Foreign Service Officer

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Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) are members of the U.S. Foreign Service. They are diplomats who spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic missions formulating and implementing the foreign policy of the United States. Within the Foreign Service FSOs are known as Generalists. They are considered the top tier of the Foreign Service and are distinguished from the other category of Foreign Service employees known as Specialists (e.g., Special Agents of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service).^[1]

The leadership roles at U.S. embassies are filled most often from the FSO ranks. Two-thirds of U.S. Ambassadors are career Foreign Service Officers. FSOs also fill critical management and foreign policy positions at the headquarters of foreign affairs agencies in Washington, D.C.

The Foreign Service has unique status in the U.S. government. Applicants for FSO jobs go through a highly competitive written exam, oral assessment, and security investigation process before they are hired. Of the more than 100,000 applicants for State Department FSO positions between 2001 and 2006, only 2,100 became Foreign Service Officers.^[2]

Contents 1 FSO Career Tracks 2 Commissioning 3 References 4 External links 5 See also

[edit] FSO Career Tracks

There are five career tracks (also referred to as "cones") for State Department Foreign Service Officers:

• Management Affairs
• Consular Affairs
• Political Affairs
• Economic Affairs
• Public Diplomacy (Public Affairs)

FSOs of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Commercial Service, and Foreign Agricultural Service are selected through processes specific to the hiring agency, and follow career tracks separate from those of State Department officers. In 2007 there were about 6,600 FSOs working at the Department of State, 1,000 at the Agency for International Development, 200 at the Department of Commerce, and 250 at the Department of Agriculture.

[edit] Commissioning

Foreign Service Officers are commissioned by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.^[3] New entrants are hired on a career limited appointment, not to exceed five years. They must demonstrate foreign language proficiency and potential for advancement through the ranks of the Foreign Service before being commissioned.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• State Department Official Career Site

[edit] See also

• United States Foreign Service
• United States Department of State
• Foreign Service Specialist
• American Foreign Service Association
• Foreign Agricultural Service
• United States Agency for International Development
• United States Commercial Service

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