The Foreign Service Journal, February 2011

• An enhanced role for the Board of FS Examiners in designing and con- ducting entry exams; • The FS officer corps structure, comprised of eight ranks including a newly established minister level, an FS Reserve system, three staff officer lev- els, and American and alien clerk/em- ployee ranks, all with fixed salary ranges (apart from alien workers); • Updated personnel practices, adding promotion-up, selection-out rules for Foreign Service officers; • Criteria for Foreign Service Re- serve officers and FS lateral entry pro- cedures; and • The Foreign Service Institute, to be headed by a presidential appointee (later amended) under the general su- pervision of the director general. When this draft was circulated to all divisions (today’s bureaus) on Feb. 2, 1946, it ran into immediate opposi- tion, threatening Chapin’s March 15 deadline for moving the final version to the Bureau of the Budget for re- view. The newly arrived assistant sec- retary for information and cultural activities (largely inherited from war- time agencies), William Benton, led the charge. Formerly principal partner in the Benton and Bowles advertising firm, publisher of the Encyclopedia Britan- nica and, later, a senator from Con- necticut, Benton was a heavy hitter. Two other senior officials, Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs William L. Clayton and Special Assistant for In- telligence Alfred McCormack, joined him in voicing objections. Chapin and Russell were taken aback by the scope and tenor of their opposition. Although most of their objections were procedural, four issues required extended negotiations to resolve. The most significant of these, echoed later by the budget office, was the detailed nature of the bill, which was correctly seen as limiting the executive discre- tion of the Secretary of State and the president. The Administration Division stood firm on this issue, however, and pre- vailed with the support of Sec. Byrnes. Chapin, however, negotiated several compromises, including provisions re- garding the FSR group; the name and authority of the Board of Foreign Service Personnel (which would soon change to the Board of the Foreign Service); and removal of the Foreign Service criterion for the deputy direc- tor general position. None were gamechangers, meaning that Chapin had preserved the core of the bill. On April 16, 1946, Sec. Byrnes signed and forwarded the cleared draft to BOB, after which an initial congressional hearing was set for May 6. The House Weighs In On April 8 a routine House For- eign Affairs Committee hearing on the State Department Point of Order bill (a housekeeping procedure designed to reconcile certain approved appro- priations that lacked statutory bases) led to a larger discussion of the pro- posed Foreign Service Act revisions. Committee members suspected the bill might include specific issues al- ready incorporated in the draft revi- sion. Accordingly, Committee Chairman Sol Bloom, D-N.Y., suspended its con- sideration and directed the depart- ment to provide details of the new legislation. He also named a special subcommittee to review the depart- ment’s proposals and report back to the full committee. This proved a piv- otal point in the enactment process. Apprised of this development, Chapin was uncertain about the pro- priety of sending draft legislation to Congress without BOB clearance and held back, despite repeated requests from the subcommittee. The May 6 hearing had shown that the clearance process would be protracted and problematic, almost certainly preclud- ing approval of the bill during the cur- rent session. 50 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1 CHANGE OF ADDRESS Moving? Take AFSA With You! Change your address online at: www.afsa.org/comment.cfm Or Send change of address to: AFSA Membership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037