THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 43 As this landmark legislation marks its anniversary, the Foreign Service faces challenges no one could have imagined in the last century. BY STEVEN ALAN HONLEY AND LISA HELLER Steven Alan Honley was editor in chief of The Foreign Service Journal from 2001 to 2014. Prior to that, he was a Foreign Service officer from 1985 to 1997, serving in Mexico City, Wellington, and Washington, D.C. He is the author of FSI at 70: Future Forward—A History of the Foreign Service Institute (Arlington Hall Press, 2017). Lisa Heller is AFSA’s director of professional policy issues. She served as a Foreign Service officer from 1991 to 2024, with assignments in China, Pakistan, Korea, Ukraine, and Washington, D.C. The Foreign Service Act of 1980 (FSA) turns 45 this year. The successor to the Rogers Act of 1924 and Foreign Service Act of 1946, which established the foundations of the modern Foreign Service, the FS Act of 1980 authorized labor organizations and collective bargaining in the Foreign Service, among other things. But as this landmark legislation marks its anniversary, the U.S. Foreign Service, now in its 101st year, faces challenges to its statutory basis that no one could have foreseen even a couple of years ago. In the following we review highlights of the FS Act of 1980’s history, including AFSA’s unique role in its passage. We will then discuss current trials and what lies ahead. A Transformative Accomplishment The foundations of the modern Foreign Service—especially the fundamental concept of rank-in-person—had been created in 1924 by the Rogers Act, and that institutional underpinning was set in stone by the Foreign Service Act of 1946. “Anyone involved with the Foreign Service at the time of its passage knew that the Act of 1980 was a great and transformative accomplishment,” Foreign Service historian Harry W. Kopp The Foreign Service Act of 1980 at a PIVOTAL MOMENT THE FUTURE OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE FOCUS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=