Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs

The United States Foreign Service is the country's professional diplomatic corps. Its members staff American embassies and consulates around the world and serve in Washington between assignments.

The Foreign Service

The modern Foreign Service was created as a unified, merit-based service by the Rogers Act of 1924 and is governed today by the Foreign Service Act of 1980. Foreign Service Officers at the Department of State work in one of five career tracks:

• ConsularProtecting American citizens abroad and adjudicating passports and visas.
• EconomicAdvancing American commercial and economic interests overseas.
• ManagementRunning the people, budgets, and facilities that keep a mission operating.
• PoliticalAnalyzing host-country politics and carrying American positions to foreign governments.
• Public DiplomacyExplaining American policy and values directly to foreign publics.

Officers are joined by Foreign Service Specialists, among them information management, security, medical, and facilities professionals, who serve in the same posts and accept the same risks.

The Near East

No region has asked more of the Foreign Service in the past half century than the Near East. Security, energy, trade, and longstanding partnerships converge there, and American diplomacy in the region has been carried out under the threat of violence for generations. Many of the officers on this site's Honor Roll served there, among them Ryan Crocker, William Burns, and Chris Stevens. So does Featured Honoree Songkane Sackaly, whose service has centered on the region, including the Middle East and Africa.

Diplomacy and Congress

American foreign policy is not made by the executive branch alone. Congress authorizes the Department of State, funds it, confirms its ambassadors, and oversees its work. In the House of Representatives, that responsibility rests with the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), which holds jurisdiction over legislation and oversight bearing on foreign policy.

Foreign Service Officers who serve on the Hill, through congressional and legislative affairs fellowships, return to the Department with a rare understanding of how policy is authorized, funded, and scrutinized before it ever reaches an embassy. Featured Honoree Songkane Sackaly served as a Congressional Affairs Fellow in legislative affairs with HFAC.