32 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Adoption of a cutting-edge in-service curriculum would demonstrate that the Foreign Service is committed to leadership in U.S. foreign policy. BY DAN SPOKOJNY Dan Spokojny is the founder and CEO of fp21, a think tank dedicated to studying foreign policy reform. He served in government for more than a decade, as a U.S. Foreign Service officer, as a legislative staffer in Congress, and on the AFSA Governing Board. He is finishing his PhD in political science with the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on the role of expertise in foreign policy. He is a member of the FSJ Editorial Board. The State Department should house the most skilled and well-trained policymaking team on the planet, one obsessed with policy success. To achieve this standard, State must develop an in-service training curriculum, the mastery of which would help distinguish the expert diplomat from the amateur. This expert curriculum should inform every aspect of the design and conduct of foreign policy. Harmonized with the day-to-day practice of foreign policy, the curriculum should provide a common language and structure for action—not a paint-by-numbers dogma or constrictive standard operating procedure. The curriculum should also guide hiring standards and performance evaluations used for promotion. Foreign policy is unique among fields of public policy in that nothing like a curriculum for the profession of diplomacy exists. There are no educational requirements for becoming a leader in the field, no formal tradecraft, and no professional skills, training regimens, or certifications from which authority derives. Only a tenuous relationship exists between university researchers who study international relations and those who practice it, a bizarre state of affairs unmatched in any other area of public policy. A common dictionary definition of a profession is “a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.” Diplomacy measures up poorly against A CURRICULUM for the Foreign Service THE FUTURE OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE FOCUS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=