100 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL APPRECIATION From 1970 through 2019, Ambassador Thomas Boyatt served on various AFSA Governing Boards as president, vice president, secretary, treasurer (multiple times), retiree vice president, and retiree representative. An FSO from 1959 until 1985, he served as ambassador to Colombia and Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and chargé d’affaires in Chile, in addition to postings in Nicosia, Luxembourg, Antofagasta (Chile), and Washington, D.C. Since retiring in 1985, he has been vice president of a large company, president of a small company, and a trustee of Princeton University, currently serving as chair of the Academy of Diplomacy’s Finance Committee. A Hero of Our Time William Caldwell Harrop 1929-2025 BY TOM BOYATT In the 50 years since the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), under the leadership of Chairman Bill Harrop, defeated the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to become the Foreign Service union, scores of AFSA leaders and supporters have worked to strengthen AFSA in all its dimensions. The goal was and is to have the means to protect AFSA and the U.S. Foreign Service against any “existential threat.” That term was never precisely defined, so no one had a clear picture of what it would look like. Now we know. In late March of this year, the Trump administration published a presidential executive order (EO), “Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs,” that purports to exclude all subdivisions of the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development from Chapter 10 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, pertaining to labor management relations, based on alleged national security reasons. The EO led to the “decertification” of AFSA as the union for State and USAID Foreign Service employees, eliminated dues checkoff, and asserted that all union contracts with AFSA were null and void. AFSA immediately sued on the basis that the Trump administration’s actions were illegal and unconstitutional. In passing Chapter 10 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, both houses of Congress, as well as the then president who signed the law, deemed that collective bargaining and representation by a union were in the public interest. It can only be nullified or amended by the same due process of law. An executive order alone does not have the force of law since the legislative branch is excluded from the process. The EO is thus manifestly unconstitutional. The D.C. Federal District Court granted AFSA a preliminary injunction, finding that the EO was likely to cause irreparable harm to AFSA and that AFSA was likely to prevail on the merits of its case. The administration appealed that decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and it was temporarily stayed. AFSA appealed to the full Court of Appeals, which unfortunately upheld the stay. The fight continues, and a decision is expected later this year. The case will very likely go to the Supreme Court. Fortunately, AFSA is not completely outgunned in this fight. In fact, we are a powerhouse. AFSA has a multimillion-dollar war chest to support its legal and public relations efforts, and the ability to raise much more if necessary. We have a strong congressional advocacy program, and we are also a professional association well respected among the professional and educational institutions dealing with foreign affairs. Understanding how AFSA achieved this status over five decades starts with a testimonial to one Foreign Service officer: the late William Caldwell Harrop. e A career FSO and five-time ambassador who retired in 1984 with the rank of Career Minister, Bill Harrop was the leader of the “Young Turks” and their official inspiration during his time as chairman of AFSA (1969-1973) and then, informally, for the rest of his life.
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