A Season to Harvest Here in the northern hemisphere, autumn is upon us. The days are growing shorter. The air is crisper. Leaves are turning crimson, grapes are being pressed, and friends gather around tailgates each weekend. Throughout most of our nation, it’s harvest season. It’s the time when we gather fruits from the year’s labor. As I write this, it’s still blueberry season in the upper Midwest. I’ll continue to treasure the time I spent as a boy helping my grandfather harvest blueberries on the farm in northern Indiana. Biased perhaps, but I’ve never tasted better. In our line of work, it’s also harvest season. The turning of the fiscal year brings both reflection and preparation. In the Foreign Commercial Service (FCS), it’s also a time of celebration for an exceptional year. By statute and by principle, our Service is one that has clear organizational metrics. This helps us measure our overall “rubber meets the road” results for U.S. companies and for our economy as a whole. In recent years, FCS has returned to the U.S. taxpayer more than $400 for every $1 invested in appropriations as we have supported and enabled billions of dollars of advocacy, export promotion, and foreign direct investment wins. If FCS had an annual report, all our graphs would be trending up and to the right. The photos in such a report would highlight handshakes, ribbon cuttings, and celebratory smiles resulting from business wins that improve our foreign policy and strategic competitiveness. From microchips and telecom to energy and critical minerals, FCS leads the government in our ability to deliver tangible and tactical results for U.S. companies that advance our foreign policy agenda. Our metrics this year will be exceptionally impressive. Our SelectUSA summit had the highest-ever turnout, and we assisted tens of thousands of companies, large and small. We have helped close more advocacy deals than ever before. Our influence is lauded by our clients, strategic partners, and senior interagency leadership. With all our incredible success this past year, it’s right to celebrate. Yet as with every harvest, weeds have been sown amid the grain. We closed the past fiscal year with fewer officers than we’ve had in recent memory. The number of FCS local staff has also decreased by more than 15 to 20 percent in some markets. The lead time to deliver our core services is being measured in months rather than weeks. Officers are regularly working 70-80 hours per week. Home leaves and R&Rs are being delayed, and 97 percent of our corps believes that the budget situation is negatively affecting morale. Of the positions hired in the past few years in the International Trade Administration, most have been for roles in HQ. To be fair, there have been notable and important operational wins as well. Our assignments process has started earlier, promotions have been announced faster, and relations between management and AFSA are collaborative and cordial. The challenging weeds that hinder our ability to thrive are well known: shrinking budgets with increasing expenses, delayed and often convoluted internal processes, misaligned incentives, uncertainty about the future, and so on. As an organization we must constantly ask if we should plant more seeds of policy efforts to please principals or if, instead, we should continue to deliver bread-and-butter services for our clients—American businesses. Unfortunately, our clients don’t write our EERs, and pleasing the principal never got anyone fired. Recent organizational surveys, as well as several early retirements, have revealed the gravity of our current situation. While strategic global competitors threaten to salt our fields, FCS is underfunded for the 45th year in a row. With ever-growing demands from HQ, clients, and chiefs of mission, FCS offices are spread so thin that more than 50 percent of our officers are considering leaving the Service. These challenges are a blight on the grain of our organization. As our awesome FCS teams around the world reap impressive wins and strategic deals, during the year ahead I will continue to urge leadership to invest in removing the weeds so that, together, we can thrive. n While strategic global competitors threaten to salt our fields, FCS is underfunded for the 45th year in a row. With ever-growing demands from HQ, clients, and chiefs of mission, FCS offices are spread so thin that more than 50 percent of our officers are considering leaving the Service. THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2024 55 Contact: burke@afsa.org FCS VP VOICE | BY JOSHUA BURKE AFSA NEWS
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