End of Tenure

Some remarks as I close a long chapter in my journalism career

I am officially retiring today from the Voice of America and the United States Foreign Service. Thank you for coming along on our journey via the airwaves and on social media, while we reported from dozens of countries and at the White House and aboard Air Force One, during these past decades.

My time as an active correspondent abruptly ended four months ago when VOA’s top managers suspended me as part of its anticipatory obedience to the incoming USAGM politically-installed leadership. Two weeks later, nearly everyone at VOA was also put on administrative leave and VOA broadcasts, on air continually since 1942, were silenced by the U.S. government.

Thank you to AFSA and other labor unions and journalists’ groups, the Government Accountability Project and especially my successor as VOA’s White House bureau chief, Patsy Widakuswara, as well as the other named and ‘John Doe’ plaintiffs, for leading the legal fight against executive overreach and First Amendment violations. Many more are involved behind the scenes as part of the volunteer grassroots #SaveVOA campaign.

If you are also outraged about the wanton destruction of U.S. international broadcasting, please consider helping the most vulnerable of our colleagues, including hundreds of already-terminated contractors, by contributing to the USAGM Employee Association fund (a non-federal 501(c)3).

Non sibi sed patriae.