United States Foreign Service

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Seal of the US Department of State

The United States Foreign Service is the diplomatic service of the United States government, under the aegis of the Department of State. The personnel system was first created under the Foreign Service Act to serve as the principal personnel system under which the United States Secretary of State is authorized to assign diplomats abroad. Members of the Foreign Service are selected through a series of written and oral exams. They serve at any of the 265 United States Embassies, Consulates and Diplomatic Missions around the world, as well as the headquarters of the four foreign affairs agencies, including the State Department in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington D.C. as well as the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Foreign Service members represent the United States abroad by implementing the foreign policy of the United States and by directly aiding its citizens.

Contents

[edit] History and Legislative Background

On September 15, 1789, Congress passed an Act creating the Department of State and appointing duties to it, including the keeping of the Great Seal of the United States. Initially the Diplomatic Service—providing ambassadors and ministers to staff embassies overseas—and the Consular Service, which provided consuls to assist United States sailors and promote commerce, developed separately.

Throughout the 19th century, ambassadors (or ministers, as they were known prior to the 1890s) and consuls were appointed by the president, and until 1856, earned no salary. Many had commercial ties to the countries in which they would serve, and were expected to earn a living through private business or by collecting fees. In 1856, Congress provided a salary for consuls serving at certain posts; those who received a salary could not engage in private business, but could continue to collect fees for services performed.

[edit] Rogers Act

The Rogers Act of 1924 merged the Diplomatic and Consular services into one Foreign Service. An extremely difficult Foreign Service examination was also implemented to recruit the most outstanding Americans, along with a merit based system of promotions. Since the Rogers Act, about two thirds of U.S. ambassadors have been appointed from within the ranks of the Foreign Service, and the remaining third have been appointed directly by the President of the United States. The Rogers Act also created the Board of the Foreign Service and the Board of Examiners of the Foreign Service, the former to advise the Secretary of State on managing the Foreign Service, and the latter to manage the examination process.

In 1927 Congress passed legislation according diplomatic status to representatives abroad of the Department of Commerce (until then known as "trade commissioners"), creating the Foreign Commerce Service. In 1930 Congress passed similar legislation for the Department of Agriculture, creating the Foreign Agricultural Service. Though formally accorded diplomatic status, however, commercial and agricultural attachés were civil servants, not officers of the Foreign Service, until July 1, 1939, when they were transferred to the Department of State under Reorganization Plan No. II. The agricultural attachés remained in the Department of State until 1954, when they were returned by Act of Congress to USDA. Commercial attachés remained with State until 1980, when Reorganization Plan Number 3 of 1979 was implemented under terms of the Foreign Service Act of 1980.

[edit] Foreign Service Act of 1946

In the meantime, in 1946 Congress at the request of the Department of State passed a new Foreign Service Act creating three classes of employees: Foreign Service Officers, Foreign Service Reservists, and Foreign Service Staff. Officers were expected to spend the bulk of their careers abroad and were commissioned officers of the United States, available for worldwide service. Reserve officers often spent the bulk of their careers in Washington but were available for overseas service. Foreign Service Staff personnel encumbered clerical and support positions. The intent of this system was to remove the distinction between Foreign Service and civil service staff, which had been a source of friction. The Foreign Service Act of 1946 also repealed as redundant the 1927 and 1930 laws granting USDA and Commerce representatives abroad diplomatic status, since at that point agricultural and commercial attachés were appointed by the Department of State.

[edit] Foreign Service Act of 1980

The new personnel management approach was not wholly successful, which led to an effort in the late 1970s to overhaul the 1946 Act. During drafting of this Act, Congress chose to move the commercial attachés back to Commerce while preserving their status as Foreign Service Officers, and to include agricultural attachés of the Department of Agriculture in addition to the existing FSOs of the Department of State, U.S. Information Agency, and U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Foreign Service Act of 1980 is the most recent major legislative reform to the Foreign Service. It abolished the Foreign Service Reserve category of officers, and reformed the personnel system for non-diplomatic locally engaged staff of overseas missions (Foreign Service Nationals). It created a Senior Foreign Service with a rank structure equivalent to general- and flag-rank officers of the military and naval establishments and to the Senior Executive Service. It enacted danger pay for those diplomats who serve in dangerous and hostile surroundings along with other administrative changes.

The 1980 Act also reauthorized the Board of the Foreign Service, which "shall include one or more representatives of the Department of State, the United States Information Agency, the United States International Development Cooperation Agency,[1] the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Labor, the Office of Personnel Management, the Office of Management and Budget, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and such other agencies as the President may designate." This board is charged with advising "the Secretary of State on matters relating to the Service, including furtherance of the objectives of maximum compatibility among agencies authorized by law to utilize the Foreign Service personnel system and compatibility between the Foreign Service personnel system and the other personnel systems of the Government."[2]

[edit] Members of the Foreign Service

The Foreign Service Act, 22 U.S.C. § 3903 et seq., defines the following "members of the Service":

  1. Chiefs of Mission (Ambassadors). They are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
  2. Ambassadors-at-Large. They are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
  3. Senior Foreign Service (FSOs and Specialists) are the senior leaders and experts for the management of the Service and the performance of its functions. They are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
  4. Foreign Service Officers (FSOs), who hold career appointments and have general responsibility for carrying out the functions of the Service. They are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.
  5. Foreign Service Specialists, who provide special skills and services required for effective performance by the Service (e.g., Special Agents of the Diplomatic Security Service). They are appointed by the Secretary of State.
  6. Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), known more recently as locally engaged staff (LES), are personnel who provide clerical, administrative, technical, fiscal, and other support at posts abroad. Most filling these positions are "foreign nationals" although some are U.S. citizens living abroad and hired locally.
  7. Consular agents, who provide consular and related services as authorized by the Secretary of State at specified locations abroad.[3]

[edit] Foreign affairs agencies

While employees of the Department of State make up the largest portion of the Foreign Service, the Foreign Service Act of 1980 authorizes other U.S. government agencies to use the personnel system for positions that require service abroad. These include the Department of Commerce [4] (Foreign Commercial Service), the Department of Agriculture (specifically the Foreign Agricultural Service, though the Secretary of Agriculture has also authorized the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to use it as well), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).[5] USAID, Commerce, and Agriculture senior career FSOs can be appointed to ambassadorships, although the ranks of career ambassadors are in the vast majority of cases drawn from the Department of State, with a far smaller sub-set drawn from the ranks of USAID Mission Directors.

[edit] Foreign Service numbers

The total number of Foreign Service members (excluding Foreign Service Nationals) from all Foreign Service agencies (State, USAID, etc.) is about 13,000. State Department Foreign Service employees number approximately 11,500: 6,500 Foreign Service Officers and 5,000 Foreign Service Specialists. The USAID Foreign Service currently numbers about 1,200 and is scheduled to double in size by 2012. Members from the other Foreign Service agencies number about 300.

[edit] Joining the Foreign Service at the State Department

Admission to the Foreign Service is different for those applying for generalist positions and those applying for specialist positions

Candidates for generalist positions take the Foreign Service Officer Test, a written test testing their knowledge of U.S. and world affairs. Those who pass the Foreign Service Written Exam (about 25 to 30 percent of candidates)[6][7] proceed to the Foreign Service Oral Assessment, which is administered in person in Washington, D.C. and other major cities throughout the United States. Passage rates for the Oral Assessment were less than 10%.[6]

For fifty years, Foreign Service Officer applicants who passed an all-day written exam were invited to an oral assessment. In mid-2007, the all-day written exam was shortened and information on a structured resume also began to be considered. The structured resume along with the Qualifications Evaluation Panel, or QEP, which is made up of three Foreign Service Officers, was one of the greatest changes to the Foreign Service Exam in decades[citation needed]. The new version of the exam has been questioned as being a mechanism to identify individuals who may not be able to pass the TOP SECRET security clearance as well as the Worldwide Assignment Medical Clearance, also known as a Class 1 Medical Clearance.[citation needed] In order to be invited to take the Oral Assessment the applicant must not only pass the Written Exam but also the QEP. The QEP has called into question whether the Exam is actually an exam or a de facto job interview masquerading as an exam.[citation needed] The Department of State's Board of Examiners can selectively use the benefits of an exam in order to find some people unacceptable despite the fact that they passed the Written Exam. At the same time, many applicants do not fully understand why they were not selected and are also never told whether they passed the written exam or not. An analysis of QEP scores obtained through the Freedom of Information Act has quantitatively shown that many applicants that scored poorly on the exam were selected by the QEP to attend the Oral Assessment. Furthermore, many applicants that scored quite highly on the Written Exam received low grades by the QEP. It is because of this that is very difficult for applicants to understand their grades and whether they were not selected for the next level of the exam because they failed the exam or because they were found unacceptable by the QEP.

Even when an applicant passes the Oral Assessment, it does not necessarily mean that they will be selected to become a Foreign Service Officer. Instead they immediately undertake a Security Background Check for a TOP SECRET Security Clearance as well as take a medical test in order to receive a Class 1 Medical Clearance. Failure to pass both of these parts of the exam can result in a candidate not making the List of Eligible Hires. It can be difficult for a candidate to receive a TOP SECRET Clearance if they have diverse political views, extensive foreign travel, dual citizenship, non-United States Citizen family members, foreign spouses, drug use, allegiance or de facto allegiance to a Foreign State, and having "detrimental" views regarding current United States Foreign Policy. Additionally, it can be difficult for anyone who has had a health problem from receiving a Class 1 Medical Clearance. Applicants have been rejected for such medical conditions as hay fever and mild depression. The Department of State mandates that all candidates must be able to receive a Class 1 Medical Clearance. However, in the 1990s when there was a severe shortage of candidates, the Department of State hired many Foreign Service Officers who were unable to receive a Class 1 Medical Clearance but instead received a Class 2 Medical Clearance.[1]Another problem is the increasing infiltration of civil servants, often taking FS only positions under the guise of "limited career assignments" that totally bypass the Exam, which was designed to weed out those unfit for service abroad.

Additionally recently the Foreign Service automatically rejected anyone with HIV; however, the landmark case of Taylor v. Rice mandated that the Foreign Service cannot discriminate against applicants who have stable chronic medical conditions. Taylor v. Rice did allow HIV Positive applicants to become Foreign Service Officers.[8][2] Other conditions, such as mental illness and diabetes, are still considered severe enough to warrant rejection for the Foreign Service.[3]

Once an applicant passes the Security Clearance and the Medical Clearance, they are put on the List of Eligible Hires, ranked according to the score that they received in the Oral Assessment. There are certain factors that can increase a candidates score, such as knowledge in a especially needed foreign language and prior military service. Once a candidate is put on the List of Eligible Hires, they can only remain on it for 18 months. If they are not selected from the list after 18 months, they are removed and have to start the process over again from scratch.

Those persons who receive offers to become members of the Foreign Service must take part in a training/orientation course known as the A-100 Class.

Foreign Service Specialist candidates are evaluated by Subject Matter Experts for proven skills and recommended to the Board of Examiners for an oral assessment of those skills.[citation needed] Foreign Service Specialist jobs are currently grouped into seven major categories: Administration, Construction Engineering, Information Technology, International Information and English Language Programs, Medical and Health, Office Management, and Security.[9]

Both Officers (also called generalists) and Specialists selected for hire must pass extensive background and medical clearances. All Foreign Service personnel must agree to worldwide availability—that is, they may be called on to serve anywhere in the world. They also agree to publicly support the policies of the United States Government.

The popularity in joining the Foreign Service has risen in recent years. In the first half of the 20th Century, the public perspective of the Foreign Service was sometimes characterized as a bunch of Cookie Pushers, although articles explained the stark duties Foreign Service Officers were expected to perform.[10] In the last decade, college graduates have had a better respect for career opportunities within State, with the Department and the Foreign Service rising to the fourth most popular employer for graduating seniors in 2007.[11]

Since the earliest days of the Foreign Service discrimination has been present. In the earliest days of the Foreign Service only white Protestant males could serve, and these tended to be ivy league graduates from well-to-do families. Throughout the years discrimination has lessened. Until the late 1970s, the Department of States Bureau of Diplomatic Security regarded Foreign Service personnel who were gay or lesbian as a possible threat to security.[citation needed] Many gay and lesbian people, at the time, wished to keep their orientation secret. Federal organizations that did vetting for sensitive positions, including the State Department's own Diplomatic Security, then known as "SY", believed this made homosexuals susceptible to blackmail by foreign intelligence elements. Homosexual activity, once discovered, could result in Foreign Service Officers being terminated. In recent decades gays and lesbians have been able to serve in the Foreign Service, and some have even achieved the rank of Ambassador. Some in the Foreign Service community believe there is still discrimination against the partners of gay or lesbian Foreign Service Officers, as many of the benefits given to spouses of heterosexuals are not given to partners of homosexuals.

[edit] Foreign Service life

As part of the U.S. Diplomatic Service, members of the Foreign Service are expected to serve most of their career abroad, working at embassies and consulates around the world. By internal regulation the maximum stretch of domestic assignments shoud last no more than five years before resigning or taking a foreign posting. By law Foreign Service personnel must go abroad after eight years of domestic service. In practice, most Foreign Service personnel prefer overseas work. The difficulties and the benefits associated with working abroad are many, especially in relation to family life. Dependent family members often accompany Foreign Service employees overseas.[12] The incidence of divorce among Foreign Service employees is said to be higher than the national average, but reliable statistics regarding this are difficult to find. The children of Foreign Service members (sometimes called Foreign Service Brats), grow up in a unique world, one that separates them, willingly or unwillingly, from their counterparts living continuously in the states. For both employees and their families, the opportunity to see the world, experience foreign cultures firsthand for a prolonged period, and the camaraderie amongst the Foreign Service and expatriate communities in general are considered some of the benefits of Foreign Service life. Some of the downsides of Foreign Service work include exposure to tropical diseases and the assignment to countries with inadequate health care systems, unaccompanied tours of duty, and potential exposure to violence, civil unrest and warfare. Attacks on US embassies around the world—Beirut, Islamabad, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Baghdad, among others—underscore the considerable danger these public servants face.

Members of the Foreign Service must agree to worldwide availability. In practice, they generally have significant input as to where they will work, although issues such as rank, language ability, and previous assignments will affect one's possible onward assignments. All assignments are based on the needs of the Service, and historically it has occasionally been necessary for the Department to make directed assignments to a particular post in order to fulfill the Government's diplomatic requirements. This is not the norm, however, as many Foreign Service employees have volunteered to serve even at extreme hardship posts, including, most recently, Iraq.[13]

The State Department has a Family Liaison Office to assist diplomats, including members of the Foreign Service and their families in dealing the unique issues of life as a U.S. diplomat, including the extended family separations that are usually required when an employee is sent to a danger post.[14]

[edit] Foreign Service career system

The Foreign Service personnel system is part of the Excepted Service and both generalist and specialist positions are competitively promoted through comparison of performance in annual sessions of Selection Boards. [15] Each foreign affairs agency establishes time-in-class (TIC) and time-in-service (TIS) rules in accordance with the statutory provisions of the Foreign Service Act, including a maximum of 22 years of commissioned service if an officer is not promoted into the Senior Foreign Service, and a maximum of 15 years of service in any single grade prior to promotion into the Senior Foreign Service. Furthermore, Selection Boards may recommend officers not only for promotions, but for selection out of the service due to failure to perform at the standard set by those officers' peers in the same grade. Thus, the Foreign Service is an "up or out" system similar to that of military officers.

This system stimulates officers to perform well, and to accept difficult and hazardous assignments.

[edit] List of Directors General of the United States Foreign Service

Name Assumed Office Left Office President served under
Selden Chapin November 13, 1946 April 30, 1947 Harry S. Truman
Christian M. Ravndal May 1, 1947 June 23, 1949 Harry S. Truman
Richard P. Butrick September 7, 1949 April 1, 1952 Harry S. Truman
Gerald A. Drew March 30, 1952 October 18, 1954 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Raymond A. Hare October 19, 1954 August 29, 1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Joseph C. Satterthwaite May 6, 1957 September 1, 1958 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Waldemar J. Gallman November 17, 1958 January 31, 1961 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Tyler Thompson May 14, 1961 February 15, 1964 John F. Kennedy
Joseph Palmer II February 16, 1964 April 10, 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson
John M. Steeves August 1, 1966 July 31, 1969 Lyndon B. Johnson
John H. Burns August 1, 1969 June 15, 1971 Richard Nixon
William O. Hall July 5, 1971 September 30, 1973 Richard Nixon
Nathaniel Davis November 13, 1973 March 17, 1975 Richard Nixon
Carol C. Laise April 11, 1975 December 26, 1977 Gerald Ford
Harry G. Barnes, Jr. December 22, 1977 February 8, 1981 Jimmy Carter
Joan M. Clark July 27, 1981 October 24, 1983 Ronald Reagan
Alfred Atherton December 2, 1983 December 28, 1984 Ronald Reagan
George S. Vest June 8, 1985 May 3, 1989 Ronald Reagan
Edward J. Perkins September 22, 1989 May 7, 1992 George H. W. Bush
Genta H. Holmes September 7, 1992 August 18, 1995 George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton
Anthony C. E. Quainton December 29, 1995 August 22, 1997 Bill Clinton
Edward Gnehm August 25, 1997 June 14, 2000 Bill Clinton
Marc Grossman June 19, 2000 Bill Clinton
Ruth A. Davis June 15, 2001 June 30, 2003 George W. Bush
W. Robert Pearson October 7, 2003 February 27, 2006 George W. Bush
George McDade Staples May 25, 2006 June 27, 2007 George W. Bush
Harry K. Thomas, Jr. September 21, 2007 George W. Bush and Barack Obama

[edit] References

  1. ^ This refers to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
  2. ^ Foreign Service Act of 1980, Section 210.
  3. ^ Foreign Service Act
  4. ^ Foreign Service Personnel Management Manual
  5. ^ See for example 15 FAM 235.2, which specifically refers to the foreign affairs agencies as "each Foreign Affairs Agency (U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Foreign Agriculture [sic] Service of the Department of Agriculture (FAS), and U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service of the Department of Commerce (US&FCS)) and the U.S. Defense representative."
  6. ^ a b "Becoming a Foreign Service Officer". ACT's Activity Publication. Spring 2009. http://www.act.org/activity/spring2009/become.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-16.  "Only about 25 to 30 percent of candidates pass the initial examination and screening and move onto the oral assessment phase"
  7. ^ "U.S. Department of State Careers". United States State Department. http://web.archive.org/web/20050106051359/http://www.careers.state.gov/officer/faqs.html.  "There is no set percentage that pass. The "passing score" depends on our hiring needs. In general, however, about one third of takers have been asked to continue on to the next phase, the oral assessment."
  8. ^ "Taylor v. Rice". http://www.lambdalegal.org/our-work/in-court/cases/taylor-v-rice.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-16. 
  9. ^ "Who are the Specialists? What do they do?". United States State Department. http://careers.state.gov/Specialist/index.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-16. 
  10. ^ O'Neill, Hester (February 16, 1950). "U.S. Foreign Service: Its Glamour Is Matched by Rugged Tasks". The Christian Science Monitor. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/results.html?st=advanced&QryTxt=%22Cookie+Pushers%22&sortby=REVERSE_CHRON&datetype=6&frommonth=02&fromday=13&fromyear=1950&tomonth=03&today=02&toyear=1950&By=&Title=&restrict=articles. 
  11. ^ Gerdes, Lindsey (May 11, 2007). "Undergrads' 25 Most Wanted Employers". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/bios/Lindsey_Gerdes.htm. Retrieved on 2007-10-16. 
  12. ^ Inside a U.S. Embassy. American Foreign Service Association. 2005. ISBN 0-9649488-2-6. http://www.afsa.org/inside/. 
  13. ^ Dorman, Shawn (January 2008). "Iraq "Prime Candidate" Exercise Cancelled". AFSANEWS (American Foreign Service Association): pp. 1. http://www.afsa.org/fsj/jan08/afsa_news.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-03-02. 
  14. ^ "Family Liaison Office". www.state.gov. United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/. Retrieved on 2008-03-02. 
  15. ^ Careers

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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