Bill would overhaul State Department Foreign Service hiring, training, and promotions and create a retiree reserve

The State Department would set up a program to recruit and prepare veterans, and service members within a year of leaving the military, for Foreign Service jobs, and could test faster hiring for some roles. Test hiring could cover Diplomatic Security agents, security engineers, cybersecurity roles, and diplomatic couriers (limited to 10 percent a year). The Department would also add Foreign Service career information to military transition programs. The faster hiring test must keep merit-based hiring and qualification standards. The bill says it does not create a separate or noncompetitive hiring process for veterans. The test hiring program would end five years after enactment.

The bill would require new training for Foreign Service staff: leadership training before supervising others, crisis training for ambassadors and other senior post leaders, yearly cybersecurity and artificial intelligence training, and at least four weeks of on-site consular training. Leadership training must be at least one month per level and finished within the previous three years. Consular officers could not decide visas on their own until they finish the on-site training. Promotion past grade FS-03 or into the Senior Foreign Service would depend on required training. The Secretary of State could waive leadership training briefly in an emergency, for up to 30 days before a person must finish it. Senior post leaders could skip crisis training before assignment only in exigent circumstances and would complete it afterward. Promotion training could be waived only in extraordinary circumstances, in writing, by the Secretary. The leadership training rule would take effect 180 days after enactment.

The bill would bar State Department staff from referring people with a personal connection to them for public seats on Foreign Service selection boards, and require disclosure, recusal, and written records. It also protects fellowship graduates' hiring chances and the careers of staff on outside training or details. Fellowship graduates could not lose their chance at hiring because of staffing changes. Staff on approved outside training would keep their status and promotion eligibility, and would not have to compete to return. Knowing violators of the referral ban would face administrative discipline. Fellowship graduates still must pass security, medical, and suitability checks, and the Secretary makes final hiring decisions based on the Department's needs. The recruitment records and word-of-mouth referral rules would take effect 180 days after enactment. Fellowship graduates would be considered for hire within 12 months of finishing, unless they ask for a delay or checks are pending.

The bill would create a temporary "Tiger Team" to plan how to improve expeditionary diplomacy, require a cybersecurity and technology governance framework for U.S. missions abroad, and add timelines and promotion requirements for Foreign Service leaders. The Director General of the Foreign Service would also serve as Assistant Secretary for Human Resources. Officers seeking promotion into the Senior Foreign Service should complete a joint duty assignment of at least 12 months outside the Department. Tenure and promotion lists should be sent for nomination within 90 days. The Secretary must brief Congress within 30 days if the list deadline is missed. Several of these steps use "should" language, which sets expectations but not firm requirements. The Tiger Team must be created within 90 days of enactment, its plan carried out within 12 months, and its report sent within two years. The joint duty rule applies from five years after enactment.

The Secretary of State would set up a Diplomatic Reserve Corps pilot program of retired Foreign Service members who could be called up for crises, evacuations, disasters, and other emergencies. The pilot would have at least 250 members in its first year, and could add up to 250 more each of the next three fiscal years. The pilot ends three years after enactment unless Congress reauthorizes it. A final report to Congress would assess the pilot and whether to open it to other retirees and qualified outsiders. The pilot must be set up within nine months of enactment, with a plan to Congress within six months.