The Foreign Service Journal, December 2008

Call for AFSA Award Nominations DEADLINE: FEB. 27 T his is AFSA’s annual call for nomi- nations for our prestigious con- structive dissent and exemplaryper- formanceawards. Winners receivea$2,500 cash prize and are honored at a ceremo- ny in late June in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the State Department, which is typically attended by the Secretary or Deputy Secretary of State. Our ForeignService is currently facing oneof themost challenging times in its his- tory. Foreign Service ranks are stretched A s the ForeignService Journal went to press in mid-November, AFSA and the State Department were workingonanall-out effort toconvince the Senate andHouse to close the overseas pay gapduring thepost-election lame-duck ses- sion of Congress. Dramatic progress on the issue began in mid-July when the AFSA-supported “Foreign Service Overseas Pay Equity Act of 2008” (H.R. 3202, originally offered by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.)was approvedby the House Foreign Affairs Committee on a voice votewithbipartisan support andno opposition. The bill would give overseas entry- andmid-level ForeignServicemem- bers the same comparabilitypayadjustment that is afforded tocolleagues assigned to the District of Columbia. (Overseas Senior ForeignServicemembers started receiving such treatment in 2005.) The bill propos- es to close one third of the pay gap in FY 2009, another third by October 2010, and the final third by October 2011. Two months later, on Sept. 23, AFSA convinced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee topass analmost identical ver- sion of the House bill (assigned bill num- ber S. 3426 when offered by Senator John AFSA FIGHTS HARD FOR FAIR PAY LEGISLATION Closing the Overseas Pay Gap DE C EMB E R 2 0 0 8 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 59 Continued on page 65 American Foreign Service Association • December 2008 AFSA NEWS “H owon earth canwe ask for an increased foreign affairs bud- get in the middle of an eco- nomic crisis?” With that provocativequestion,Ambas- sadorThomas Boyatt kickedoff anaggres- sive campaign to raise public and legisla- tive awareness of a lesser-known but potentially just as devastating crisis: the growing foreignaffairsbudget shortfall. The newly released, groundbreaking study, “A Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future: Fixing theCrisis inDiplomaticReadiness,” published jointlyby theAmericanAcademy of Diplomacy and the Henry L. Stimson Center, was the subject of a panel discus- sion and Q&A session in a packed con- ference hall at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 16. Amb. Boyatt, project chairman for the study, went on to explain that, in fact, America cannot afford not to increase funding for foreign affairs. “First of all, we’re not asking formuch: roughly one-third of 1 percent of the Department of Defense budget. And sec- ondly, if diplomacy can prevent just one AFSA Governing Board Seeks New Candidates Please keep these dates inmind as you consider nominating someone (including yourself) for the AFSA GoverningBoard’s next termof office. Complete information about nomi- nation and election procedures appeared in the November AFSA News , which can be found online at www.afsa.org/fsj/nov08/afsa_news.pdf. Important Dates 2009: Feb. 2 — Deadline for Nominations March 25 — Ballots and Candidate Statements Mailed June 1 —Ballots Counted July 15 — New Board Takes Office Continued on page 70 Continued on page 64 AFSA PRESIDENT JOINS AMBASSADORS TO SPEAK AT AAD-STIMSON EVENT Study Reveals Foreign Affairs Budget Gaps BY FRANCESCA KELLY