One Voice for America's Foreign Relations
Orders State Department to Enforce Faithful Implementation of Foreign Policy
What it does
Agencies must ensure foreign affairs staff implement the President's foreign policy and the Secretary must reform personnel rules to ensure that.
Real-world impact
- Increases disciplinary risk, including removal, for employees who don't follow presidential policy.
- Changes hiring, evaluation, and retention standards for Foreign Service personnel.
- Directs rewrite of manuals and guidance used by diplomatic staff worldwide.
Topics
Summary
This order requires diplomats, Civil Service employees, and locally hired staff to carry out the President's foreign policy and makes failure to do so grounds for discipline, including removal. It directs the Secretary who leads U.S. foreign relations to reform recruiting, performance, evaluation, and retention rules, and to revise manuals and guidance used by diplomatic staff. The order gives the Secretary sole discretion in many decisions, while saying implementation must follow law and available funding.
Questions, answered
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