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Congress, the Foreign Service, and the Department of State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Irvin Stewart
Irvin Stewart*
Affiliation:
The American University
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Extract

On July 1, 1924, there became effective an act for the reorganization and improvement of the Foreign Service of the United States, popularly known as the Rogers Act, which had been approved on May 24. That act combined the hitherto separate diplomatic and consular services into a single Foreign Service. Admission to the Foreign Service was for the most part to be upon competitive examination, and promotion was to be based upon merit. The act left to the executive the establishment of the system for ascertaining merit.

Pursuant to the Rogers Act, an executive order of June 7, 1924, created a Foreign Service Personnel Board. The composition of the board was slightly changed by an executive order of February 25, 1928, under the terms of which the board was to be composed of three assistant secretaries of state to be designated by the Secretary of State, and three Foreign Service officers. The three Foreign Service officers, representing both the diplomatic and consular branches, were to constitute the executive committee of the board.

Among other things, the Foreign Service Personnel Board was charged with the duty of submitting to the Secretary, when vacancies should arise in the Foreign Service, lists of officers whose records of efficiency entitled them to advancement in the service and who were therefore recommended for promotion. A departmental order directed the executive committee to take possession of all records relating to the personnel of the diplomatic and consular services and to keep the efficiency records of all Foreign Service officers.

Type
American Government and Politics
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , May 1930 , pp. 355 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1930

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References

1 This order defines the duties of the division as follows: “(1) To maintain contact with Foreign Service officers and employees while on visits to the United States; (2) to discuss with Foreign Service officers ways for the development and improvement of their work; (3) to confer with the geographical divisions of the Department concerning the work of Foreign Service officers; (4) to interview applicants and prospective applicants for the Foreign Service; (5) to examine and recommend for appointment applicants for positions as subordinate employees in the Foreign Service; (6) to collect, collate, and record pertinent data relating to Foreign Service personnel; (7) to keep the efficiency records of all Foreign Service officers and employees; (8) to hold strictly confidential all personnel records of the Foreign Service, and to reveal no papers, documents, data, or reports relating thereto, except to the Secretary of State and to the members of the Personnel Board; (9) to keep the records of the board of examiners for the Foreign Service and attend to all details connected with the holding of examinations for the Foreign Service; (10) to submit recommendations on all matters within the authority of the Personnel Board; (11) to attend, through the personnel officers assigned to the division, the meetings of the Personnel Board when so directed.”

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