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USAID ■ BY FRANCISCO ZAMORA
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Iam honored that you have re-elected me to represent you and your interests for an additional term. Thank you for your confidence in me and support for the work
that AFSA is doing on your behalf.
We are proud of recent victories, such as the successful passage of overseas comparability pay, benefits for same-sex couples, better
starting salaries for untenured officers and numerous successful interventions in
personnel matters for our members. However, the work never ends, and we
cannot rest on our laurels. There are still many goals that we need to accomplish
during the next two years. Two that come to mind are increased telecommuting opportunities and comparability with State on benefits and incentives overseas.
There are also other issues of considerable concern. As of this writing,
USAID still has no Administrator and likely will not have one in place until
sometime in the fall. The situation is made worse because we are facing enormous challenges in staffing our critical priority countries. That sucking
sound you hear is primarily from
Afghanistan, where hundreds of all
types of employees are needed every
year, more than 200 of which are a
mix of Foreign Service and Foreign
Service Limited officers.
Afghanistan represents a prime
case of “nationbuilding,” so we have
little choice but to support this national priority. And although in
three years we are poised to double
the number of USAID FSOs, from
about 1,000 to 2,000, that is not
enough to meet the needs of Afghanistan and other critical priority countries,
in addition to the 80 regular missions we must staff worldwide. It is a constant
game of catch-up.
Nearly half of our cadre of FSOs has already served in a critical-priority country. A certain number of on-staff FSOs are not medically cleared for these countries, and others are single parents or caretakers who cannot serve at this time.
Furthermore, it would be unwise to indiscriminately assign brand-new officers
to CPCs as their first posting.
What to do? USAID is running out of options. Already we have incentives
for CPC service such as “priority consideration” for onward assignments, time-in-class extensions and generous financial inducements, now including overseas comparability pay. On the other side of the coin, there are also new
requirements, such as mandatory CPC bids and restrictions on tour extensions
in Washington and the field. However, you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip.
The agency is in crisis mode, and we need a permanent leader to help us navigate through this period — sooner rather than later. AFSA is a partner in this
journey, and I hope that we can continue to be an instrument to better serve
our country and our members. ❏
USAID: A Rudderless Ship
Seeking AFSA
Post Reps
Help serve your community by volunteering to be the AFSA representative for
your post. Post reps help keep headquarters connected to the 70 percent of AFSA
membership who are overseas. The authority and responsibilities of a post rep
are spelled out in the AFSA Chapter Manual ( www.afsa.org/postreps/manual.cfm).
For more information, or if you’d like to
know if your post currently has an AFSA
rep, check with the AFSA Membership
Department at member@afsa.org.
Briefs • Continued from page 56
The agency is in crisis mode,
and we need a permanent
leader to help us navigate
through this period —
sooner rather than later.
AAFSW Art & Book Fair
The 49th annual Art & Book Fair of
the Associates of the American Foreign
Service Worldwide will open its doors on
Friday, Oct. 16, from 2 to 5 p.m. for employees, spouses and escorted guests.
The fair continues from Oct. 19 through
23 for this same group. During two
weekends, Oct. 17-18 and 24-25, the sale
is open to the general public from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m. The event takes place in
the Exhibit Hall of the Harry S Truman
Building. Access is through the C Street
entrance. Visa, Mastercard and personal
checks are accepted. Please call (202)
223-5796 with any questions.
