Mr. FASCELL. Now, our next witness is Ms. Marilyn Holmes, Director of Family Liaison. Ms Holmes?

STATEMENT OF MARILYN J. HOLMES, DIRECTOR, FAMILY

LIAISON OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Ms. HOLMES. I would also like to read a statement for the record, if I may.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to thank this committee and its staff for its constant and compassionate interest in the welfare of Foreign Service family members. The recognition that these family members are an integral part of the U.S. representational effort, in its largest sense, has allowed our office successfully to create programs for them.

It has been our goal to help actively those people who, in today's complex society, have the additional burdens of adapting to the special stresses of the mobile lifestyle they have chosen. As you well know, and as the Foreign Service Act recognized, life abroad today cannot be compared to life abroad 10 years ago. One of the major changes, the economy, has made it necessary for many families to become two-income families and this, in turn, has created complexities and strains that did not exist before.

The Family Liaison Office has put major emphasis in the past 2 years on searching for new ways to employ family members abroad and to make that employment meaningful for the future. With this in mind, as Mr. Kennedy has already mentioned, we worked toward the Executive order, signed last month by the President, which will give noncompetitive eligibility for civil service jobs to U.S. Government family members who can accumulate 2 years of that service within a 10-year period.

Also, the nine bilateral work agreements which we have negotiated will allow our family members to work in those countries where we have signed, and we have another seven or so which should be signed in the very near future.

The American family member Foreign Service national program [AFM/FSN], the functional training program, our skills bank here and the ones abroad, have all contributed greatly to meeting the employment needs of our family members. We have recognized shortcomings in some of these programs and are anxious to correct these problems.

At this time, we will not make further recommendations for family member employment. Rather, this should be a time for consolidation and refinement of existing programs so they benefit the largest number of people possible without disadvantaging particular groups of employees in the Foreign Service.

We are very conscious of the needs of the Service and while we firmly believe that every effort must be made to progress in this family member employment field, we feel equally strongly that we do not want to do this at the expense of career employees.

There are many areas that are troubling the Foreign Service in the 1980's. Over and over one reads in the press that the three main factors that have changed in the Foreign Service in the last decade are the economy, the danger factor, and the spouse factor.

This is true, but the impact of these three factors changes all the time. I do not want to take up more of the committee's time than is necessary, and am anxious to answer questions about our activities, but I would like to make a plea-a plea for flexibility in a bureaucracy that must recognize the need for change.

Mr. Chairman, the other day you said that there was nothing more constant than change. This certainly applies to the Foreign Service and recognition of that fact leads to the absolute need for flexibility to meet those changing needs. Recognizing these needs, interpreting their impact on our Foreign Service society, and designing and implementing programs to meet them is perhaps the most important work that our office can perform.

Thank you for your time. I would be delighted to answer any questions you might have about our programs. Mr. FASCELL. Thank you very much.

Mr. Crockett.

Mr. CROCKETT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Brown, what responsibility does your department have for implementing the Department's affirmative action program?

Mr. BROWN. First of all, Mr. Congressman, I am not charged with any operating responsibilities. The act took that away from me and I say, "Hallelujah."

But I am in a position to track everything that happens in the Department, all its operating units and posts abroad with respect to how effective and efficient they are in carrying out their assigned functions.

Therefore, my responsibility with respect to the EEO program, for example, is to have oversight, as I have over the entire Service both in the Department and abroad, of how well it operates.

In that regard, anticipating this question, I did check our record. We actually did the last inspection in July 1975. However, we did do a preinspection survey at the end of 1980 and it is on my list which is a growing, demanding, and dynamic list.

So, I am hereby informing you, Vivian, that I will be coming to

see you.

Mr. CROCKETT. So I take it that in the approximately 2 years now that we have had the act of 1980, that you have not conferred with Ms. Derryck on how the program is doing.

Mr. BROWN. Sir, I have some idea of how she is doing, when I sit in a meeting once a week with Vivian Derryck where she reports to the Under Secretary of State for Management with respect to her operation.

Mr. CROCKETT. That is a generalized meeting, is it not?

Mr. BROWN. Pardon me?

Mr. CROCKETT. That is a generalized meeting.

Mr. BROWN. Well, what she talks about is pretty specific. In addition, my senior deputy, the Deputy Inspector General, happens to be a minority-black. He also happens to be the EEO representative on the EEO Affirmative Action Committee and works actively on that committee-obviously, it is not solely for oversight. That is our participation in the operation of EEO.

But the oversight is another question. I can only see it as I see many operations, from a distance, until I get involved in an inspection.

Mr. CROCKETT. You were present and heard the statement I made to the committee; did you not?

Mr. BROWN. Yes, sir.

Mr. CROCKETT. Did you hear any factual misstatements, or are you not in a position to comment because you have not actually looked into the question of the operation of the affirmative action program?

Mr. BROWN. I am probably not in a position to be judge and jury, sir, at this point. I can only do that having made an audit of the operation in terms of its goals and objectives, and how well they met them or have not met them.

So, I think it would be better for me to refrain from responding. Mr. CROCKETT. Thank you.

Ms. Derryck, how long have you been with the Department?

MS. DERRYCK. I have been with the Department since November 1979, sir.

Mr. CROCKETT. And your position is Deputy Assistant Secretary. Is that the highest ranking position that a black holds in the Department?

MS. DERRYCK. At this particular time there are four persons, four blacks, who hold Deputy Assistant Secretary positions or the equivalent. And yes, those are the highest ranking blacks in Washington. Of course, we have seven black Ambassadors out in the field.

Mr. CROCKETT. Now, in going over your statement I would summarize it by saying that it is pretty laudatory of the Department's approach and what the Department hopes to accomplish as far as any affirmative action is concerned.

But you do not get down to details. You were present when I made my statement?

MS. DERRYCK. Yes, sir.

Mr. CROCKETT. Did I make any factual misstatements in my statement?

Ms. DERRYCK. No, sir, I do not believe that you did. I picked up a lot of what you did say and I thought that your emphasis on the basic tenets of American foreign policy that incorporate EEO were particularly important.

We certainly agree that the foreign policy insight that we as a government can utilize from minorities is important, and also the importance of EEO's good management.

So, we certainly thought that your statement did give us some food for thought and that factually it was correct.

Mr. CROCKETT. Then I would think-and I am not asking you to agree with me that my statement is probably a more effective report of what is happening as far as that practice is concerned in the State Department than your statement was.

MS. DERRYCK. I am not sure that I could comment on that, sir. Mr. CROCKETT. Now, you indicated that between 1980 and 1982 there was roughly a 3-percent increase in the number of women in the Department; is that right?

MS. DERRYCK. Between 1980?

Mr. CROCKETT. Between 1980 and 1982. In 1980 it was 12.9, and in 1982, it is 15.7. Did you say that?

MS. DERRYCK. Yes.