II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1113 

To protect and enhance core diplomatic capabilities at the Department of 

State. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 10, 2019 

Mrs. SHAHEEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To protect and enhance core diplomatic capabilities at the 

Department of State. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancing America’s 

5 Core Diplomatic Capabilities Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; OBJECTIVE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

9 (1) The Foreign Service of the United States, 

10 established under the Act of May 24, 1924 (comVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1113.IS S1113

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1 monly known as the Rogers Act), continued by the 

2 Foreign Service Act of 1946, and further strength3 ened by the Foreign Service Act of 1980, character4 ized by excellence and professionalism, is essential in 

5 the national interest to assist the President and the 

6 Secretary of State in conducting the foreign policy 

7 of the United States. 

8 (2) Consistent, predictable staffing and man9 agement practices are essential to the maintenance 

10 of core diplomatic capabilities, effective career devel11 opment patterns, and an orderly flow of talent in the 

12 Foreign Service. 

13 (3) The expanding scope and increasing com14 plexity of the foreign affairs of the United States 

15 have heightened the need for expanded training, pro16 fessional development, and professional education 

17 opportunities for members of the Foreign Service. 

18 (b) OBJECTIVE.—The objective of this Act is to 

19 strengthen and improve the core diplomatic capabilities of 

20 the United States by— 

21 (1) assuring that, in accordance with merit 

22 principles, sufficient numbers of Foreign Service 

23 personnel are recruited, trained, promoted, and re24 tained to effectively serve the interests of the United 


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1 States and to provide the highest caliber of represen2 tation in the conduct of foreign affairs; 

3 (2) providing expanded training, professional 

4 development, and professional education opportuni5 ties to career Foreign Service and civil service em6 ployees; and 

7 (3) promoting the role of members of the For8 eign Service in certain key institutional leadership 

9 positions. 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com13 mittees’’ means— 

14 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

15 the Senate; and 

16 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

17 the House of Representatives. 

18 (2) The term ‘‘core diplomatic capabilities’’ 

19 means diplomatic functions pertaining to political af20 fairs, economic affairs, and public diplomacy. 


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1 TITLE I—FOREIGN SERVICE 

2 OFFICER STAFFING LEVELS 

3 SEC. 101. POLICY OF HIRING SUFFICIENT NUMBERS OF 

4 ENTRY-LEVEL MEMBERS OF THE FOREIGN 

5 SERVICE TO MEET LONG-TERM NEEDS. 

6 Section 303 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 

7 U.S.C. 3943) is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub11 section: 

12 ‘‘(b) LONG-TERM PROJECTIONS OF PERSONNEL

13 FLOWS AND NEEDS.—Decisions by the Secretary on the 

14 numbers of individuals to be appointed as entry-level mem15 bers of the Service shall be based upon a systematic long16 term projection of personnel flows and needs designed to 

17 provide— 

18 ‘‘(1) a regular, predictable flow of recruitment 

19 in the Service; 

20 ‘‘(2) effective career development patterns to 

21 meet the needs of the Service; and 

22 ‘‘(3) a regular, predictable flow of talent up23 ward through the ranks of the Service.’’. 


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1 SEC. 102. MINIMUM NUMBER OF FOREIGN SERVICE OFFI2 CERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall take 

4 all practicable measures to maintain within the Foreign 

5 Service a minimum number of Foreign Service officers, 

6 based on staffing levels as of September 30, 2016, as fol7 lows: 

8 (1) 905 Senior Foreign Service officers. 

9 (2) 4,598 Foreign Service officers, in aggregate, 

10 at the levels of FS–01, FS–02, and FS–03. 

11 (3) 2,662 Foreign Service officers, in aggregate, 

12 at the levels of FS–04, FS–05, and FS–06. 

13 (4) QUARTERLY REPORT.—Not later than 90 

14 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

15 quarterly thereafter, the Secretary of State shall 

16 submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

17 the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

18 the House of Representatives a report on the size of 

19 the Foreign Service workforce. In the event that the 

20 current workforce is below the minimum levels set 

21 forth in subsection (a), the report shall include an 

22 explanation of the reasons for the deficiency and a 

23 plan for meeting such levels. 


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1 SEC. 103. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON DAMAGE FROM YEAR2 TO-YEAR REDUCTIONS IN ENTRY-LEVEL HIR3 ING. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that significant year-to5 year reductions in the levels of entry-level hiring for the 

6 Foreign Service, including levels below projected rates of 

7 attrition, will inevitably result in shortages of appro8 priately experienced personnel at specific grades in future 

9 years and, therefore, are not in the interest of the Service 

10 and should not be used to carry out reductions in the over11 all size of the Service. 

12 TITLE II—ENHANCED TRAINING, 

13 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOP14 MENT, AND PROFESSIONAL 

15 EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES 

16 FOR CAREER DEPARTMENT 

17 OF STATE EMPLOYEES 

18 SEC. 201. REPORT ON EXPANDED TRAINING OPPORTUNI19 TIES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

22 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

23 a report on measures to provide enhanced training, profes24 sional development, and professional education opportuni25 ties to career Foreign Service and civil service employees 

26 to enhance core diplomatic capabilities. 


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1 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required under sub2 section (a) shall include the following elements: 

3 (1) An assessment of current and planned 

4 training, professional development, and professional 

5 education opportunities, including topics such as 

6 leadership, management, resource allocation, whole7 of-government team leadership and management, 

8 and trade craft pertaining to core diplomatic capa9 bilities. 

10 (2) An assessment of the processes and re11 sources required to make the George P. Shultz Na12 tional Foreign Affairs Training Center an accredited 

13 academic institution, on a level equivalent to the 

14 United States military’s war colleges, capable of 

15 granting a master of arts degree in diplomatic stud16 ies, to enhance its capabilities to educate Foreign 

17 Service, civil service, and other civilian and military 

18 interagency professionals in the practice of diplo19 macy and international development. 

20 SEC. 202. REESTABLISHMENT OF THE SENIOR SEMINAR. 

21 The Secretary of State shall, not later than one year 

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, reestablish 

23 the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training 

24 Center’s full-time Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy for 

25 highly qualified Foreign Service, civil service, and military 


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1 personnel from the Department of State, other agencies 

2 and the Armed Forces. The seminar’s duration shall be 

3 a minimum of nine months. Participants in the seminar 

4 shall be competitively selected based upon past perform5 ance and future potential. 

6 SEC. 203. SUSPENSION OF TIME IN CLASS REQUIREMENT 

7 FOR MEMBERS OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE 

8 ENGAGED IN LONG-TERM TRAINING. 

9 Section 607(d) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 

10 (22 U.S.C. 4007(d)) is amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

12 inserting a semicolon; 

13 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para14 graph (3); and 

15 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol16 lowing new paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(2) the Secretary may, for purposes of this 

18 section, increase the maximum time spent in class 

19 for a member of the Service by the amount of time 

20 spent by such member in long-term training while in 

21 such class to encourage participation in such train22 ing; and’’. 


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1 SEC. 204. FOREIGN LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE INCENTIVE 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 The Secretary of State is authorized to establish and 

4 implement an incentive program to encourage members of 

5 the Foreign Service who possess language proficiency in 

6 a qualifying list of languages, as determined by the Sec7 retary, to maintain critical foreign language skills. Not 

8 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

9 Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate 

10 committees a report detailing a plan to implement the pro11 gram, including resource requirements. 

12 TITLE III—PROMOTING A PRO13 FESSIONAL DIPLOMATIC SER14 VICE 

15 SEC. 301. LIMITATION OF CERTAIN KEY POSITIONS TO CA16 REER DIPLOMATS. 

17 (a) DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE FOREIGN SERV18 ICE.—Section 208 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 

19 U.S.C. 3928) is amended, in the first sentence, by striking 

20 ‘‘current or former career member of the Foreign Service’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘current career member of the Senior For22 eign Service who has served at least once as a chief of 

23 mission’’. 

24 (b) DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 2 of the Foreign 

26 Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3921 et seq.) is 


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1 amended by inserting after section 208 the following 

2 new section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 208A. DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES. 

4 ‘‘The Secretary shall appoint a Director of Human 

5 Resources, who shall be a current career member of the 

6 Senior Foreign Service who has served at least once as 

7 a chief of mission. The Director should assist the Sec8 retary of State in the management of the human resources 

9 matters of the Department of State and perform such 

10 functions as the Secretary of State may prescribe.’’. 

11 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con12 tents in section 2 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 

13 (Public Law 96–465; 94 Stat. 2071) is amended by 

14 inserting after the item relating to section 208 the 

15 following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 208A. Director of Human Resources.’’. 

16 (c) DIRECTOR OF THE GEORGE P. SHULTZ NA17 TIONAL FOREIGN AFFAIRS TRAINING CENTER.—Section 

18 701(a) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 

19 4021(a)) is amended by inserting before the last sentence 

20 the following: ‘‘The Director shall be a current career 

21 member of the Senior Foreign Service who has served at 

22 least once as a chief of mission.’’. 

23 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

24 subsections (a) through (c) shall take effect upon the date 

25 of the enactment of this Act, and the requirements under 


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1 the provisions of law amended by such subsections shall 

2 apply to any individual serving in a position covered by 

3 any such provision on or after such date. 

4 SEC. 302. RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS 

5 AS COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. 

6 When referring to Foreign Service officers in its pub7 lic and internal communications, the Department of State 

8 and other Departments and Agencies shall, in recognition 

9 of the status of such officers as commissioned officers of 

10 the United States Government, use the terminology found 

11 in the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (Public Law 110–457) 

12 and refer to such individuals as ‘‘Foreign Service officers’’ 

13 rather than using other terms such as ‘‘Foreign Service 

14 generalists’’. The term ‘‘Foreign Service specialists’’ may 

15 be used as appropriate to refer to personnel who fit that 

16 description. 

Æ 


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