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Foreign Service

 
Dictionary: For·eign Service   (fôr'ĭn, fŏr'-) pronunciation
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n.
  1. The diplomatic and consular staff of the United States.
  2. foreign service The diplomatic and consular personnel of a nation's foreign office.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: foreign service
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Staff of a state's international-affairs department that represents the state's interests in foreign countries. It fulfills two functions, diplomatic and consular. The standards for foreign-service jobs are similar in most countries. Before the 20th century, wealth, aristocratic standing, and political connections were the chief requirements for high-ranking diplomatic positions. Political appointees still hold the top positions in many foreign missions, but their subordinates generally must demonstrate their education and intellectual ability through a competitive examination. Foreign-service personnel have special legal rights (e.g., they do not have to pay taxes to their host country). See also ambassador.

For more information on foreign service, visit Britannica.com.

US History Encyclopedia: Foreign Service
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Diplomacy was critically important to the success of the American Revolution (1775–1783) and the founding and early growth of the United States. Because most citizens of the young republic looked with suspicion on the European monarchies, official governmental relations were kept to a minimum until well into the nineteenth century. The American diplomatic service, made up of a very few citizens appointed by the president, expanded slowly. In 1790, the United States sent ministers plenipotentiary to only two countries: France and Great Britain. In 1830, there were still only fifteen U.S. foreign missions; the number increased to thirty-three by 1860 and forty-two by 1900. Isolationism was the prevailing foreign policy of the United States throughout these decades. Congress kept tight control over the expansion of diplomatic relations, authorizing only minimal resources for representation abroad.

Diplomacy became increasingly important during the Civil War (1861–1865) when both sides sought the support of the European powers. It was also vital in securing European acceptance of U.S. leadership under the Monroe Doctrine in the western hemisphere as the nation completed its territorial expansion to the Pacific. Presidents used appointments to overseas diplomatic missions as rewards for political support. A corps of career diplomats––a Diplomatic Service––was slow to emerge. Lower level diplomats were rare throughout the nineteenth century. In a major reform in 1856, Congress agreed to provide for a limited number of secretaries of legation to assist chiefs of mission. But as late as 1881, Congress allowed public funding for secretaries at only twelve of thirty legations. Most appointed ministers provided their own assistants. In 1893, however, Congress finally acknowledged that the United States had come of age diplomatically when it authorized the appointment of ambassadorial rank representatives to Great Britain and other major powers. The need for staff support was grudgingly acknowledged.

While a small Diplomatic Service began to emerge in the last decades of the nineteenth century, the Consular Service—including consuls, consular agents, and commercial agents whose mission it was to protect American ships and crews abroad and promote American commerce—had become an important instrument in the search for export markets for America's booming industries. In 1860, there were 480 U.S. consulates, commercial agencies, and consular agencies abroad, and by 1890 this number had risen to 760. In 1895, at a time when reforms were strengthening the expanding civil service in Washington, D.C., President Grover Cleveland issued regulations requiring the filling of vacancies on the basis of written examinations, including language tests. Other measures were adopted to deal with salaries and inspections of consular posts. The need for greater efficiency in the Consular Service resulted in a combination of Congressional and presidential actions in the first decade of the twentieth century to blunt the politics of appointments and move the Consular Service and, to a lesser extent the Diplomatic Service, toward a full merit system.

A Modern Foreign Service Develops

Expanding U.S. international responsibilities and interests after World War I (1914–1918) precipitated the establishment of a modern Foreign Service. The small Diplomatic Service, which in 1924 numbered 122 men serving mostly in Europe, was an exclusive group, scarcely dependent upon token salaries, whose standards of behavior and performance were drawn from upper-class educations. In contrast, the 511 (in 1924) members of the Consular Service in 256 overseas posts served under professional regulations and enjoyed a generous pay scale. The State Department closely oversaw the Consular Service but had little real control over the Diplomatic Service; the two systems were quite separate and there were only rare cases of interchange between them. The Foreign Service Act of 1924 amalgamated the Diplomatic and Consular Services into a new Foreign Service; established pay and retirement to make the service attractive and accessible to a much broader portion of the population; professionalized the oversight, recruitment, and training of officers; and instituted interchangeability between diplomatic and consular assignments as well as between assignments abroad and at home in the State Department. The establishment of the Foreign Service opened the way for the appointment of career officers as Chiefs of Mission. But the importance of political appointments to such positions persisted for the remainder of the twentieth century, and career officers rarely made up more than half of the total.

The United States emerged from World War II (1939–1945) as the most powerful nation in the world, with expanding economic and security interests around the globe. Diplomacy became far more vital to the nation than it ever had been. In many places around the world, U.S. Foreign Service officers became the principal agents of American presence and interests. The Foreign Service was expanded substantially to meet the diplomatic aspects of the nation's growing global responsibilities. From a mere 840 officers in 1940, the service numbered more than 1,300 in 1953 and 3,400 in 1957 after the integration of many Civil Service officers into the Foreign Service.

U.S. Interests Abroad Become More Complex

The Cold War and the revolution in international relations gave rise to a series of international crises during the latter half of the twentieth century as well as the growing globalization of politics, economics, and culture. The global scope of American interests and commitments made the representation of American interests abroad increasingly complex. As the boundaries of traditional diplomacy faded, the Foreign Service soon had many rivals. Other federal agencies became deeply involved in the preparation and execution of foreign policy. A conglomerate "foreign affairs community" came to dominate the formulation and execution of foreign policy: the National Security Council, the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies, the U.S. Information Agency, and various foreign assistance agencies.

To improve its performance with the growing scope and complexity of foreign affairs, the Foreign Service underwent a series of reforms and studies. The Foreign Service Act of 1946 established the structure for a modern, efficient service with a consolidated classification system, promotion and retirement programs, and improved allowances and assignment policies. The Foreign Service Institute was established and sought to provide officers throughout their careers with a variety of specialized training, particularly area and language training. The Senior Seminar program, begun in 1958, gave small groups of the most promising mid-level officers, as well as some military officers and officials of other agencies, an extended experience in advanced professional development. The 1954 Wriston Report mandated the merger of the Foreign Service with many of the specialists in the State Department. The rotation between overseas posts and the government in Washington was accelerated, and by 1959, more than 1,500 Foreign Service officers held positions in the State Department. The 1962 Herter Report, the 1968 American Foreign Service Association Report, and the 1970 State Department Task Force Report sought to find management and personnel solutions that would ensure a Foreign Service equal to its challenges. As anti-American terrorism abroad intensified toward the end of the twentieth century, the danger of Foreign Service life grew and prompted new programs and procedures to protect U.S. diplomatic and consular establishments.

The New Face of the Foreign Service

In the last twenty-five years of the twentieth century, new generations of Foreign Service officers served in Washington, D.C. and around the world. These officers were different from the elite corps that existed before World War II. Recruited from around the nation, the new generations of Foreign Service officers reflected more closely the general makeup of the American population in terms of the proportions of women and minorities. Overcoming longstanding racial, sexual, and religious prejudice and discrimination in the State Department and the Foreign Service was a difficult process. As early as the 1920s, a few women and African Americans entered the Foreign Service. World War II contributed to more open recruitment and promotion, but it was not until the 1950s that purposeful recruitment of women and minorities began to alter the profile of the service. Only persistent resort to the courts by dissatisfied officers brought greater fairness in promotions and appointment to leadership positions by the 1980s. The Foreign Service Act of 1980 sought to establish more rigorous standards for recruitment and promotion, improve the rewards of service, and deal with the problems that were sapping the once high morale of the service.

The Foreign Service not only gained a leading role in America's wide-ranging activities abroad, but it was also drawn into the often intense domestic battles over the direction of foreign policy. Ideologues in high positions in government often complained about the liberal tendencies of some American diplomats, and other political leaders regarded the Foreign Service as unwilling to adapt to political agendas. The Cold War emphasis on security and loyalty had poisonous side effects that threatened the effectiveness of the Foreign Service and compromised its morale. Accusations of treasonous activity leveled against the State Department and many distinguished Foreign Service officers in the late 1940s and in the 1950s by Senator Joseph McCarthy and other members of Congress caused dismissals and needlessly destroyed promising careers. Policies pursued during the Vietnam War (1955–1975, American involvement 1964–1975) caused stresses between the Department leadership and many junior officers. Secretary of State Dean Rusk's Open Forum was begun in 1967 to enable Foreign Service and Department officers to generate alternative policy ideas, and differences with official policy came from the field in a special "dissent channel."

By the last decades of the twentieth century, the Foreign Service had lost its leadership role in representing the United States abroad. The measures of success of the Foreign Service grew more elusive as Americans, through electronic media, came to have heightened concerns and expectations about U.S. interests and citizens abroad. Terrorism, nuclear proliferation, international crime, nationalistic conflicts, and economic competition and crises appeared to be beyond diplomatic solution. Frequent attempts at reform of the conduct of American diplomacy and reorganization of the Foreign Service were vitiated by recurrent budget cuts and resource reductions. State Department resources were reduced by 50 percent during this period, despite steadily increasing responsibilities, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new post-communist states in Eastern Europe. The State Department and the Foreign Service grew little after 1960, when there were about 7,000 domestic and 6,000 overseas American personnel. In the emerging global economy of the twenty-first century, the role of diplomats tended to be increasingly overshadowed by the representatives of other government agencies, individual states, and, above all, multinational corporations and international organizations. Some observers wondered if the Foreign Service had a future nearly as impressive or extensive as its history.

Bibliography

Barnes, William, and John Heath Morgan. The Foreign Service of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Department of State, Historical Office, Bureau of Foreign Affairs, 1961.

Herz, Martin F., ed. The Modern Ambassador: The Challenge and the Search. Washington, D.C.: Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, 1983.

Ilchman, Warren F. Professional Diplomacy in the United States, 1779–1939. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961, 1974.

Mayer, Martin. The Diplomats. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1983.

Plischke, Elmer. Conduct of American Diplomacy. Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1967.

Rubin, Barry. Secrets of State: The State Department and the Struggle Over U.S. Foreign Policy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.

Stuart, Graham H. The Department of State: A History of its Organization, Procedure, and Personnel. New York: Macmillan, 1949.

—William Z. Slany

Politics: Foreign Service
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The professional arm of the executive branch that supplies diplomats for the United States embassies and consulates around the world. Ambassadors, though officially members of the Foreign Service, are sometimes friends of the president of the United States appointed in gratitude for support given during elections.

Wikipedia: United States Foreign Service
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Seal of the US Department of State

The United States Foreign Service refers both to the primary personnel system within the diplomatic service of the government of the United States, under the aegis of the United States Department of State, and to the service itself, comprising approximately 12,000 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S. citizens abroad.[1]

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 civil service examinations. They serve at any of the 265 United States diplomatic missions around the world, including embassies, consulates, and other missions. Members of the Foreign Service also staff the headquarters of the four foreign affairs agencies: The Department of State, headquartered at Harry S Truman Building in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.; the Department of Agriculture and Department of Commerce, and the United States Agency for International Development.

Contents

History

On September 15, 1789, the First 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 there were two services devoted to diplomatic and consular activity. The Diplomatic Service provided ambassadors and ministers to staff embassies overseas, while the Consular Service provided consuls to assist United States sailors and promote international commerce.

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.

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.

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 included 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.

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 employed 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,[2] 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."[3]

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), 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. In recent years the term "Locally Engaged Staff (LES) has come to replace the FSN term in many instances.
  7. Consular agents, who provide consular and related services as authorized by the Secretary of State at specified locations abroad.[4]

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 [5] (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).[6] 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.

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.

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)[7][8] Those who pass the written test have their resume and life experiences screen by the Qualifications Evaluation Panel (QEP). After that screening process, about one third of the original takers are asked to continue on to the next phase, the oral assessment, which is administered in person in Washington, D.C. and other major cities throughout the United States. Only approximately 10% of the original applicants at the written exam will ultimately make it past the oral examination.[7]

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. In order to be invited to take the Oral Assessment the applicant must not only pass the Written Exam but also the QEP. The Department of State's Board of Examiners can find some people unacceptable despite the fact that they passed the Written Exam.

Those persons who receive offers to become officers 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. 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]

Even when an applicant passes these hurdles, 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 extensive foreign travel, dual citizenship, non-United States Citizen family members, foreign spouses, drug use, "detrimental views of U.S. Foreign Policy", financial problems and/or a poor record of financial practices, frequent gambling, and allegiance or de facto allegiance to a Foreign State. Additionally, it can be difficult for anyone who has had a significant health problem from receiving a Class 1 Medical Clearance. The Department of State mandates that all candidates must be able to receive a Class 1 Medical Clearance.

Previously 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.[10][1] Other conditions, such as mental illness and diabetes, are still considered severe enough to warrant rejection for the Foreign Service.[2]

Once an applicant passes the Security Clearance, the Medical Clearance, and final suitability review, 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 candidate's 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. Separate lists are maintained for both officers and specialists.

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.

Foreign Service life

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 should 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. The difficulties and the benefits associated with working abroad are many, especially in relation to family life. Dependent family members usually accompany Foreign Service employees overseas.[11] 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. While many children of Foreign Service members become very well developed, are able to form friendships easily, are skilled at moving frequently and enjoy international travel, other children have extreme difficulty adapting to the Foreign Service lifestyle. 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, Belgrade, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Baghdad, among others—underscore the considerable danger these public servants face.

For members of the Foreign Service, a personal life outside of the U.S. Foreign Service can be exceptionally difficult, especially when it comes to friends or relations that qualify as Foreign Contacts. The rules regarding listing of Foreign Contacts is ever-changing, as the latest information from the American Foreign Service Association indicates.[12] Personal relationships with foreign nationals in countries that are considered high-level Human Intelligence threat posts are even more rigorously enforced by Diplomatic Security.[13] Many FSOs at posts like this give up on personal relationships outside of fellow US Citizen Employees of the Embassy. This can sometimes make living in an overseas post that fits this definition feel like living on a space station with a bunch of other Americans as your only friends. In addition to espionage, there is also the danger of personnel that use their position illegally for financial gain. The most frequent kind of illegal abuse of an official position concerns Consular Officers. There have been a handful of cases of FSOs on Consular Assignments selling visas for a price.[14] This practice is not only illegal but dangerous for national security.

Another factor of Foreign Service life is the heavy probability of being monitored by Foreign Intelligence Services. In some countries FSOs may be followed by Foreign Government security apparatuses. Residences can be wiretapped. Hotel rooms can have cameras in the bathroom mirror. Some married Foreign Service members may run across a "Honey Trap" [15] at some point in their careers. A successful Honey Trap by a Foreign Intelligence Service results in the target becoming an agent of the Foreign Intelligence Service. In addition, the Department of State is legally allowed to monitor any personal communications that are made using U.S. Government equipment.

If a Foreign Service member is posted to a country in the so called "Developing World", it is possible that the member will employ domestic help. Domestic help can also work for Foreign Intelligence Services as demonstrated by an incident involving British Ambassador to the Soviet Union Sir Geoffrey Harrison, who was caught in a Honey Trap with his maid.

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 and Afghanastan.[16]

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.[17]

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. [18] 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 a member 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 members not only for promotions, but for selection out of the service due to failure to perform at the standard set by those members' peers in the same grade. Thus, the Foreign Service is an "up or out" system similar to that of military officers.

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

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 August 2, 2009 George W. Bush and Barack Obama
Nancy Jo Powell August 3, 2009 Barack Obama

See also

References

  1. ^ Kopp and Gillespie, Career Diplomacy, pp. 3-4
  2. ^ This refers to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
  3. ^ Foreign Service Act of 1980, Section 210.
  4. ^ Foreign Service Act
  5. ^ Foreign Service Personnel Management Manual
  6. ^ 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."
  7. ^ a b "Becoming a Foreign Service Officer". ACT's Activity Publication. Spring 2009. http://www.act.org/activity/spring2009/become.html. Retrieved 2009-06-16.  "Only about 25 to 30 percent of candidates pass the initial examination and screening and move onto the oral assessment phase"
  8. ^ "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 hiring needs."
  9. ^ "Who are the Specialists? What do they do?". United States State Department. http://careers.state.gov/Specialist/index.html. Retrieved 2009-06-16. 
  10. ^ "Taylor v. Rice". http://www.lambdalegal.org/our-work/in-court/cases/taylor-v-rice.html. Retrieved 2009-06-16. 
  11. ^ Inside a U.S. Embassy. American Foreign Service Association. 2005. ISBN 0-9649488-2-6. http://www.afsa.org/inside/. 
  12. ^ Important information on revision of rules for reporting FOREIGN CONTACTS AND INTENT TO MARRY OR COHABIT WITH FOREIGN NATIONALS. American Foreign Service Association. May 11, 2009. http://www.afsa.org/contactreporting.cfm?CFID=2260503&CFTOKEN=a01629522e304822-68F7BD64-D097-4DDC-D90AD8FE1108F937. 
  13. ^ Important information on revision of rules for reporting FOREIGN CONTACTS AND INTENT TO MARRY OR COHABIT WITH FOREIGN NATIONALS. American Foreign Service Association. May 11, 2009. http://wdww.afsa.org/contactreporting.cfm?CFID=2260503&CFTOKEN=a01629522e304822-68F7BD64-D097-4DDC-D90AD8FE1108F937. 
  14. ^ STATE DEPARTMENT CONSULAR OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY TO VISA FRAUD. United States Department of Justice. May 31, 2009. http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/February/03_crm_078.htm. 
  15. ^ Clandestine HUMINT asset recruiting. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clandestine_HUMINT_asset_recruiting. 
  16. ^ 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 2008-03-02. 
  17. ^ "Family Liaison Office". www.state.gov. United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/m/dghr/flo/. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
  18. ^ Careers

Bibliography

  • Kopp, Harry W.; Charles A. Gillespie (2008). Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the U.S. Foreign Service. Washington: Georgetown University Press. pp. 266. ISBN 978-1-58901-219-6. 

External links


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