The Foreign Service Journal, December 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2022 45 M. Juanita Guess Award for a Community Liaison Office Coordinator Christine Peterson Assisting Afghan Colleagues Through the Evacuation D uring the rapid closure of Embassy Kabul and in the aftermath of evacua- tion from Afghanistan, Christine “Christie” Peterson provided tireless support to staff as com- munity liaison office coordina- tor (CLO). She advocated for the families of U.S. government personnel and locally employed (LE) staff alike, ensuring their welfare and boosting morale at every opportunity. In April 2021, President Joe Biden set a September deadline for the U.S. military withdrawal. The Department of Defense (DoD) decision to accelerate this process left embassy staff with only 10 weeks to prepare. In this context, Ms. Peterson sought to ease the uncertainty and anxiety affecting staff. With pandemic restrictions in place, she developed remote CLO programs until most community members were vaccinated. She then organized morale-enhancing activities to combat stress amid exhausting contingency prepara- tions and April’s ordered departure (OD). Ms. Peterson tells the Journal , “Being a CLO in a hardship post like Kabul isn’t like being a CLO elsewhere. When you throw in the extra difficulty of a pandemic, the stresses and challenges of living on a small compound in a warzone come into sharp focus.” She estimates that she and her co-CLO coordinator worked 65 to 80 hours a week each in their efforts to serve multiple Christine Peterson. Rescue went out in August 2021, Ms. Kaczor traveled without hesitation to Doha to assist with the largest noncombatant evacuation in history. She worked night shifts to manifest new batches of arriving evacuees, addressing medical emergencies and family separations. The work was grueling, but Ms. Kaczor rose to the occasion and kept morale high. With her anticipatory actions and relentless drive to con- tribute to mission goals, Ms. Kaczor stands out as a model of administrative support in the field. She counts the recognition from AFSA as both a personal and a professional achievement: “The OMS corps is often overlooked, but we provide a solid foundation to any office. This award is proof that everyone has an important part to play!” Judit Kaczor joined the State Department in 2016. Originally from Hungary, she currently serves as OMS to the deputy chief of mission in Belgrade. In addition to Colombo, her previous assignments include Vienna and Islamabad. Before joining the Department of State, Ms. Kaczor gained experience working in U.S. missions as an eligible family member in positions such as new embassy compound move coordinator, security escort, administrative and protocol assistant, classified pouch coordinator, and consular fraud investigative assistant. The OMS corps is often overlooked, but we provide a solid foundation to any office. This award is proof that everyone has an important part to play! —Judit Kaczor Judit Kaczor.