74 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL STATE VP VOICE | BY ROHIT NEPAL AFSA NEWS Contact: nepal@afsa.org You Deserve Better In September, around 1,300 of our colleagues, including some 240 members of the Foreign Service, marked their last days as department employees. These colleagues were all unfairly RIFed on July 11. You may have noticed that I used the word “around.” I did so deliberately because there is much we don’t know about the RIFs given the department’s lack of transparency with AFSA and, more importantly, with all of you. The silence we’re experiencing during such tectonic changes runs counter to what the department taught us in leadership training. There we learned about the importance of transparency from leadership during times of change. Now, however, we find the rules on assignments, promotions, and recruitment transforming at a dizzying pace, with little communication about the department’s intentions and objectives. The information vacuum has been filled with whispered conversations and Signal chats full of gallows humor and speculation about what comes next. Despite the department’s failure to communicate, there is a lot we do know about the RIFs. Let’s start with the fact that we know every one of our RIFed colleagues deserves to be honored for their years, often decades, of dedicated service that made America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. They did this work tirelessly across the globe, with little or no recognition in Washington, often putting themselves and their families in harm’s way. Instead of being honored, they were dismissed in arbitrary and cruel ways. To our RIFed colleagues: You deserve better. On behalf of your department colleagues, AFSA, and the American people you have served, I thank you. We are profoundly sorry for how you have been treated. We also know the RIFs had nothing to do with merit. This year’s promotion boards, which met as the RIF notices went out, recommended at least 10 of the RIFed employees for promotion. Recognized as the best of their competitive group, they were simultaneously told to leave. How does that make sense? In addition, AFSA’s survey of RIFed officers reveals that 60 percent of the RIFed employees came from “competition groups” of just that one employee. In other words, more than half of the RIFs involved no competition whatsoever. Juxtaposed against the rigorous competition embodied in the promotion boards, these single-person competition groups make a mockery of the premise that the RIFs were based on a merit-based competition. We also know that many of the RIFed employees had recently been selected for prestigious fellowships and detail opportunities. Some had successfully gone through the rigorous DCM/ PO (Deputy Chief of Mission/ Principal Officer) process and were preparing to head out to post, only to be RIFed because they were in the wrong office on May 29. Finally, we know this: AFSA will stand up for the Foreign Service. We will continue to support our RIFed colleagues’ pursuit of legal recourse against their unjustified and baseless terminations. At a time when many feel like they cannot speak, AFSA is your voice, calling attention to the unprecedented attacks on our entire Service. We will continue to advocate for you in every available venue, because we all deserve better. n The Challenge Campaign: Members Step Up On October 1, AFSA announced that the goal of matching a $100,000 donation from a retired Foreign Service officer had been met, following a short eight-week campaign. In fact, a total of $126,404 was contributed to the Challenge Fund. Upon hearing this good news, the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, offered to match any donations above $100,000. AFSA is so grateful to the incredibly generous donor who made this successful effort possible. As a result of this challenge campaign, close to $260,000 was collected in total, all of which goes directly to support AFSA operations, per the donor’s wishes. We thank all who pitched in during this challenge—the first of its kind in AFSA’s history. If others are inspired to do the same, they will find a willing partner in AFSA. Please contact AFSA Executive Director Ásgeir Sigfússon at asgeir@afsa.org if you’d like to make a challenge donation to support AFSA during these turbulent times. n
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