The U.S. Department of State is modernizing the U.S. Foreign Service selection and preparation processes to ensure that the United States is equipped with the essential diplomatic corps that it needs to meet the challenges of the 21^st century.

These modernization efforts include reinstituting a written examination test, testing applicants on American history, and reforming the Foreign Service orientation to include content on diplomatic theory, economic statecraft, and strategic competition. The State Department invites all Americans with the skill and spirit to represent our nation around the world to apply to join the U.S. Foreign Service.

The State Department has made a series of reforms designed to modernize all aspects of foreign service recruitment and training and ensure that our diplomatic corps is ready to deliver results for the American people around the world. 

The State Department is reducing barriers to leadership and management roles by emphasizing merit in the selection process so that officers who excel can have opportunities for leadership across the Department earlier in their careers. This will ensure that promising officers stay in government service and can work in rewarding, high-impact roles.

The State Department overhauled the Foreign Service Officer Test, adding questions on American history and logical reasoning while eliminating those intended to test alignment with the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda.

The State Department redesigned the Foreign Service Oral Exam to refocus on testing substantive knowledge of U.S. foreign policy concepts, diplomatic history, and negotiation skills.

The State Department has returned to the use of a Written Examination to replace the Qualification Evaluation Panel given that the ability to think critically and write clear prose continues to be an essential skill for Foreign Service Officers.

A-100, the Foreign Service onboarding program, has been transformed into a rigorous and comprehensive basic training program to best prepare the commissioned officers of the United States diplomatic corps. Foreign Service Officers will now receive substantive content on policy and tradecraft, which includes lectures on diplomatic history and America First foreign policy.

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.

A-100 will include lectures on international relations, including on economic strategy, commercial diplomacy, and grand strategy, as well as training on public speaking, negotiation, and leadership.

These lectures and trainings replace exercises that purported to teach communication skills and “team resilience,” including one 90-minute activity that required participants to throw objects into a bucket while blindfolded. Lecture content concerning bureaucratic tedium has been reduced to a minimum.