6 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Road Goes Ever On BY JOHN “DINK” DINKELMAN LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA, SEPTEMBER 25, 2025 John “Dink” Dinkelman is the president of the American Foreign Service Association. PRESIDENT’S VIEWS It seems only fitting that I am writing this column from the former Yugoslavia, given that this edition of the Journal marks the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords with fascinating ADST oral history excerpts from diplomats who were there. Coincidentally, the former Yugoslavia is where—after nine grueling months of FSI convincing me that some of us will never have the knack for Slavic case endings—I started my first Foreign Service assignment in the summer of 1989, in Embassy Belgrade’s consular section. And who knew that marrying a math professor on the Alternating Sign Matrices speaking circuit would afford me the chance years later to play trailing spouse for a few days and revisit the places where I’d served as an entry-level Foreign Service officer. The “front-row seat” that first assignment provided to the nightmare of Yugoslavia’s subsequent disintegration was one of the most formative events of my life—both personally and professionally. While it was painful for me, as a young man in my late 20s, to watch a rational, reasonable, progressive Western society quickly transition into ethnocentric, xenophobic tribalism, I find it even more painful today, as a “boomer” in his mid-60s, to see many of those same trends threaten other nations— including my own. When Will It End? In those waning days of Yugoslavia, people watched, usually with frustration, then anger, then horror, as their societal norms, protocols, and institutions fell apart—first slowly, then incrementally, and finally catastrophically. When they dared discuss it with me, they would skirt the critical questions: “When will all this end?” and, more importantly, “How will all this end?” It hurt too much for them to speculate—so we mostly just trudged on day after day not speaking of the house burning down all around us. Over the past months since taking office at AFSA, I have found myself starting to ask the same questions. Seemingly without so much as the smallest consideration given to the longterm effects on the federal workforce, much less the Foreign Service, State Department leadership continues to roll out uncoordinated revisions to the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), ill-conceived rule changes, and short-sighted reductions in force (RIFs)—all in the name of addressing perceived flaws in the system. These officials seem to have forgotten that they are dealing with a profession where consideration, coordination, and collaboration are the fundamental tools needed to get things done. They don’t realize that if you are to gain lasting change, you need to bring your people along with you. They don’t understand that unilaterally implementing broad structural changes cannot and will not work without “buy-in” by the rank-and-file. Stephen Covey is undoubtedly rolling over in his grave. I’ve stopped asking myself when and how all this will end, because the truth is that, for AFSA and its new president, this will never end. As long as there are dedicated Americans willing to submit themselves and their families to the challenges of serving our country overseas, AFSA will continue to fight for them. They can rest assured that the northwest corner of 21st and E Streets will continue to serve as an island of sanity and stability in the midst of all the turbulence and uncertainty engulfing Foggy Bottom. Weathering the Storm In his State VP column on page 74, Ro Nepal does an excellent job painting the sad picture of the present work environment at State. I would expand on his timely theme of “You Deserve Better,” because it doesn’t just apply to one agency. AFSA continues to receive disturbing reports from its members in all the (remaining) foreign affairs agencies confirming that the malaise and trepidation in Foggy Bottom is not unique to the State Department. As AFSA membership represents the spectrum of the Foreign Service—from those unceremoniously “shown the
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