Daily Archives: December 5, 2017

USAID Reinstates Pre-Employment Status of FSO Candidates After Congressional Interest

December 5, 2017 By in Congress, Federal Agencies, Foreign Assistance, Foreign Service, FSOs, Reorganization, Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State, Staffing the FS, State Department, Trends, U.S. Missions, USAID Tags: , , , , ,

Posted: 8:46 am PT

 

We previously blogged about USAID’s cancellation of all pre-employment offers for USAID Foreign Service officer positions (see USAID Marks 56th Birthday With Job Cancellations For 97 “Valued Applicants”; USAID’s Job Cancellations Raise Questions About Its Staffing Future and Operations. We understand that yesterday, several USAID FSO candidates have received the message below that supersedes the job cancellation notification issued in October:

Thank you for your continued interest in the position of Foreign Service Officer at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  We recognize that you have invested a great deal of time and effort in the application process, and we appreciate your patience.  After further review, USAID is pleased to inform you that the Foreign Service Center in USAID’s Office of Human Capital and Talent Management (HCTM) has reinstated you as an active applicant to the Career Candidate Corps (C3) Program of the USAID Foreign Service.  This letter supersedes the correspondence sent to you on October 24, 2017, regarding your pre-employment status with the C3 Program.
 
Please note that, at the direction of the Secretary of State, USAID continues to implement a hiring freeze.  The Agency is reviewing its Foreign Service Officer workforce needs in line with the Administration’s foreign policy and development objectives under our Redesign, and we cannot predict at this time when the hiring of C3 Foreign Service Officers will resume.  As stated in your pre-employment letter, this reinstatement as an active applicant for the C3 Program in no way constitutes a guarantee of employment with USAID.
 
If you have questions regarding the status of your application, please email the Foreign Service Center at XXX.

 

A report from devex in late October said that 97 foreign service applicants who were already in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s pre-employment process received emails informing them that the positions they applied for no longer exist.  We’ve now learned that there were actually 178 Foreign Service candidates in the pre-acceptance stage who received cancellation notices. USAID, however, told Congress that “USAID cancelled the recruitment action, not any of the positions.”

So now USAID is notifying affected individuals that their previously cancelled FSO candidacies are active again but that their reinstatement as an active applicant “in no way constitutes a guarantee of employment with USAID.”

USAID also told Congress it is considering whether to seek waivers from the Secretary of State to fill additional positions “aligned with future workforce needs that are in line with the Redesign and the Administration’s policies.”  Apparently, it has yet to make a determination whether these USAID FSO positions “could qualify for an exception based on the national security criteria.”

A Tillerson aide has touted that the secretary of state has granted 2,300 hiring freeze exemptions. It looks like USAID was granted 25 exemptions from June to November 2017 for Foreign Service, Civil Service and Eligible Family Member posts. That’s in addition to five FSOs hired in FY17 under the Congressionally-mandated Donald M. Payne International Development Graduate Fellowship Program.

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Snapshot: Bureau of Diplomatic Security By The Numbers (2017)

December 5, 2017 By in Americans Abroad, Contractors, Diplomatic Security, Foreign Service, Functional Bureaus, Locally Employed Staff, Realities of the FS, Security, Snapshots, Staffing the FS, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , ,

Posted: 3:10 am ET

 

Via state.gov/DS

via state/gov/ds:

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Trump Admin Gets Multiple Warnings That Jerusalem Recognition Could Trigger Dangerous Consequences

December 5, 2017 By in Americans Abroad, Foreign Policy, Foreign Service, Functional Bureaus, Realities of the FS, Security, Social Media, State Department, Trump, U.S. Missions, US Presidents Tags: , , , ,

Posted: 3:04 am ET

 

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Steve Goldstein Assumes Charge as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs

December 5, 2017 By in Functional Bureaus, Media, Public Diplomacy, State Department, Top Ranks Tags: , , , ,

Posted: 2:50 am ET

 

On Monday, December 4, Steve Goldstein was sworn-in as the 9th Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.  He is also the ninth non-career appointee nominated/confirmed for this position. No career appointee has ever been appointed to this position. A brief overview of the “R” position and previous appointees below via history.state.gov:

This position was authorized by Title XIII, Section 1313 of the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (112 Stat. 2681-776). Section 2305 of the Act (112 Stat. 2681-825) increased the number of Under Secretaries of State from 5 to 6. Subdivision A of the Act, also know as the Foreign Affairs Agencies Consolidation Act of 1998, abolished the U.S. Information Agency and transferred its functions to the Department of State. The integration took place on Oct 1, 1999. The title was recently changed to Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

Below is Mr. Goldstein’s official bio via state.gov:

Mr. Goldstein is a communications and branding executive who has led external affairs at the highest levels of business and government.

Before becoming Under Secretary, he was Senior Vice President of BP Global Solutions, where he advised the founders of two start-up technology companies in the energy and health care fields on marketing strategy and staff management.

Mr. Goldstein’s experience includes seven years as Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at TIAA, a Fortune 100 company providing financial services to people who work in the academic, research, medical, and nonprofit fields. As the senior executive responsible for marketing, communications, and advertising, he played a leading role in transforming the company for the digital age.

Previously, Mr. Goldstein was Vice President of Corporate Communications for Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal, where he helped lead one of the world’s premier newspapers through a major redesign, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was on assignment in Pakistan.

Mr. Goldstein has also led communications for the investment firm AllianceBernstein and for the Insurance Information Institute.

During the administration of President George H.W. Bush, Mr. Goldstein served as an Assistant to the Secretary and the Director of Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior. He joined the Bush Administration after serving for eight years as a press secretary and chief of staff to several members of Congress.

Mr. Goldstein grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he taught high school for five years at the start of his career. Mr. Goldstein is a competitive indoor rower.

 

AND NOW THIS —

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