The Foreign Service Journal, December 2006

DE C EMB E R 2 0 0 6 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 69 A F S A N E W S Service. It creates a cynicismthat only cer- tainemployeeswill be subject toServicedis- cipline, while others will be able to thumb their noses at it —and at them. MadamSecretary, as you know, AFSA has long cooperated with the department todevelop andoperate anopen, transpar- ent systeminwhich qualifiedCivil Service employees canserveoverseas. Formallydes- ignated “hard-to-fill” positions become available after a months-long process in which exhaustive efforts are made to find qualified Foreign Service applicants. Separately from the hard-to-fill program, we alsoworkwithHR tominimize vacan- cies at unaccompanied posts through Civil Service excursion tours. It has long been, and it remains, AFSA’s view that the department’s Foreign and Civil Service employees are all foreignpolicyprofession- als and part of the same team. But how these assignments aremade, andwhy they aremade, are issues crucial to the effective functioning of the carefully balanced sys- temthedepartment has enjoyeduntil now. Unfortunately, this assignment compromis- es the integrity of both the FS assignment process and the “hard-to-fill” and unac- companied posts programs. One example of the good faith that AFSA has shown in cooperating on this sensitive issue, one that we have discussed before, is the recent case of a Civil Service officer being assigned to the high-profile, much-sought-after Foreign Service posi- tion of DCM inBaghdad. Baghdad is our largest embassy in the world, the ambas- sador there is a political appointee, and the DCM plays a number of roles of vital importance to both the huge FS contin- gent in Iraq and our foreign policy inter- ests — roles that only a Senior Foreign Service officer can fulfill. You assuredme that you believed the combination of the imperatives of the administration’s high- est foreign policy priority and the truly exceptional circumstances that existed in Iraq justified that exceptional assignment. On that basis, AFSA set aside its concerns andacceptedyour decisionwithout protest or appeal. I would ask that you contrast those circumstances with this Brussels PD assignment, wherenot a singleoneof those special circumstances or policy imperatives exist. For all of these reasons it ismy somber duty to informyou thatAFSAhas conclud- ed that it must defend the Foreign Service and the integrity of the ForeignServiceAct andour negotiatedagreements. TheAFSA Governing Board has thus voted unani- mously to initiate an institutional grievance to undo this assignment, which has now been formally filed. Finally,MadamSecretary, even though all assignments aremade inyour name, we arenot sure that youwereawareof this issue before receiving this letter. If that is the case, it is an issue that we believe warrants your personal attention. Respectfully yours, J. AnthonyHolmes, AFSA President