Daily Archives: February 26, 2016

February 26, 2016 By in Blognotes Tags:


14 DAYS TO GO OR GO BUST!  You know best whether our work is of value to you or not. If it is, and if your circumstances allow it, we could use your help to carry on for another year.  Our Go Diplopundit 2016 fundraising effort to keep the blog running for another 12 months is entering its last two weeks. We’ve made it over the halfway mark but with 14 days to go, we are still about 15K under our goal.  So not impossible to get to our goal but you know how it is.  It feels like the blog has been preparing to die for years and maybe this is the year when we’ll finally exhaust our nine lives.  We have half a dozen readers who made contributions through PayPal. We will not accept those contributions unless we know we’ll make it this year. Some of our dedicated readers have also made supplemental contributions to get us to the finish line, but even with our best efforts, the possibility that we may have to join Jeb! in suspending our campaign er, sorry, blogging, is real :-). Let’s see what happens in two weeks, okay? — DS

We could use your help to carry on for another year  😌  Real Life, the Way It Is – No Goggles and Plenty of Loose Ends  😉  Podium Cat Rolls Out Diplopundit’s GoFundMe 2016 Campaign

Thanks Jim!  Thanks @FSProblems! This, too! Thanks Sadie Abroad!

US Embassy Libya Evacuation of July 26, 2014 – In Photos

February 26, 2016 By in Defense Department, Diplomatic Security, Evacuations, Foreign Service, FSOs, Interagency Cooperation, Realities of the FS, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

Posted: 12:35 am EDT
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In the early morning of July 26, 2014, the State Department suspended all embassy operations in Libya and evacuated all its staff overland to Tunisia, due to ongoing violence between Libyan militias in the immediate vicinity of the embassy in Tripoli (see State Dept Suspends All Embassy Operations in Libya, Relocates Staff Under Armed Escorts). The photos below are from that evacuation via Diplomatic Security’s photo collection:

July 26, 2014: A portion of the embassy motorcade takes a roadside break along a desert highway in western Libya. Some 70 U.S. Government personnel and 85 U.S. Marines in 34 U.S. Embassy armored vehicles traveled more than 500 miles across desert and mountain terrain to the safety of neighboring Tunisia. (Source: U.S. Department of State)

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July 26, 2014:  U.S. Marines prepare an MV-22B Osprey vertical-takeoff tiltrotor aircraft for departure from Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy to assist with the relocation of U.S. Embassy personnel from Tripoli, Libya amid intense fighting between rival Libyan militias. The aircraft was part of a contingent of U.S. air assets, comprised of two Ospreys, an in-air tanker, and two fighter jets, that provided security support for the operation. (Source: U.S. Marine Corps)

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July 26, 2014: A Diplomatic Security technical specialist walks across the tarmac of the U.S. Naval Air Station in Sigonella, Italy after a long day’s journey through desert, mountains, and over the Mediterranean Sea. He was among some 70 embassy staff and 85 Marines who evacuated the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli earlier in the day, following weeks of escalating battles between heavily armed rival militias in the Libyan capital. (Source: U.S. Department of State)

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Snapshot: Investor EB-5 Visa Program (FY2013 – FY2015)

February 26, 2016 By in Congress, Federal Agencies, Foreign Service, Hearings, Interagency Cooperation, Snapshots, Visas Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

Posted: 12:18 am EDT
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Excerpted from the prepared statement of Nicholas Colucci, the Chief of the Immigrant Investor Program Office for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at the House Judiciary Committee Hearing, “Is the Investor Visa Program an Underperforming Asset?”, February 11, 2016:

Congress created the EB-5 visa program in 1990 as a tool to stimulate the U.S. economy by encouraging foreign capital investments and job creation. The EB-5 program makes immigrant visas and subsequent “green cards” available to foreign nationals who invest at least $1,000,000in a new commercial enterprise (NCE) that will create or preserve at least ten full- time jobs in the United States. A foreign national may invest $500,000 if the investment is in a targeted employment area (TEA), defined to include certain rural areas and areas of high unemployment.

The regional center program which has been in the news lately was first enacted in 1992, and provides an allocation of EB-5 visas to be set aside for investors in regional centers designated by USCIS. According to Mr. Colucci, there are currently 796 regional centers. This is up from about 588 at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2014, and 11 at the end of 2007.

 STATISTICS

In FY 2013, USCIS approved a total of:
• 3,699 Form I-526 petitions (Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur)
• 844 Form I-829 petitions (Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions)
• 118 Form I-924 applications (Application for Regional Center Under the Immigrant Investor Program)

In FY 2014, USCIS approved a total of:
• 4,925 I-526 petitions
• 1,603 I-829 petitions
• 294 I-924 applications

In FY 2015, USCIS approved a total of:
• 8,756 I-526 petitions
• 1,067 I-829 petitions
• 262 I-924 applications

Note: Form I-526, Petition for Immigrant Investor, is filed by all immigrant investors. Approval classifies the investor under section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act so that he or she (and derivative beneficiaries) can apply for an immigrant visa or for adjustment of status to conditional permanent resident. If admitted as an immigrant or adjustment of status is approved, the immigrant investor generally must then file Form I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions, within 90 days of the two year anniversary of his or her admission or adjustment as a conditional permanent resident. Other EB-5-specific forms include Form I-924, Application For Regional Center Under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, which is used to apply for regional center designation, and Form I-924A, Supplement to Form I-924, which approved regional centers file annually to demonstrate continued eligibility for the designation.

 

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AFSA Event: Spotting and Solving Ethical Dilemmas at Work, March 10, 11:30 a.m.

February 26, 2016 By in Foreign Service, FS Groups, FSOs, State Department Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

Posted: 12:02 am EDT
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The AFSA Committee on Professionalism and Ethics (PEC) has put together a two hour inter-active workshop-presentation on “Spotting and Solving Ethical Dilemmas at Work” at AFSA headquarters, 2101 E St NW, from 11:30 to 2:30 p.m. on March 10 with Dr. Terry Newell.  It is a free workshop that is available to AFSA members but civil service colleagues are also encouraged to sign-up. Details from AFSA below:

AFSA welcomes back Dr. Terry Newell for a two hour inter-active workshop-presentation on “Spotting and Solving Ethical Dilemmas at Work” at AFSA headquarters, 2101 E St NW, from 11:30 to 2:30 p.m. on March 10. Sandwiches and beverages will be available to participants from 11:30 to 12. This is a unique opportunity to participate in an in-depth inter-active session on a timely issue – how to behave ethically when the rules are not enough. Please join us for this timely opportunity to learn how to think and act ethically in everyday work situations. Space is limited and RSVPs are required. Please click here to RSVP.

Why, despite hundreds of pages or ethics laws and annual ethics training, do we still have ethical problems in government? One answer is that we fail to spot ethical issues in everyday work situations because no laws seem to be broken. Another is that traditional approaches to ethics focus on following the rules, on doing “right” when the regulations tell you what is “wrong”. But lots of ethical issues are choices between two or more “rights” where there are no rules to guide us.

In this workshop we will focus on how to spot and resolve ethics issues in daily work situations using case studies, film clips and small group discussion to explore questions such as:

•What does ethics mean and how do you spot an ethics issue?

•What is the role of ‘value conflicts’ in ethical thinking?

•How can you avoid mental traps in addressing ethics challenges?

•How can you make a sound ethical decision and how can you put an ethical decision into practice, especially amidst opposition?  .

Dr. Newell spent nearly forty years in the federal government, including distinguished service in the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Education, and the Office of Personnel Management. Since leaving his last position as Dean of Faculty at the Federal Executive Institute, he has concentrated on writing and teaching about ethical leadership in government. His books include The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work; Statesmanship, Character and Leadership in America; and – most recently – To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government. This book is filled with case studies, checklists, and stories of exemplary public servants, offering a practical, readable road map for acting ethically.

Note that the event is from 11:30 to 2:30 p.m. (not 2:20 p.m. as previously announced) on March 10. Please click here to RSVP. Alternatively, you may RSVP to events@afsa.org.

 

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