A Spiffy New Foreign Service Journal

A crowd of some 100 active and retired diplomats gathered on Thursday in the elegant Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room on the State Department’s eighth floor to celebrate the new look of the 88-year-old Foreign Service Journal.

Organized by the American Foreign Service Association, the event included a relayed message from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and in-person remarks by Deputy Secretary William Burns. “The Foreign Service is a family, and the Foreign Service Journal keeps us abreast of the latest family news,” Burns said of the publication with a circulation of 17,000 that goes out to all U.S. embassies, consulates and Washington-based foreign embassies along with libraries and universities. “One of the perverse side-effects of the WikiLeaks episode was to remind us that the Foreign Service has many talented writers,” Burns added.

He and association president Susan Johnson used the occasion to pay tribute to four Americans -- including Ambassador Chris Stevens -- who were murdered last month at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The redesign of the monthly was executed by a team led by Becky Eason, who has also done graphics for Government Executive and National Journal.