Title: Enhancing America's Core Diplomatic Capabilities Act of 2018
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Enhancing America's Core Diplomatic Capabilities Act of 2018
This bill sets forth or revises specified personnel requirements with respect to members of the Foreign Service at the Department of State, including the establishment of an incentive program to encourage members to maintain critical foreign language skills and the recognition of the status of Foreign Service Officers as commissioned officers of the U.S. government.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3276 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3276

 To protect and enhance core diplomatic capabilities at the Department 
                               of State.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 25, 2018

 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Enhancing America's Core Diplomatic 
Capabilities Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; OBJECTIVE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Foreign Service of the United States, established 
        under the Act of May 24, 1924 (commonly known as the Rogers 
        Act), continued by the Foreign Service Act of 1946, and further 
        strengthened by the Foreign Service Act of 1980, characterized 
        by excellence and professionalism, is essential in the national 
        interest to assist the President and the Secretary of State in 
        conducting the foreign policy of the United States.
            (2) Consistent, predictable staffing and management 
        practices are essential to the maintenance of core diplomatic 
        capabilities, effective career development patterns, and an 
        orderly flow of talent in the Foreign Service.
            (3) The expanding scope and increasing complexity of the 
        foreign affairs of the United States have heightened the need 
        for expanded training, professional development, and 
        professional education opportunities for members of the Foreign 
        Service.
    (b) Objective.--The objective of this Act is to strengthen and 
improve the core diplomatic capabilities of the United States by--
            (1) assuring that, in accordance with merit principles, 
        sufficient numbers of Foreign Service personnel are recruited, 
        trained, promoted, and retained to effectively serve the 
        interests of the United States and to provide the highest 
        caliber of representation in the conduct of foreign affairs;
            (2) providing expanded training, professional development, 
        and professional education opportunities to career Foreign 
        Service and civil service employees; and
            (3) promoting the role of members of the Foreign Service in 
        certain key institutional leadership positions.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
                Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 
                of Representatives.
            (2) The term ``core diplomatic capabilities'' means 
        diplomatic functions pertaining to political affairs, economic 
        affairs, and public diplomacy.

            TITLE I--FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER STAFFING LEVELS

SEC. 101. POLICY OF HIRING SUFFICIENT NUMBERS OF ENTRY-LEVEL MEMBERS OF 
              THE FOREIGN SERVICE TO MEET LONG-TERM NEEDS.

    Section 303 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3943) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--The Secretary''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Long-Term Projections of Personnel Flows and Needs.--
Decisions by the Secretary on the numbers of individuals to be 
appointed as entry-level members of the Service shall be based upon a 
systematic long-term projection of personnel flows and needs designed 
to provide--
            ``(1) a regular, predictable flow of recruitment in the 
        Service;
            ``(2) effective career development patterns to meet the 
        needs of the Service; and
            ``(3) a regular, predictable flow of talent upward through 
        the ranks of the Service.''.

SEC. 102. MINIMUM NUMBER OF FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall take all practicable 
measures to maintain within the Foreign Service a minimum number of 
Foreign Service officers, based on staffing levels as of September 30, 
2016, as follows:
            (1) 905 Senior Foreign Service officers.
            (2) 4,598 Foreign Service officers, in aggregate, at the 
        levels of FS-01, FS-02, and FS-03.
            (3) 2,662 Foreign Service officers, in aggregate, at the 
        levels of FS-04, FS-05, and FS-06.
            (4) Quarterly report.--Not later than 90 days after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, and quarterly thereafter, 
        the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign 
        Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
        the House of Representatives a report on the size of the 
        Foreign Service workforce. In the event that the current 
        workforce is below the minimum levels set forth in subsection 
        (a), the report shall include an explanation of the reasons for 
        the deficiency and a plan for meeting such levels.

SEC. 103. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON DAMAGE FROM YEAR-TO-YEAR REDUCTIONS IN 
              ENTRY-LEVEL HIRING.

    It is the sense of Congress that significant year-to-year 
reductions in the levels of entry-level hiring for the Foreign Service, 
including levels below projected rates of attrition, will inevitably 
result in shortages of appropriately experienced personnel at specific 
grades in future years and, therefore, are not in the interest of the 
Service and should not be used to carry out reductions in the overall 
size of the Service.

TITLE II--ENHANCED TRAINING, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND PROFESSIONAL 
    EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR CAREER DEPARTMENT OF STATE EMPLOYEES

SEC. 201. REPORT ON EXPANDED TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report on measures to provide 
enhanced training, professional development, and professional education 
opportunities to career Foreign Service and civil service employees to 
enhance core diplomatic capabilities.
    (b) Elements.--The report required under subsection (a) shall 
include the following elements:
            (1) An assessment of current and planned training, 
        professional development, and professional education 
        opportunities, including topics such as leadership, management, 
        resource allocation, whole-of-government team leadership and 
        management, and trade craft pertaining to core diplomatic 
        capabilities.
            (2) An assessment of the processes and resources required 
        to make the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training 
        Center an accredited academic institution, on a level 
        equivalent to the United States military's war colleges, 
        capable of granting a master of arts degree in diplomatic 
        studies, to enhance its capabilities to educate Foreign 
        Service, civil service, and other civilian and military 
        interagency professionals in the practice of diplomacy and 
        international development.

SEC. 202. REESTABLISHMENT OF THE SENIOR SEMINAR.

    The Secretary of State shall, not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, reestablish the George P. Shultz 
National Foreign Affairs Training Center's full-time Senior Seminar in 
Foreign Policy for highly qualified Foreign Service, civil service, and 
military personnel from the Department of State, other agencies and the 
Armed Forces. The seminar's duration shall be a minimum of nine months. 
Participants in the seminar shall be competitively selected based upon 
past performance and future potential.

SEC. 203. SUSPENSION OF TIME IN CLASS REQUIREMENT FOR MEMBERS OF THE 
              FOREIGN SERVICE ENGAGED IN LONG-TERM TRAINING.

    Section 607(d) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 
4007(d)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``; and'' and inserting a 
        semicolon;
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(2) the Secretary may, for purposes of this section, 
        increase the maximum time spent in class for a member of the 
        Service by the amount of time spent by such member in long-term 
        training while in such class to encourage participation in such 
        training; and''.

SEC. 204. FOREIGN LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE INCENTIVE PROGRAM.

    The Secretary of State is authorized to establish and implement an 
incentive program to encourage members of the Foreign Service who 
possess language proficiency in a qualifying list of languages, as 
determined by the Secretary, to maintain critical foreign language 
skills. Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate committees 
a report detailing a plan to implement the program, including resource 
requirements.

         TITLE III--PROMOTING A PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMATIC SERVICE

SEC. 301. LIMITATION OF CERTAIN KEY POSITIONS TO CAREER DIPLOMATS.

    (a) Director General of the Foreign Service.--Section 208 of the 
Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3928) is amended, in the first 
sentence, by striking ``current or former career member of the Foreign 
Service'' and inserting ``current career member of the Senior Foreign 
Service who has served at least once as a chief of mission''.
    (b) Director of Human Resources.--
            (1) In general.--Chapter 2 of the Foreign Service Act of 
        1980 (22 U.S.C. 3921 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 
        section 208 the following new section:

``SEC. 208A. DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES.

    ``The Secretary shall appoint a Director of Human Resources, who 
shall be a current career member of the Senior Foreign Service who has 
served at least once as a chief of mission. The Director should assist 
the Secretary of State in the management of the human resources matters 
of the Department of State and perform such functions as the Secretary 
of State may prescribe.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of contents in section 2 
        of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-465; 94 Stat. 
        2071) is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
        section 208 the following new item:

``Sec. 208A. Director of Human Resources.''.
    (c) Director of the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs 
Training Center.--Section 701(a) of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 
U.S.C. 4021(a)) is amended by inserting before the last sentence the 
following: ``The Director shall be a current career member of the 
Senior Foreign Service who has served at least once as a chief of 
mission.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsections (a) through 
(c) shall take effect upon the date of the enactment of this Act, and 
the requirements under the provisions of law amended by such 
subsections shall apply to any individual serving in a position covered 
by any such provision on or after such date.

SEC. 302. RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS AS COMMISSIONED 
              OFFICERS.

    When referring to Foreign Service officers in its public and 
internal communications, the Department of State and other Departments 
and Agencies shall, in recognition of the status of such officers as 
commissioned officers of the United States Government, use the 
terminology found in the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (Public Law 110-
457) and refer to such individuals as ``Foreign Service officers'' 
rather than using other terms such as ``Foreign Service generalists''. 
The term ``Foreign Service specialists'' may be used as appropriate to 
refer to personnel who fit that description.
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