OPEN SEASON EXTENDED

Blue Cross-Blue Shield Premiums Cut Back

The Price Commission has cut back the previously announced premium increases under the Government-wide Service Benefit Plan (Blue Cross Blue Shield).

A Commission ruling in December allows the plan an increase of only 22 percent instead of 34 percent (see NEWSLETTER, December).

Because of the Commission action, the open season, scheduled to end December 31, was extended to January 31. During the open season, employees and annuitants may change plans or options, and they may cancel or reverse a change made since the open season began on November 15.

The 22 percent increase in the premium rate for Blue Cross-Blue Shield went into effect beginning with the first pay period of 1972.

Premium increases previously announced for other plans will be postponed until the rates can be reviewed by appropriate price control authorities under new guidelines announced

by the Price Commission last month.

In addition to the downward adjustment in premium for Blue CrossBlue Shield already determined, it is possible that rates for some of the other plans will require adjustment other plans will require adjustment under the new guidelines.

Rates for plans other than Blue Cross-Blue Shield will be continued at 1971 levels during this period of postponement. Some of the plans, including Aetna, have not scheduled increases for 1972.

Government's contribution to premium payments will be set temporarily on the basis of 1972 rates for Blue Cross-Blue Shield and on 1971 rates for the next five largest plans.

On this computation, the government's temporary contribution will be $3.59 biweekly and $7.78 monthly for self only coverage and $8.96 biweekly and $19.42 monthly for self and family coverage. By law, the government contribution is 40 percent of the average high option cost of the six largest plans, but may not exceed

50 percent of premium for any employee.

Carriers whose increases are postponed will be given special payments from contingency funds held by the government for each plan to make up the difference between 1971 rates and those finally approved for 1972. The full and final adjustment of the government's contribution will be redetermined and will become effective when final 1972 rates for all plans have been approved by appropriate price control authorities.

It should be noted that more than 80 percent of all Federal employees and annuitants are covered by Blue Cross-Blue Shield whose rates for 1972 have been approved by the Price Commission, and by Aetna whose rates do not contemplate an increase for 1972.

Concurrent with the above actions, the Civil Service Commission is ask

ing the Cost of Living Council and the Price Commission to arrange for early review, under new guidelines, by appropriate price control authorities of rate increases proposed for plans other than Blue Cross-Blue Shield. Premium rates previously ne

PLAN

(OPTION

TYPE

gotiated with all carriers were reached under old guidelines which became obsolete when the new guidelines were announced by the Price Commission.

When final 1972 premium determinations have been made for all plans, the Civil Service Commission will announce 1972 premium rates and final government contribution rates, and will hold another open season to enable enrolled employees and annuitants to change plans or options. Employees not enrolled in a plan may enroll during an open season, but annuitants may not.

Premium rates effective until further notice for the four plans most used by State Department and Foreign Service employees are shown on opposite page. These plans are Governmentwide Service Benefit Plan (Blue Cross-Blue Shield), Governmentwide Indemnity Benefit Plan (Aetna), Foreign Service Benefit Plan (Mutual of Omaha), and Group Health Association, Washington, D.C. Also shown are the rates for AFGE Health Benefit Plan.

Incentive Awards
Program Pays Off

Federal employees made record contributions to Government economy and efficiency valued at $344.8 million through their suggestions and superior accomplishments during Fiscal Year 1971, Chairman Robert E. Hampton of the U.S. Civil Service Commission announced.

This all-time record in the 17-year history of the Government-wide Incentive Awards program exceeded the previous high of $343.5 million

recorded in Fiscal Year 1967.

A total of 96,879 employee suggestions achieved savings of $170,844,320 in reduced man-hours and costs of materials and equipment, and contributed immeasurable benefits in improved services to the public and increased efficiency.

Employees received $5,060,038 in cash awards for adopted ideas, with an average cash award of $82, compared to $65 the previous year. Average benefits to the Government per cash award were $2,125 for FY 1971, compared to $1,873 the previous year.

For meritorious performance exceeding job requirements, 105,937 Federal employees received a total of $17,835,240. Benefits totaled $173,949,083 and were 75.6% higher than in FY 1970.

NAIROBI-The U.S. Ambassador

to Kenya, Robinson McIlvaine, recently presented a check for $300 to J. R. Mein, Director of the Limuru Boys Center, near here, for a oneyear scholarship for a 15-year-old Kenyan, Joseph Musyoki.

The check was the first distribution of the Howard (Hap) V. Funk Memorial Fund, which was recently established by friends and colleagues ice Officer. in memory of the late Foreign Serv

Mr. Funk, who had served as a Political Officer at the Embassy for Political Officer at the Embassy for more than two years, was killed in an auto accident in Nairobi last April.

The Memorial Fund will help support deserving Kenyan boys and girls at Kenyan institutions-the Limuru Boys Center, which trains young orphans to be farmers or farm man

agers, and the Edelvale Girls Center, which teaches orphan girls academic courses, domestic science and vocational specialities.

Those interested in contributing to the Memorial Fund may send donations to George Lane, c/o American Foreign Service Association, Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20520. Checks should be made out to the Funk Memorial Fund.

Mrs. Jill Funk, widow of the late Foreign Service Officer, will be advised of the donations and the committee also will inform contributors how the funds are spent.

"We believe that your help to these Kenyan schools will be enormously rewarding and that Hap's good work in Kenya can best be continued through this tribute," Ambassador McIlvaine said.

CAPITOL HILL REPORT

The first session of the 92nd Congress which convened on January 21, 1971, adjourned sine die on December 17, 1971.

With combined bipartisan efforts and support in the Congress, the Administration achieved a substantial part of its foreign-policy related legislation during this first session.

The Senate gave its advice and consent to 15 treaties-Okinawa Reversion treaty, treaties with Mexico resolving boundary differences and providing for recovery and return of stolen archaelogical, historical and cultural properties; aircraft hijacking convention, protocol to the treaty for the prohibition of Nuclear weapons in Latin America, two treaties relating to oil pollution, tax conventions with Japan and France, extradition treaty with Spain, convention terminating the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty, International Wheat Agreement, the Locarno and Nice Agreements and an amendent to the International Civil Aviation Convention.

In particular, the Okinawa Reversion Treaty reflects a historic achievement toward broadening the future relations between the United States and Japan.

Foreign aid legislation was delayed when the Senate rejected a House-passed Foreign Assistance Authorization bill-the first time either body had defeated the annual foreign aid bill. The Senate subsequently passed separate military and economic assistance bills. However, the House-Senate Conference Committee agreed on a combined foreign aid authorization which was passed by the Senate on the last day of the session and it was scheduled for House floor action during the week beginning January 18.

Although a Foreign Aid Appropriations Act was not taken up by the Senate, a continuing resolution to fund foreign aid programs until February 22 was passed by both Houses just prior to adjournment. Of the regular appropriations bills, all but the foreign aid appropriation bill had cleared the Congress.

State Department-initiated legislation to permit the Secretary to pay the U.S. Postal Service a fee of $2 for each passport application exe

to the Congress are expected to be on the calendar.

It is anticipated the Administration will present major legislation in the next session to establish a system of generalized trade preferences.

State Department legislation carried over from the first session includes the International Coffee Agreement Act extension, funding for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, the Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Act, omnibus Immigration and Nationality Act amendments, a bill to lower the mandatory retirement age for Foreign Service Officers who are Career Ministers, the International Bridge 'Bill, authorization for an ex gratia payment to New York City; contribution to the International Bureau of Intellectual Property, extension of diplomatic privileges and immunities to the Mission of the U.S. of the Commission of the European Communities; protection of public and foreign officials; foreign aid reorganization; and legislation prohibiting importation of monumental and architectural sculpture and murals of the pre-Columbia cultures of the New World.

In addition a number of treaties. are still pending in the Senate, including the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the Genocide Convention, the Vienna Convention on Law of Treaties, and others.

ST MOVES GOODS DELAYED BY DOCK STRIKE The Department's busy Supply and Transportation Division (A/OPR/ST), headed by Edward C. Bateman, played a key role in expediting movement of official supplies, household effects of Foreign Service families, and privately-owned automobiles caught up in the recent shipping strike at many East Coast and Gulf seaports.

In early November ST instructed the New York Despatch Agent to meet with the International Longshoremen's Association Strike Coordinating Committee and request approval for the removal of the Department's shipments from all Baltimore piers.

Approving the request, the ILA Committee suggested that the Department coordinate its efforts with military officials in Brooklyn and Baltimore. ST's coordination was successful.

Later, when the longshoremen resumed work for a three-day period, the Baltimore Despatch Agency helped remove more than 100 inbound shipments totaling more than 400,000 pounds-from the piers. It also arranged for the prompt delivery and unpacking of employees' household effects.

By the end of November all ports in the United States were in operation, and the various units of ST were giving priority to the shipmentsboth overseas and inbound-which had been delayed by the strikes.

Representatives of 27 Latin American posts met in Washington from December 8 to December 10 to discuss revised procedures for preparing the Country Analysis and Strategy Paper (CASP).

The officers attending the meeting, including nine Deputy Chiefs of Missions and three principal officers, have been designated as "CASP coordinators." They will have have the primary responsibility for the production of next year's CASPS at their respective posts.

The CASP is a planning document used by U.S. agencies in Latin America. It examines U.S. interests in Latin American countries and serves to identify issues likely to arise in the planning period and to mark out directions for U.S. policy.

Once approved by the Interdepartmental Group for Inter-American Affairs (NSC-IG/ARA), the CASP

becomes an official statement of U.S. Government policy during the 24month planning period which the CASP covers.

While policy and programs are subject to change as events and circumstances warrant, so long as the general conditions set forth in the CASP prevail, it serves as the policy frame for the activities of all U.S.

Government agencies with respect to the country in question.

The upcoming CASP cycle represents an important step forward in the evolution of the system. During the past year the CASP methodology has undergone an intensive interagency review which resulted in a decision to move from a narrative, descriptive format to a more structural systematical approach.

The Washington conference of CASP coordinators examined the revised methodology to be used in the production of the CASP for FY 1973-1974. The purposes of the conference were:

(1) to insure a common understanding of the extensively revised Guidance its terminology

CASP

and its purposes;

(2) to capitalize on the collective experience of the Interdepartmental Group staff and CASP coordinators from the four pilot test countries (Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador); and

(3) to provide an opportunity for intensive and simultaneous consultation on problems anticipated for the planning period.

The conference was opened by Assistant Secretary Charles A. Meyer, who reviewed some of the considerations which had led to the decision to

install the revised CASP system throughout the region during the upcoming cycle.

Deputy Assistant Secretary John Hugh Crimmins followed with an overview of the Interdepartmental Group review process. Mr. Crimmins stressed the central role of the CASP

in the country planning process. Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert A. Hurwitch then discussed possible future lines of development of CASPtype systems.

The conference devoted particular attention to the problems of the smaller posts. A discussion session on this topic was led by William Broderick, Country Director for Caribbean Affair (ARA-LA/CAR) and a former staff director of the Interdepartmental Group staff.

The conference also included a

discussion of the Department's evolving Policy Analysis and Resource Allocation (PARA) system by Claus Ruser, Deputy Director for Policy Analysis and Resources of the Planning and Coordination Staff (S/PC).

In addition to the 27 CASP coordinators, observers included staff members of other Interdepartmental Groups, the Methods and Systems Staff (M/MS) and the office of the Inspector General (S/IG), as well as representatives of other agencies.

A PROGRESS REPORT

The following report was prepared by the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency:

Since the end of World War II efforts have been made to place controls on the world's growing and increasingly sophisticated arsenal of nuclear and conventional weaponry.

Over the past decade these efforts have begun to produce results. Through a step-by-step process of negotiation, the world community is building an expanding framework of

multilateral and bilateral arms control agreements. The successful conclusion of each of these agreements,

in addition to serving its immediate objective, has helped to create a more favorable climate for the negotiation of subsequent arms control agree

ments.

The following is a brief summary of arms control agreements entered into since 1959:

Antarctic Treaty 1959

The Antarctic Treaty, signed at Washington on December 1, 1959, stipulates that Antarctica "shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord." The treaty prohibits the establishment of military bases and the testing of any weapons in Antarctica and includes provisions for inspections. Under the terms of the treaty the United States has conducted periodic onsite inspections, including onsite inspections of Soviet installations in the Antarctic. It helped break the ground for subsequent international agreements limiting the arms race.

The Antarctic Treaty was ratified by the United States June 18, 1960, and entered into force June 23, 1961, after it had been ratified by the 12 signatory countries who participated

in the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year scientific research in the Antarctic. Sixteen countries have ratified or acceded to this treaty. The Hot Line 1963

The Direct Communications Agreement, signed on June 20, 1963, is a bilateral arrangement between the United States and the Soviet Union designed to provide immediate communications between the two capitals to lessen the dangers of war resulting

munication systems.

Limited Test-Ban Treaty 1963

The Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water was signed at Moscow on August 5, 1963, and entered into force on October 10, 1963.1 Under the terms of the treaty an underground nuclear explosion is also prohibited "if such explosion causes radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits of the State under whose jurisdiction or control such explosion is conducted."

Agreement on a comprehensive test ban, prohibiting all nuclear weapons tests, had proven impossible because of the problem of verification. Both sides felt, however, that a ban on nuclear testing in the atmosphere, underwater, and in space could be adequately verified through national means, i.e., without onsite inspections.

The treaty has been signed by 106 countries; 105 countries have ratified or acceded to it.2 Outer-Space Treaty 1967

The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, signed at Washington, London, and Moscow on January 27, 1967, governs the exploration and use of outer space.

The treaty states that the moon and other celestial bodies shall be used

1. Coincident with the date of U.S. ratification.

2. The United States regards the Byelorussian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR as integral parts of the Soviet Union and not as independent states. The German Democratic Republic is not recognized by the United States; while these regimes have signed in Moscow, they are not included in the totals.

The outer-space treaty entered into force October 10, 1967.1 Eighty-nine countries have signed it; 60 countries have ratified or acceded to the treaty.2

Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America 1967

The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America with Additional Protocols I and II, signed at Tlatelolco, Mexico City, on February 14, 1967, is designed to make Latin America a nuclear-free zone. The treaty entered into force on April 22, 1968. Only Latin American countries may become parties to the treaty. Twenty-two countries have signed it; 19 countries have ratified or acceded to the treaty.

Additional Protocol II is designed for ratification by the nuclear powers who wish to respect the denuclearized status of the zone and agree not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against a party to the treaty.

The United States and the United Kingdom have each signed and ratified Protocol II, with clarifying statements. It entered into force for the United States May 12, 1971.1 Non-Proliferation Treaty 1968

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, opened for signature at Washington, London, and Moscow on July 1, 1968, entered into force March 5, 1970.1

The treaty provides that nuclearweapon states will not transfer nuclear weapons or nuclear explosives to any nonnuclear-weapon state; and each nonnuclear-weapon state agrees not to acquire nuclear weapons or explosives. The nonnuclear-weapon states undertake to accept safeguards as set forth in agreements to be negotiated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to prevent

the diversion of nuclear material from