Association News

A Note from the Secretary

The Foreign Area Officer Association would like to thank COL (Ret) Mike Ferguson for the fine job he did as President. Mike served for three years and brought the Association through a transition period of its affiliation with the Department of the Army Staff to one of greater independence and greater alignment with all the service Foreign Area Officer programs. His contributions are certainly appreciated by all our members.

COL (P) John Adams is replacing Mike Ferguson as the new President of the Association and comes to us with tremendous experience serving in a number of FAO assignments. COL Adams was the Assistant Army Attaché in Brussels, the Defense and Army Attaché in Zagreb, and most recently the Defense and Army Attaché in Seoul. Prior to his assignment in Seoul, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. This summer he assumed the responsibilities of Deputy G-2, Department of the Army. We are very fortunate to have him serve as President and welcome his leadership.

One of the events the Association leadership will be addressing this coming year is the election of new members to the Board of Governors. The election is scheduled to be held every three to four years and ballots and instruction will be included in the Fall 2003 issue of the FAO Journal. Members are encouraged to participate in the election, as the Board of Governors is essential to maintaining the life of the Association.

The Association is currently experiencing a decline in membership. The Board of Governors is looking at ways of turning this trend around but one of the ways membership is sustained is by current members sharing their copy of the FAO Journal with non-member FAOs and encouraging them to join. One of the adverse side effects of a declining membership is a decline in revenue. And, the decline in revenue has impacted on the number of issues per year of the FAO Journal. For the last two years the Association has only published three issues per year instead of the previous four. Please bear with us until we can rectify this problem.

One of the adverse side effects of a declining membership is a decline in revenue. And, the decline in revenue has impacted on the number of issues per year of the FAO Journal. For the last two years the Association has only published three issues per year instead of the previous four. Please bear with us until we can rectify this problem.

A PCS move, however, has been the primary reasons in the past members have not received issues of the FAO Journal. We would like to remind members that the only way the Association has of keeping its membership roster current and ensuring members receive their copy of the FAO Journal is by members informing us of their current mailing addresses. The membership roster is also used to remind members when their membership is due. To keep mailing cost down, members are sent email notices of membership due dates. This puts greater importance on our having current email addresses. Members can also tell when their membership is due by the number following their name on the Journal address label. The number indicates the year, month, and day membership expires.

As a service to members who miss their copy of the Journal in the mail, the Association is exploring putting the Journal on-line in PDF format and making it accessible to readers using Adobe Acrobat Reader. Excerpts of the Journal are currently available on-line but storage space precludes us from posting the complete Journal. More information will be forthcoming on this initiative.

Respectfully, Rick Herrick FAOA Secretary

2004, Foreign Area Officer Association
Herndon, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org