16 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL notes that while presidents have historically excluded some agencies with intelligence or defense missions, the Trump orders sweep in more than 40 entities, including many without clear national security functions. CRS also reviews the wave of litigation by NTEU, AFGE, and AFSA, and points out that Congress could revisit or narrow the statutory authority presidents use to impose such exclusions. With executive actions, court rulings, congressional responses, and union litigation all in play, both federal and private-sector employees now face a rapidly shifting landscape for collective bargaining rights. DSS Joins D.C. Crime Crackdown The State Department’s law enforcement arm, long tasked with protecting U.S. diplomats and securing U.S. embassies and personnel around the world, has assumed a new and unusual role at home. The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) is now working alongside local police in Washington, D.C., participating Meanwhile, private-sector labor faces its own crisis. In August, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals declared the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) unconstitutional in a case involving SpaceX, effectively halting enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The NLRB, reduced to two members and lacking a quorum, has nonetheless sought to defend its jurisdiction, filing a suit on September 12 against the State of New York over a new law authorizing state oversight of private-sector union elections. Congress has begun to push back. On September 17, Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), joined by more than 40 colleagues, introduced the Protect America’s Workforce Act to nullify Trump’s recent executive orders and restore collective bargaining agreements in place as of March 26, 2025. A September 15 Congressional Research Service report, “National Security Exclusions from the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statutes,” provides additional context. The report A Strong, Professional Foreign Service 50 Years Ago A t a time when the United States finds itself confronted with a rapidly changing world of shifting alliances, allegiances, and centers of influence, a world in which American dominance over events is no longer nearly as certain as it was a few years ago, it is more important than ever that this country be served by a strong professional Foreign Service. Such a Service demands an educated, trained, dedicated, hard working and highly motivated corps of people. In order for the foreign affairs agencies to recruit and retain men and women with these qualifications the agencies must be able to successfully compete with private organizations which are in the market for the same people. —Letter from former AFSA President John D. Hemenway to Congressman Al Ullman (D-Ore.) of the House Ways and Means Committee in the December 1975 edition of the FSJ.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=