The Foreign Service Journal, November 2004

I n late September, AFSA sent a letter to the two main presidential candidates. Excerpts fromAFSA’s letter to them: “On behalf of the 13,000 members, active-duty and retired, of the American ForeignServiceAssociation,Icallyouratten- tion to the importantworkof themenand womenof the ForeignService. These pro- fessionals,who serve thepresident and rep- resent the people of the United States, are on the front lines of our country’s war against terrorism. “To win that war, America’s Foreign Serviceanditsentirestructureofinternation- al diplomacymust operate at peak efficien- cyandenjoy full support. Theymust oper- ateinharmonywiththestructuresofhome- land security, foreign and domestic intelli- gence, and the military services. …. Our diplomacyhasbeenhistoricallyunderfund- edandneglectedrelativetotheothernation- al securityoperations. Wemust ensure that the men and women who represent our country in the Foreign Service will always have the tools and the support they need. “Today an overseas assignment means the employee takes an automatic cut of about 15 percent in the base salary the employee received in Washington due to the forfeiture of locality pay. This gap is growing every year. “Every ambassador going abroad must be knowledgeable and experi- enced in international affairs. Every chief of mission must be capable of serving as your personal representative from day one. …. The practice of send- ing novices to represent this nation is no longer tenable, and, in an age of ter- rorism, ambassadorial on-the-job train- ing is no longer acceptable. We must field America’s first team to lead our diplomatic programs. “The men and women of our Foreign Service have always served our country with skill, professionalism, loyalty and discipline. I can assure you that they will continue to do so. “Sincerely yours, JohnW. Limbert, AFSA President” ▫ NOVEMBER 2004 • AFSA NEWS 9 From: Management To: All Mission Personnel, Embassy Kigali Subject: Residential Manure Deliveries As has been done in previous years, the Embassy will assist all State and participat- ing ICASS agencies in the annual requirement for manure in residential gardens. USAIDstaffwill continue tomake these arrangements through their ExecutiveOffice. Non-USAIDpersonnelmust send a standardwork order toGSOrequesting a half- or a full-load delivery. GSO will advise each requestor of the scheduled delivery date. The breakdown of services is as follows: Manure price 15,000 per dump truck load Four GSO laborers 10,000 2,500 RwF each per trip* Two GSO drivers 10,000 per trip Total: RwF 35,000 for a full load GSO will provide truck and fuel at no charge. Customers pay RwF 15,000 in advance to the GSOworkers for themanure suppli- er and another RwF 20,000 to the GSO workers and drivers upon delivery. For split loads, the customers must coordinate payment and the order of delivery to each resi- dence. Delivery will take approximately five hours per load. They can make two deliver- ies each on Saturdays and Sundays. One loadofmanure is enough for large yards. One-half of a load shouldbe enough for an average sized yard. Customers who need only half a load can equally split the total cost with someone else. * at about 564 RwF to the dollar, a load costs a little over $60. MEMO OF THE MONTH: Just a Load of ... Personnel Matters • Continued from page 8 functional work (e.g., resource manage- ment vs. policy); •Demonstrated competence in assign- ments in positions in other than the pri- mary functional cone; •Demonstratedcompetence inadvanc- ing the achievement of the department’s 12 strategic goals, including public out- reach; •Demonstratedcompetence in the con- duct of transnational issues, as illustrated in eight of the department’s 12 strategic goals, and/or defense-related issues; • Demonstrated competence inwork- ing with multilateral organizations, Congress, NGOs, academia, interagency and/or the private sector, including through secondment/details/fellowships; • Demonstrated competence in the management of people; and •Activedevelopment of the skillsof oth- ers. The conduct of diplomacy has evolved in the past 10 years, and while the State Department still needs its officers to show a high level of proficiency in the five pri- mary cones, it is also looking toward increasedemphasis on themorediverse set of skills listed above. ▫ AFSA WEIGHS IN AFSA Sends Letter to Presidential Candidates