The Foreign Service Journal, December 2009

58 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 A F S A N E W S strumental in strengthening the case for more funding, and Johnson pointed to some of the stronger figures in her testi- mony. She mentioned, for example, that as of September 2008, roughly one-third of mid-level generalist positions at posts of greatest hardship were filled by officers in up-stretch assign- ments. She also cited statistics about language training: as of October 2008, 31 percent of FSOs in language-designated po- sitions did not meet foreign-language proficiency requirements for their positions — and the number jumps sharply in Afghanistan (73 percent not proficient) and Iraq (57 percent not proficient). AFSA is currently exploring ways to work with State on im- plementing the recommendations made by the GAO. Johnson also spoke at the Foreign Affairs Retirees of North- ern Virginia luncheon in September, addressing the GAO re- ports and answering questions about the current atmosphere at the State Department. AFSA continues to use every possible forum and vehicle to advocate for and support the Foreign Service, includingmaking common cause with other unions, working with interested con- gressional representatives, issuing press releases and providing information. We will continue to update our AFSANews read- ers with the latest efforts and successes in the relatively open and welcoming climate on the Hill. ❏ LDF CONTRIBUTES $5,000 TO SECURITY CLEARANCE CASE AFSA’s Legal Defense Fund: There When Members Need It BY SHARON PAPP, AFSA GENERAL COUNSEL A FSA created the Richard C. Scis- sors Legal Defense Fund in 2007, naming it in honor of the late AFSA LaborManagement attorney who assisted hundreds of AFSA members. The fund is a last resort for members in- volved in legal cases with far-reaching importance to the rest of the Foreign Service — cases AFSA’s in-house attor- neys do not have the specialized expert- ise or hundreds of hours of time to pursue. The Legal Defense Fund can help members retain a private attorney to challenge egregious procedural viola- tions committed by an agency, protect them from lawsuits arising from service abroad and enforce Foreign Service Grievance Board decisions. This year, the LDF contributed $5,000 to retain a Washington, D.C.- based private attorney, Mark Zaid, an expert in security clearance matters, to represent a Foreign Service officer from the Department of Commerce. The de- partment had proposed the revocation of the employee’s clearance and subse- quently revoked it based upon docu- ments that it did not provide to the employee or his AFSA attorney. These records included write-ups of the inter- views the employee had with security officials at Commerce. In other words, the department would not give the em- ployee its summary of what he himself had said during the interviews. Instead, Commerce instructed the employee to file a Privacy Act/Freedom of InformationAct request to obtain the documents. He did so; but the FOIA of- fice claimed the documents were not re- leasable because they were classified. The office also argued that because the employee’s security clearance had been suspended during the security investi- gation and revocation processes, he was not authorized to receive them. The employee’s appeal of the Privacy Act/FOIA request is currently pending. In the meantime, the employee’s AFSA attorney had written to two Com- merce Department offices, the Office of Security and the Office of General Counsel, to seek their assistance in gain- ing access to the documents. She in- formed these offices that she had a top secret security clearance as well as a “need to know,” because access to the documents was essential in order to in- telligently respond to the “proposal to revoke,” as it is called. Neither office as- sisted her in obtaining the documents, and the employee was forced to file a re- sponse to the proposal to revoke with- out access to the documents. The Supreme Court has stated that employees are entitled to notice of the grounds for a proposal to revoke and the opportunity to respond. Without access to the documents that form the basis of the proposal and decision to re- voke, the employee has been denied procedural due process, a right to which all Foreign Service employees are enti- tled. The Legal Defense Fund is helping this officer get the specialized represen- tation he needs. But the LDF only ex- ists because of your generous donations. So far this year, active-duty and retired Foreign Service employees have con- tributed more than $14,000 to the LDF. If you wish to help, please send a check to the AFSA Legal Defense Fund at 2101 E Street NW, Washington DC 20037. For more information, send an e-mail to member@afsa.org. AFSA is grateful for your support. ❏ Beefing Up Resources • Continued from page 53 The fund is a last resort for members involved in legal cases with far-reaching importance to the rest of the Foreign Service.