Well Said

It is infuriating to see this surface again. Many thanks to AFSA President Susan Johnson for setting the record straight.

A letter writer's slur on Foreign Service employees

In the midst of his critique of The Post's excellent report on "Top-Secret America," [letters, July 23], William Lucyshyn posed the following question: "Remember State Department employees refusing to 'volunteer' to be assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Iraq?"

No one "remembers" that because it never happened. To the contrary: No matter how dangerous and difficult the job, Foreign Service members and other State Department employees continue to step up to fill every position for which they have been needed in Iraq, Afghanistan and countless other war-torn countries -- just as they have done throughout our history. Not a single Foreign Service employee has had to be identified for "directed" assignment to any of those jobs.

To use Mr. Lucyshyn's words, such attacks on the professionalism and dedication of Foreign Service employees are "misleading and sensational."

Susan R. Johnson, Washington
The writer is president of the American Foreign Service Association.