them, certain types are favored for promotion. I believe that significant steps have been taken since my retirement in 2000 to lessen discrimination and improve diversity, but I also recognize that there are networks of officers who tend to