Friday Roundup is your essential source for agency-specific news, legal case updates, Office Hours notices, AFSA’s advocacy on Capitol Hill, and more. These emails can be lengthy—but well worth the read.

This Week: One Year Later, the Missing Badge, and Hill Updates

Tomorrow marks one year since the State Department laid off more than 1,300 of our colleagues, including 246 Foreign Service members. Coming on the heels of the reckless dismantling of USAID, these actions have left America with diminished diplomatic and development capacity at a time of growing global instability.

This weekend, we hope you'll take a moment to think of those colleagues whose careers were abruptly cut short and the expertise our country lost with them.

On July 16, AFSA and AFGE, the Civil Service union, are organizing "The Missing Badge” exhibit and press event to highlight the diplomacy and development professionals whose expertise and service are “missing” from today’s workforce amid ongoing global crises.

If you are in the Washington, D.C.-area, we hope you'll join us as a volunteer or ally. As always, our voice is strongest when we stand together.

Here’s what else has been happening.

State Dept.

USAID

FAS

Alumni

Congress

Legal Updates

Membership

In Case You Missed It

SecState July 2 Town Hall: AFSA welcomed Secretary Rubio's decision (at long last) to hold a Town Hall. But the session left many important questions unanswered. How many members of the Foreign Service have resigned or were pushed out in the last year and a half? When will the department publish the list of retroactive promotions based on the recalculation of scores following the removal of the DEIA precept? When is the department going to appoint required members to the Foreign Service Grievance Board (FSGB)? What are the plans for NEA posts under ordered and authorized departure? And what is the department's plan if a U.S. employee or family member contracts Ebola? Our members – and the American public – deserve answers.

Chief of Mission Nominations: This week, we registered our concerns with the lack of transparency with the Chief of Mission process.

Article II Separations: AFSA is deeply concerned by the State Department's issuance of Article II separation letters to Foreign Service employees who are actively exercising their statutory due process rights before the FSGB. These letters terminate employees effective immediately. The FSGB has thus far declined to intervene; AFSA will continue to challenge these unprecedented actions. If you have received an Article II separation letter, we urge you to immediately fill out and file this basic grievance with the State Department and contact us at ogc@afsa.org.

Special Needs Education Allowance (SNEA): The department has made several unilateral changes to the SNEA. Most notably, qualifying services must now be authorized by the Medical Office of Child and Family Programs (MED/CFP) before costs are incurred to be eligible for reimbursement. For details, please contact us at member@afsa.org or carefully review 3 FAM 3280.

July 16 Event to Support the Foreign Service: Join us on July 16 for the Missing Badge exhibit and press event on Capitol Hill. AFSA is partnering with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to highlight the Civil and Foreign Service professionals (State and USAID) whose expertise and service are “missing” from today’s workforce amid ongoing global crises. More details here.

ICYMI: Former USAID Board Rep. Christopher Saenger joined fellow diplomat-turned-podcaster Christopher Wurst as a guest on the latest Service Disrupted webinar, “Stories from the Frontlines of Diplomacy.” If you missed it, watch the webinar recording, then subscribe to their podcasts, It Was Never a Job and Softpower/ful Stories, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Register Now for Office Hours: Our next Office Hours session will be on July 23 at 12:00 noon ET. Register here. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. What issues, questions, ideas, or complaints would you like us to address? Email your thoughts to Vice President Randy Chester at chester@afsa.org and Board Representative Austan Mogharabi at mogharabi@afsa.org.

Agency Reorganization: AFSA has not received any additional information about the direct impact of the reorganization on Foreign Service personnel. We encourage members to share any information, concerns, or questions by emailing ogc@afsa.org with the subject line "FAS Reorg."

Job Search Webinar: Join us on July 14 at 12:00 noon ET for a webinar with Tim Lo from yournextjump.com on pivoting from government service. Click here to register.

SFRC State Department Authorization Act: On June 24, Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) submitted a bipartisan FY27 State Department Authorization Act as an amendment to the Senate National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Below we summarize the key changes affecting the Foreign Service workforce.

• Section 8101 requires the State Department to create a “training float” by Jan. 1, 2027, reserving 8 to 10 percent of Civil and Foreign Service personnel at any given time for long-term professional development. Section 8102 ensures that Foreign Service officers affected by the closure, consolidation, or downsizing of their posts are allowed to rebid for comparable positions elsewhere in the service, protecting their career mobility during structural changes. Section 8104 establishes an additional incentive pay structure to financially reward and retain officers with critical foreign language proficiency, even when they are not actively using those languages in their assignments.
• The bill also includes several family and personnel support provisions. Section 8109 directs the Secretary of State to pursue bilateral agreements allowing eligible family members of diplomats to work in countries abroad. Sections 8110 and 8115 require the department to cover moving expenses for teleworking spouses transitioning between overseas posts and to pay return relocation costs for Foreign Service members upon retirement. Section 8113 ensures officers with existing hard or super-hard language skills are prioritized for critical assignments to reduce delays and avoid redundant training pipelines.
• Additional provisions address program management and workforce oversight. Section 8602 overhauls the au pair program. Section 8619 requires a review of the department's critical language capabilities. Section 8625 establishes a formal process for capturing lessons learned from embassy evacuations. AFSA is most concerned about Section 8202, which would prohibit Foreign Service members from serving in Bureau of Intelligence and Research positions above the GS-12/FS-03 level without at least two years of relevant intelligence experience.

AFSA expects the Senate State Authorization provisions to be incorporated into the final FY27 NDAA, likely during the lame-duck session. We are monitoring whether the amendment is added to the Senate NDAA when debate begins the week of July 13.

Visit AFSA’s lawsuit tracker to stay up to date on all our legal cases.

Pay Dues Directly from Your Bank Account. Members renewing online can pay securely with direct bank debit (ACH). Simply link your bank account once and all future payments will be processed automatically. Members currently signed up for automatic payments can switch to ACH online. Visit My Saved Payment Information.

Need Help Renewing Membership? We’re ready to assist. Send us an email at member@afsa.org or call (202) 719-9701 during business hours.

Foreign Service Night at Nats Park: AFSA’s annual community event will be held on Fri., Sept. 25 at 6:45 p.m. when the Nats take on the New York Mets. Tickets come with a $10 concession credit and are available now at this link. Questions? Email events@afsa.org.

Stories from the Frontlines of Diplomacy: In our latest Service Disrupted webinar, we chatted with Christopher Saenger and Christopher Wurst, diplomats-turned-podcasters, about their commitment to preserving the stories of American diplomacy and the people who power it. If you missed it, the recording is now available.

We All Need More Good News: We’re piloting a new section of the Media Digest devoted to good news for the world-weary among us. If you come across an uplifting story worth sharing, send it our way: mediadigest@afsa.org.

As always, thank you for your membership and your service.