THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 39 of both bureaus and individuals. Start with a single bureau or functional area, learn from the results, and adapt as needed. Then scale. The pieces already exist. The State Department’s Foreign Service has promotion precepts, bidding systems, evaluation tools, and talent review processes that are nominally structured around merit and demonstrated ability. Officers already provide narratives of their accomplishments, and selection officials already make judgments—albeit inconsistently—about who is best suited for a role. In addition, many FSOs bring with them substantial pre–Foreign Service experience and specialized education that contribute to a rich, if underleveraged, base of professional competencies. Across the department, there is also a shared, if largely intuitive, sense of what it takes to succeed in different roles. And frameworks for defining and assessing competencies—like those used by other federal agencies and international organizations—are already available and adaptable. What’s missing is the connective tissue: a formal, transparent, and consistently applied structure that brings these elements together into a coherent system for assignment, development, and advancement. A Foreign Service That Reflects Our Values As diplomats representing a nation built on fairness, opportunity, and merit, the Foreign Service must hold itself to those same values. That means selecting officers based on skill and substance, not networks or norms. A competency-based assignment system won’t solve every problem. But it will help the Foreign Service become more deliberate, more effective, and more equitable. It will ensure that the best-suited officers—not just the best connected—are empowered to lead, grow, and serve. The time for this shift is now. The challenges ahead are complex, the talent is available, and the stakes are too high to keep playing by outdated rules. n
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