The US State Department on Wednesday introduced a sequence of modifications to the US foreign service test with a particular deal with eliminating alleged “diversity, equity, and inclusion” because the Trump administration makes an attempt to reshape the diplomatic corps.
In its assertion asserting the modifications, which additionally consists of new curriculum for diplomats’ orientation course of, the State Department known as on “patriotic Americans” to apply.
“Applicants will be tested on American history, foreign policy concepts, and logical reasoning, while questions intended to test alignment with ideological agendas have been eliminated,” an announcement from the State Department. A separate reality sheet stated it had eliminated questions on the written test associated to “the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda.”
The announcement has sparked concern concerning the potential politicization of personnel who function the face of the United States abroad. It follows broader modifications on the US State Department unveiled final yr that moved to align the company with the administration’s priorities and worldview.
The recruitment effort comes after the division fired nearly 250 foreign service officers final yr and drove out scores of different skilled diplomats, together with ambassadors.
“None of this happens in a vacuum,” stated John Dinkelman, the president of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA). “This is on the tail end of a year of considerable disruption, where you’ve literally flushed out thousands of individuals from the Foreign Service and from foreign affairs.”
“You’re scrambling to try to rebuild a diplomatic corps, which, frankly, is going to be a bunch of new entry-level officers who are easily malleable into the ways that you want them to go, at the expense of having had some strong veterans out there with tremendous geographic, regional and functional experience who are now on the sidelines or even out of the picture,” he stated.
The reality sheet from the State Department stated the foreign service onboarding program, A100, has additionally been “transformed.”
“Foreign Service Officers will now receive substantive content on policy and tradecraft, which includes lectures on diplomatic history and America First foreign policy,” it famous, referencing President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign coverage framework.
The State Department didn’t present NCS with examples of questions it seen as problematic on the foreign service examination when requested. However, an article from the conservative outlet the Daily Caller pointed to questions concerning the quantity of an applicant’s rapid associates that “have a first language other than English” and how usually candidates “socialized with members of different ethnic and cultural groups” or “seek out activities with diverse ethnic and cultural groups.”
Such questions may very well be anticipated on the previous exams, Dinkelman stated.
The US diplomatic corps has traditionally had the status of being “pale, male, and Yale,” referencing a largely White, male, and Ivy League educated group. Under the Biden administration, there have been efforts to promote range on the US’ oldest cupboard company. Trump, on the primary day of his second time period, ordered an finish to DEI packages within the federal authorities, and the Trump administration has aggressively focused alleged DEI initiatives.
In an announcement, AFSA famous that it took challenge with the declare that the earlier examination included “questions intended to test alignment with ideological agendas.”
“We see a far greater risk that political ideology could now be introduced into the selection process,” stated the group, which served because the union for foreign service officers.
“The Trump administration is modernizing the Foreign Service to prepare America’s diplomats to advocate for our national interest on a dynamically changing world stage,” State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott stated.
Dinkelman, who was an A100 teacher for greater than 5 years, advised NCS that “it is not normal to inject what are so blatantly administration-specific agenda items into orientation.”
The reality sheet launched Wednesday famous that “the onboarding program now features required and recommended readings on American history and international relations, including speeches and writings from George Washington, John Quincy Adams, and James Monroe, selections from the Federalist Papers, and works from George Kennan, Angelo Codevilla, and Samuel Huntington.”
“Lecture content concerning bureaucratic tedium has been reduced to a minimum,” it stated. However, Dinkelman famous that such classes in forms are wanted to adequately put together personnel who’ve by no means labored for the State Department, or maybe even the US authorities, prior to now.