Daily Archives: March 23, 2015

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones (@SafiraDeborah) Exits Twitter, Leaves Behind 49.8K Followers

March 23, 2015 By in Ambassadors, Social Media, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , 3 Comments

Posted: 12:01 pm PDT
Updated: 5:24 pm PDT
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Screen Shot 2015-03-23Our ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones who is currently based in Malta tweeted about eight civilians who were killed in an air strike near Tripoli.

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Apparently, that tweet caused a firestorm in Libya as those killed were reportedly not killed in an air strike but attacked in their homes.

 

 

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Sometime later, Ambassador Jones tweeted this:

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Screen Capture, @SafiraDeborah's tweets

Screen Capture, @SafiraDeborah’s tweets click image for larger view

 

Then this happened:

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And that’s that.

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AFSA Announces Candidates for 2015-2017 Governing Board

March 23, 2015 By in Elections, Foreign Service, State Department Tags: , , , 1 Comment

Posted: 2:59 am EDT
Updated: 9:49 am PDT
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The AFSA Committee on Elections recently announced its approval of the following candidates for positions on the ballot for the AFSA Governing Board for the 2015-2017 term. It looks like the current president, Robert  Silverman is not running for reelection but the current State VP Matthew Asada is running for the top spot.  Mr. AFSA, Tex Harris, a tireless advocate for the professional interests of FSOs who previously served as AFSA president and established the “Tex Harris Award” for creative dissent by a Foreign Service specialist is also running for the top spot.  The third candidate is Ambassador Barbara Stephenson, former ambassador to Panama, and current Dean of the Leadership and Management School of the Foreign Service Institute.

There are two candidates for the State VP position.  Bill Haugh and former Ambassador Charles Ford are running unopposed for Secretary and Treasurer respectively.  Former Ambassadors Tom Boyatt and Charles Ray, and current GB member Larry Cohen are running for the Retiree VP position.  Three of the four candidates running as retiree representatives (4 slots) are also former ambassadors.  There are a few more familiar names among the candidates, we hope to have a follow-up post when their statements are available next month.

All regular voting members of AFSA will receive, by email or mail, a ballot and the special election edition of AFSA News on or about April 15, 2015. AFSA is pleased to offer those members for whom we have a valid email address the opportunity to vote online.  Completed ballots must be received by 8:00 a.m. June 4, 2015 in order to be counted. The new AFSA Governing Board will take office on July 15, 2015.

 

2015 Candidates

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President (1)

Matthew K. Asada (** Future Forward AFSA slate)
Tex Harris
Barbara Stephenson (*Strong Diplomacy slate)

Secretary (1)

Bill Haugh *

Treasurer (1)

Charles A. Ford *

State VP (1)

Angie Bryan *
Kit Junge

USAID VP (1)

Sharon Wayne

FCS VP (1)

Steve Morrison

Retiree VP (1)

Tom Boyatt
Larry Cohen
Charles A. Ray **

State Representative (11)

Brynn C. Bennett **
Lawrence Casselle *
Ronnie S. Catipon
John Dinkelman *
Eric Geelan *
Josh Glazeroff *
Margaret Hawthorne *
Steven M. Jones
Pat Kabra **
Philip G. Laidlaw *
Neeru Lal **
Ronita Macklin **
Steve McCain **
Homeyra Mokhtarzada **
Doug Morrow
Peter Neisuler *
Erin O’Connor *
Leah M. Pease *
Dan Spokojny **
Sam Thielman *
Tricia Wingerter *
Joel Wisner **

USAID Representative (2)

Jeff Cochrane
Lorraine Sherman

FCS Representative (1)

William Kutson

Retiree Representative (4)

Patricia Butenis *
Dean Haas *
Alphonse F. La Porta *
John Limbert

* Member of the Strong Diplomacy slate
** Member of the Future Forward AFSA slate

 Election details via afsa.org:

AFSA members are encouraged to visit the AFSA website to participate in an online discussion forum with candidates. The discussion forum is named the “AFSA Community.” Candidates and/or members may post questions or comments to this forum and respond to members’ questions at http://community.afsa.org/. All members must log in to participate and have personal email addresses stored on their profile. (Note: government email addresses will not be accepted on the AFSA Community site.)

Additionally, Town Hall meetings have been set up as follows:

  • USAID: 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 25th, in the LPA/IC Conference Room M-17, located on the Mezzanine Level of the Ronald Reagan Building.
  • FSI (active duty only): 12:00 p.m. Monday, March 30th, in the Kennan conference room at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, (FSI) 4000 Arlington Boulevard (also known as Route 50), Arlington, Virginia 22204.
  • State: 12:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 7th, in the Loy Henderson Auditorium at Main State.
  • Retirees: 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 8th, in the first floor conference room at the AFSA HQ building, 2101 E Street, NW, Washington DC 20037.

These events will be taped and available on the AFSA YouTube channel. The candidates’ statements will also be posted on the AFSA website on April 1, 2015. Go to http://www.afsa.org/afsa_elections.aspx to view.

If you have not already done so, please ensure AFSA has your current address on record. To update your address information, send an email to member@afsa.org.

IMPORTANT:
If you do not receive your ballot by May 6, 2015, please contact election@afsa.org and provide your full name, work location, current address, and telephone number.

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Inspection Report on US Embassy Eritrea Now Classified? Plus State/OIG FY2015 Inspection Schedule

March 23, 2015 By in AF |Africa, Foreign Service, Govt Documents, Huh? News, Oversight, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Posted: 1:19 am EDT
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State/OIG has posted its schedule of FY2015 inspections.  Something we can look forward to reading, although it will probably take months before these reports will be available online.  Unless, of course, these reports are designated “classified” like the inspection report on the U.S. Embassy in Asmara, Eritrea (pdf). Some OIG reports have classified annexes. This is the first one we’ve seen in recent memory where the entire report has been designated classified.

Screen Shot 2015-03-22

click image for larger view

 

According to history.state.gov, the United States recognized the Republic of Eritrea on April 27, 1993, when the American consulate at Asmara informed Eritrean authorities of this decision on the same date Eritrea declared its independence. Eritrea previously had been under Ethiopian sovereignty. Diplomatic relations were established on June 11, 1993, when the American consulate at Asmara was raised to Embassy status with Joseph P. O’Neill as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim.

There currently is no U.S. Ambassador to Eritrea; the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires is Louis Mazel,  career Foreign Service Officer who arrived in Eritrea to take up his posting as Charge d’Affaires on July 10, 2014.

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The upcoming inspection schedule via Office of Inspector General Work Plan 2015:

Fall Cycle: October–November 2014 

Post inspections of Astana and Dushanbe, including BBG operations

Post inspections of Riga and Tallinn

Post inspections of Antananarivo and Port Louis

Inspection of the Office of Civil Rights (S/OCR)

Inspection of BBG operations in Kabul

Compliance Follow-up Review of the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO)

Winter Cycle: February–March 2015

Post inspection of Amman

Post inspection of Tokyo and constituent posts

Post inspections of Muscat and Tunis, including BBG operations

Inspection of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs

Compliance Follow-up Review of the Accountability Review Board Process

Spring Cycle: May–June 2015

Inspection of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO)

Inspection of the Office of Management Policy, Rightsizing and Innovation (M/PRI)

Inspection of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, International Programs Directorate (DS/IP)

Inspection of the Bureau of Information Resource Management, Vendor Management Office (IRM/OPS/VMO)

Inspection of the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR)

Inspection of the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services (CGFS)

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Keeping Up With the State Department Spox’s Explainer on the Clinton Separation Statement

March 23, 2015 By in Govt Documents, Hillary Clinton, Huh? News, Leadership and Management, Politics, Regulations, Resignations, Secretary of State, Security Clearance, State Department Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted: 12:42 am EDT
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The hunt for Secretary Clinton’s OF-109 Separation Statement was all over the news last week, although it seemed, oh, so much longer.  Fox News was searching for it. The Daily Caller found a whistleblower who alleged double standard.  Media Matters  called out the conservative media’s own double standard. Add the official spokesperson of the State Department and we got a free roller coaster ride plus coupons.

It looks like 12 FAM 564.4 is the relevant regulation um, excuse me, “recommendation” in the Foreign Affairs Manual. Waiting for the spox to clarify that although the briefing is mandatory, signing the separation statement is really optional and voluntary!

12 FAM 564.4 Termination
(TL:DS-88; 02-13-2003) (Uniform State, AID, OPIC, TDP)
a. A security debriefing will be conducted and a separation statement will be completed whenever an employee is terminating employment or is otherwise to be separated for a continuous period of 60 days or more. The debriefing is mandatory to ensure that separating personnel are aware of the requirement to return all classified material and of a continuing responsibility to safeguard their knowledge of any classified information. The separating employee must be advised of the applicable laws on the protection and disclosure of classified information (see 12 FAM 557 Exhibit 557.3) before signing Form OF-109, Separation Statement (see 12 FAM 564 Exhibit 564.4).

 

Via DPB, March 17, 2015 with State Department Spokesperson Jennifer Psaki:

QUESTION: So when you say – it is my understanding that all employees – and I think you even alluded to this when it first came up, that all employees were required to sign this document on completion of their government service. Is that not the case?

MS. PSAKI: Required is not the accurate term. It’s – we’re looking into how standard this is across the federal government and certainly at the State Department. But there’s no – we’re not aware of any penalty for not signing it.

QUESTION: Well, at the State Department, though, is it – it is common practice, though, is it not, for employees, at least employees below the rank of Secretary of State to sign such a thing – to sign such a document when they leave? Is it not?

MS. PSAKI: Well, I just don’t want to characterize how common practice it is. Certainly, I understand there’s been a focus on this form. We’ve answered the question on whether or not Secretary Clinton signed the form, and we’ll see if there’s more statistics we can provide about how common it is.

QUESTION: It’s your understanding, though, that not completing this form is not a violation of any rule or regulation?

MS. PSAKI: It’s not a violation of any rule, no.

QUESTION: And when you said that you have found no record of her two immediate – was it her two immediate predecessors?

MS. PSAKI: Correct.

 

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