The Foreign Service Journal, March 2023

34 MARCH 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Meritocracy at State Who Deserves What FOCUS ON FS REFORM: OUTLOOK AND CONSIDERATIONS I did not pass the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT). Yet I am serving on my first overseas tour as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new Foreign Service officer in Israel. I came into this career as a growing number of diplomats at every level had before me: through the fellowship programs. Revered by some and disdained by others, these programs represent the primary “other” way of getting into the Foreign Service. Fear of being ostracized or marginalized at the workplace has led countless Pickering and Rangel Fellows to go many years into their careers while keeping their status as fellows “in the closet.” The recent restructuring of the Foreign Service’s recruitment process with regard to the FSOT has brought to light a similar controversy. Although the decision to restructure the testing and recruit- ment process of the Foreign Service was not made purely for reasons associated with diversity, equity, inclusion, and account- ability (DEIA), recent changes in how the FSOT is weighed have drawn ire from some of the old guard who fear that these changes are more political than strategic, and will serve to undermine the fundamental goal of the recruitment process: bringing in the best Marshall Sherrell is a first-tour Foreign Service officer happily serving in Tel Aviv. He is a 2019 Pickering Fellow, an alum of the State Department’s Gilman and Critical Language Scholarship programs, and a first-generation college graduate. How do we know who “deserves” to be admitted into the U.S. Foreign Service? An entry-level officer explores the question. BY MARSHAL L SHERRE L L people for the job. In pursuit of this goal, they say, passing the FSOT is an indispensable first step. They argue that the selection process for a job as vital as diplo- macy needs to rise above quibbling over accessibility and instead focus on weeding out the unqualified to the benefit of our entire country. Putting aside the question of whether the FSOT helps to achieve this objective, I would like to interrogate the efficacy of the so-called meritocratic systemwe’re dealing with. How do we know who is legitimately qualified to be in the Foreign Service; who “merits” being chosen? Testing and Recruitment Over Time Look into the history of the Foreign Service’s testing and recruitment process, and you’ll find that it has changed dramati- cally over the years. In 1953 the Foreign Service Officer Assess- ment (FSOA) was an hour-long interview. Were the people who passed that version of the assessment (and are now either our bosses, or retired) less qualified than those who came after? Or perhaps those who passed the longer FSOA are actually more qualified? What about the days-long FSOT testing process that existed in the 1950s, as compared to the three-hour test most of us are familiar with? What of the “mustangs” who transitioned to the Foreign Service from the Civil Service without having to take the FSOT? The Foreign Service has evolved and adapted its recruitment processes several times over the years. Just as some of those who are reading this might scoff at the notion of trivializing an appli- cant’s FSOT results, so you can also be sure that the generation Maria Carluccio/Theispot