THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2024 17 President Angela Dickey of DACOR and Dean Alyssa Ayres of the Elliott School of International Affairs opened the event, which was moderated by retired Foreign Service Officer Keith McCormick. The first session, led by Dr. Joshua D. Botts from the State Department’s Office of the Historian, provided a historical overview of how the competitive Foreign Service system evolved. During the second and third discussions, speakers included retired Ambassadors Marcie Ries, Ronald Neumann, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, and Eric Rubin, who discussed opportunities for constructive reform and threats to effective U.S. foreign policy practice. Valerie Smith Boyd from the Partnership for Public Service and Donald P. Moynihan of Georgetown University added useful perspectives from outside government. They affirmed the importance of respecting the merit principles that underpin the Civil Service, arguing that policy development benefits from diverse perspectives. The original Schedule F policy was never fully implemented, making it challenging to gauge its potential impact on the Foreign Service workforce. However, the discussion revealed concerns that Schedule F could have broader and more disruptive effects than anticipated, potentially conflicting with agency diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) programs. A recording of the event is available at https://bit.ly/DACOR-FS-100. SIGAR Update: State Department Partner Vetting The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released an audit report on
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