Every year, the State Department completes a thorough, multi-layered process to determine who in the Foreign Service will get promoted. This year, news of impending promotion came as a surprise for some employees: just a month ago, State laid them off.
At least 10 people have been promoted since receiving layoff notices in July, according to the American Foreign Service Association, which represents the workers. They work in areas throughout the department: one was a deputy assistant secretary in the Energy Resources Bureau; others were in European and Eurasian Affairs, Economic and Business Affairs, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and other areas.
The laid-off employees remain on the payroll; they are on paid administrative leave through Nov. 8. If their promotions go through before then, they will separate at a higher grade.
“That the department would simultaneously recognize individuals for exemplary service and eliminate their positions as no longer needed defies logic,” AFSA said in a statement. “Together, these actions send a chilling message: In today’s State Department, even excellence cannot protect your career.”
Under the Trump administration, State has laid off 1,350 employees, including 264 Foreign Service Officers, as part of plans to shed a total of 3,000 employees through reductions-in-force, attrition, and incentivized separations.
State officials said ahead of the layoffs that the department’s reorganization was meant to “refocus” its mission on core objectives and modern needs. One official said the layoffs did not mean that the employees “weren’t doing a good job or weren’t valuable members of the State Department family,” but rather reflected the administration’s obligation to “do what’s right for the mission and what’s right for the American people.”
“Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found from centralization or consolidation of functions and responsibilities,” the department said in a notice to staff on the day it sent the reduction-in-force notices.
State determines promotions of Foreign Service staff through selection boards that review each employee’s qualifications every one to four years after their last advancement. The department promotes about 1,400 Foreign Service personnel per year, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. The undersecretary for management at State, a role currently filled by Jose Cunningham, must approve each promotion. Cunningham helped oversee the reorganization efforts and the resulting layoffs.
Selection boards began their reviews before the layoffs and did not know who would be affected when making their recommendations. Cunningham and the State officials who signed off on those recommendations in recent weeks opted not to remove those who were laid off from the approved promotion list.
AFSA reiterated its call for State to reverse the reductions in force, saying the cuts are causing chaos throughout the department.
Employees to be judged on ‘fidelity’
The Global Talent Management bureau, which oversees State’s promotion process, recently put out new guidance for determining whether employees should be promoted. It created a new section called “fidelity,” which will measure employees’ commitment to “zealously executing [U.S. government] policy” and “completely aligning oneself and one’s team to the most current [U.S. government] goals.” Employees expressed concern that the new standards would prohibit the tradition of constructive dissent and force selection boards to judge FSOs on their willingness to bend to political winds.
The new standards will go into effect for the 2025-2026 review cycle.
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