Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service
Encyclopedia
The Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service is an award of the United States Department of State. It is presented to employees of State, USAID and civilian contractors assigned to diplomatic and consular facilities for events that lead to death or serious illness or injury. It is roughly comparable to the U.S. military's Purple Heart
, but since the criteria for the award is so strict, nearly all of them are awarded posthumously.
The award consists of a gold medal set and a certificate signed by the Secretary of State and the President of the United States.
The initial regulations limited the issuance of the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service, originally known as the Foreign Service Star, only to members of the U.S. Foreign Service who were killed or seriously injured. The rules were later changed to allow for the recognition of Civil Service and other civilians, killed while working on behalf of a foreign affairs agency.
There was some controversy when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell
attempted to change the name of the award from the Foreign Service Star to simply the Thomas Jefferson Star. AFSA
and the Foreign Affairs Council resisted the change and successfully negotiated including the words "Foreign Service" as part of the award.
b. Examples of employees meeting the selection criteria include, but are not limited to:
An employee or surviving next of kin may petition the Department Awards Committee to consider individuals who are eligible and deserving of the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service notwithstanding the fact that the illness, injury or death occurred prior to the effective date.
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
, but since the criteria for the award is so strict, nearly all of them are awarded posthumously.
The award consists of a gold medal set and a certificate signed by the Secretary of State and the President of the United States.
The initial regulations limited the issuance of the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service, originally known as the Foreign Service Star, only to members of the U.S. Foreign Service who were killed or seriously injured. The rules were later changed to allow for the recognition of Civil Service and other civilians, killed while working on behalf of a foreign affairs agency.
There was some controversy when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
attempted to change the name of the award from the Foreign Service Star to simply the Thomas Jefferson Star. AFSA
AFSA
AFSA may refer to:* The American Federation of School Administrators* The American Financial Services Association* The Air Force Sergeants Association* The Armed Forces Security Agency, precursor to the United States' National Security Agency...
and the Foreign Affairs Council resisted the change and successfully negotiated including the words "Foreign Service" as part of the award.
Eligibility
Any civilian employee of any agency, including Foreign Service Nationals (appointed under Section 303 of the Foreign Service Act), non-family member U.S. citizen employees hired at post (appointed under Section 303 and appointed under Section 311 (a) of the Foreign Service Act), and U.S. citizens and foreign nationals serving under a Personal Services Contract or Personal Services Agreement (if eligibility for the award is authorized in their contracts), are eligible for the Foreign Service Star Award as long as the employee is:- (1) Under the administrative direction of State or USAID;
- (2) Employed at, or assigned permanently or temporarily to an official mission abroad, or while traveling abroad on official business; and
- (3) Killed or incurs a serious illness or injury which requires hospitalization or similar treatment and which results in incapacity or disability that prevents the employee from performing his or her official duties or adversely affects his or her ability to obtain medical clearance, while the employee:
-
- (a) Is performing official duties;
- (b) Is located on the premises of a U.S. mission abroad; or alternatively,
- (c) By reason of the individual's status as U.S. Government employee.
Criteria
a. Selection of award recipients will be based on:- (1) The nexus between the death, illness or injury and the act of serving abroad in an official capacity. The death, illness or injury must be linked to the official duties of the employee. This may be by reason of location at the U.S. mission, by reason of the employee's status as a U.S. Government official, or by reason of the fact that the employee is performing, or en-route to perform official duties; and
- (2) The seriousness of the illness or injury. An illness or injury is "serious" if it requires hospitalization or similar treatment and results in incapacity or disability that prevents the employee from performing his other official duties or adversely affects his or her ability to obtain medical clearance.
b. Examples of employees meeting the selection criteria include, but are not limited to:
- (1) The United States as the target of hostile action:
- (a) Mission as target while performing official duty, hostile fire kills or wounds a U.S. civilian employee who is accompanying U.S. peacekeepers abroad;
- (b) Employee as target, but not while on official duty, a commercial airliner flying abroad is hijacked and an employee, by reason of his or her status as a U.S. Government official, is subjected to mistreatment resulting in death, injury or serious illness.
- (2) Accidents occurring in a hostile environment or crisis situation:
-
- (a) Employee is killed or wounded by "friendly" fireFriendly fireFriendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
launched to counter or respond to hostile action. - (b) Employee is killed or wounded in an automobile or airplane accident caused by a hostile action or crisis situation.
- (c) Employee is killed or wounded by a land mineLand mineA land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
, trapBooby trapA booby trap is a device designed to harm or surprise a person, unknowingly triggered by the presence or actions of the victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. However, in other cases the device is placed on busy roads or is...
, bombBombA bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
or chemicalChemical warfareChemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
/biological agentBiological agentA biological agent — also called bio-agent or biological threat agent — is a bacterium, virus, prion, or fungus which may cause infection, allergy, toxicity or otherwise create a hazard to human health. They can be used as a biological weapon in bioterrorism or biological warfare...
, even if not targeted at the employee or the United States.
- (a) Employee is killed or wounded by "friendly" fire
- (3) Natural disasters linked to service:
-
- (a) Employee is killed or wounded while away from the mission, but while performing official duties, e.g., an earthquake abroad causes a building to collapse, killing several employees who are negotiating an arms control treaty; or
- (b) Employee is killed or injured at the mission, e.g., a flood strikes a U.S. Embassy compound, killing and injuring dozens of employees.
- (4) Nothing in this Foreign Affairs Manual shall limit the discretion of the Secretary to recommend the Foreign Service Star Award for an otherwise eligible and deserving employee.
Nominating and Approval Procedures
Nominations for the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service must be initiated by the Chief of Mission or by an assistant secretary, cleared by the Medical Director, as appropriate, and then submitted to the Department Awards Committee for review and recommendation to the Secretary. The Secretary shall make final recommendations to the President.Effective Date
The effective date for the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service shall be August 7, 1998.An employee or surviving next of kin may petition the Department Awards Committee to consider individuals who are eligible and deserving of the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service notwithstanding the fact that the illness, injury or death occurred prior to the effective date.
Recipients of the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service
- Diane Berry Caves, Public Health Professional, DHHS Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCenters for Disease Control and PreventionThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
, Port-au-PrincePort-au-PrincePort-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
, HaitiHaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, January 12, 2010, earthquake - John Granville, Democracy Officer, USAID, Juba, SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, July 14, 2008, attack - Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, Foreign Service National, USAID, Juba, Sudan, July 14, 2008, attack
- Steven Farley, Foreign Service OfficerForeign Service OfficerA Foreign Service Officer is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. As diplomats, Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic...
, U.S. Department of State, Sadr CitySadr CitySadr City is a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It was built in 1959 by Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim and later unofficially renamed Sadr City after deceased Shia leader Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr....
, IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, June 24, 2008, terrorist attack - Kellie Lartigue-Ndiaye, Country Director, DHHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, TogoTogoTogo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
, MaliMaliMali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, December 21, 2007, vehicle accident - Margaret Alexander, Deputy Mission Director, USAID, Kathmandu, NepalNepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, September 23, 2006, helicopter crash - Bijnan Acharya, Environmental Officer, USAID, Kathmandu, Nepal, September 23, 2006, helicopter crash
- Stephen Eric "Sully" Sullivan, Foreign Service Special Agent, U.S. Diplomatic Security Service, MosulMosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, Iraq, September 19, 2005, terrorist attack - Edward Seitz, Foreign Service Special Agent, U.S. Diplomatic Security Service, BaghdadBaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Iraq, October 24, 2004, mortar attack
See also
- Awards of the United States Department of StateAwards of the United States Department of StateThe United States Department of State, like other agencies of the U.S. federal government, gives civilian decorations for outstanding service, sacrifice, or heroism...
- Awards and decorations of the United States governmentAwards and decorations of the United States governmentAwards and decorations of the United States government are civilian awards of the U.S. federal government which are typically issued for sustained meritorious service, in a civilian capacity, while serving in the U.S. federal government. Certain U.S...
- United States Department of State
- U.S. Foreign Service