The Foreign Service Journal, March 2023

26 MARCH 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL A More Modern and Flexible Approach to Personnel Management The ability of the State Department to hire and retain the highest-quality personnel who best represent the country’s diversity is the foundation of American diplomacy. Yet the State Department has devoted only modest resources to recruitment, largely through the Diplomats in Residence program and fellow- ships, and has taken only a few steps aimed at retention. In Blueprint 3, we recognize that diversity in the Foreign Service is linked to recruitment. We propose more resources for hiring a recruitment staff to provide information on the Foreign Service to younger potential FS candidates across a wider geo- graphic area. One aspect of retention is the prospect for career officers of a reasonable timetable for merit promotion and the realistic possibility of competing for top-level positions. In the military, you can’t become a general if you haven’t been a colonel first. Yet many deputy assistant secretary posi- tions, an important first policy-level position, are “reserved” for political appointees. Our blueprint suggests giving diplomats leadership and management experience to prepare for higher- level positions by making more opportunities to serve as deputy assistant secretaries and making the process of selection more transparent. Putting these positions into the open assignments process is a good first step. In the same spirit, we would reserve some assistant secretary positions and several at the under secretary level, including the Director General and the under secretaries for political affairs and management, for career officers. Finally, in acknowledgment of the needs of family members and partners, both professional and personal, we propose ways to expand their opportunities to work in Washington, D.C., and abroad. Time for a Diplomatic Reserve Corps When a crisis is coming or raging, today’s State Department must cobble together resources from existing requirements, seeking the support of retirees, deploying a limited range of temporary employment authorities, or turning to expensive contractors. We admire the courageous and hard work people have done to meet these emergencies, but ad hoc is not the answer. Unlike the military, which has the Reserves and the National Guard, the State Department has no institutional backstop to deploy in an emergency. Blueprint 4 proposes (and provides 77 pages of legislation to establish) a 1,000-person Reserve Corps that could be fully staffed via recruitment of 250 people during each of four years. Individuals would be recruited for their skills based on regional assistant secretaries’ best projection of what would be needed in a crisis. They would train like the National Guard and Reserves and could be called up at any time. We are delighted that this blueprint has generated interest. A requirement that the State Department prepare a report on “a reserve” appears in the recent National Defense Authorization Act, which includes the State Department Authorization Act. We are encouraged by this indication of openness to change and call on the State Department to respond positively. What Next? The goal of our blueprint format, including legislative and regulatory language, is to show that these reforms are achievable and affordable if there is the will to go forward. Our next goal (Phase III) is to get them implemented. We are honored that the Una Chapman Cox Foundation and Arizona State University are again participants in this quest. The American Academy of Diplomacy will act as the executive agent for the effort. We remain committed to full transparency with the State Department, interested congressional members and staff, and the larger foreign affairs community, very much including AFSA. Our nation faces serious global challenges. We believe that Americans recognize that most of these challenges can be suc- cessfully overcome only if they are met with the world’s best diplomacy. The United States needs a thoroughly modern U.S. diplomatic service to effectively promote and protect American interests in today’s dangerous world. The four blueprints are designed to help provide the American people with the high-functioning ser- vice they should demand and that they deserve. To achieve this goal, we will need the active support of AFSA and its members. n The cultural biases against professional education and training will be hard to overcome, but they must be.