Foreign Service Officer: Difference between revisions

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In the United States and several other countries, a '''Foreign Service Officer (FSO)''' is a professional career diplomat. While, in the broadest sense of the term, U.S. Foreign Service Officers (FSO) are civil servants, they have a distinct rank structure. Due to the need to represent the United States, may not have some of the administrative protections of a domestic government employee in a nonsensitive job.
In the[[ United States of America|U.S.]], a '''Foreign Service Officer (FSO)''' is a professional career diplomat. U.S. Foreign Service Officers (FSO) are civil servants with a distinct rank structure.   The highest U.S. Foreign Service rank is [[Career Ambassador]], then [[Career Minister]], then numbered grades from FSO-1 to the entry-level FSO-8. Career Ambassador and Career Minister ranks have the status of [[general|general officers]] or "supergrade" civil servants.  Among many other duties, foreign service officers staff U.S. embassies overseas, issue visas, and assist U.S. citizens in various other ways.  Employees are selected after taking a grueling, day-long special exam and interview.


Since 1975, the Director General of the Foreign Service, a position with Assistant Secretary rank, has also been the chief of human resources for the [[United States Department of State]]. The incumbent is [[Nancy Powell]].
[[Category:Reviewed Passed]]
 
The third-ranking position in the Department, [[Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs]], is traditionally reserved for a Foreign Service Officer. Some FSOs have served as Deputy [[Secretary of State]] or as acting Secretary of State (e.g., [[Lawrence Eagleburger]]). [[William Burns|William J. "Bill" Burns]] is the incumbent.
 
==Rank structure==
The highest U.S. Foreign Service rank is Career Ambassador, then Career Minister, then numbered grades from FSO-1 to the entry-level FSO-8. It is not always easy to establish seniority among military ranks, civil service ranks in the GS and GG series, and [[Senior Executive Service]].  [[Career Ambassador]] and [[Career Minister]] ranks definitely have the status of [[general|general officers]] or "supergrade" civil servants, although the mapping is blurry about the positioning of FSO-1, since there are five supergrade ranks in U.S. [[Senior Executive Service]] practice and four four general officer ranks.

Revision as of 12:37, 15 March 2024

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In theU.S., a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a professional career diplomat. U.S. Foreign Service Officers (FSO) are civil servants with a distinct rank structure. The highest U.S. Foreign Service rank is Career Ambassador, then Career Minister, then numbered grades from FSO-1 to the entry-level FSO-8. Career Ambassador and Career Minister ranks have the status of general officers or "supergrade" civil servants. Among many other duties, foreign service officers staff U.S. embassies overseas, issue visas, and assist U.S. citizens in various other ways. Employees are selected after taking a grueling, day-long special exam and interview.