Foreign Service Selection and Preparation Reforms

State Dept Press Releases

Published April 1st, 2026

Detected April 1st, 2026

Summary

The U.S. Department of State announced comprehensive reforms to the U.S. Foreign Service selection and preparation processes on April 1, 2026. Key changes include reinstating a written examination, overhauling the Foreign Service Officer Test to emphasize American history and logical reasoning, and redesigning the A-100 onboarding program to include substantive diplomatic training. The reforms eliminate DEI-focused questions from testing and remove "team resilience" exercises from training.

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What changed

The State Department is modernizing Foreign Service recruitment by reinstating a written examination, adding American history and logical reasoning questions to the Officer Test, and refocusing the Oral Exam on substantive U.S. foreign policy knowledge. The A-100 onboarding program has been transformed to include lectures on diplomatic history, economic statecraft, grand strategy, and required readings from foundational American foreign policy texts. The reforms eliminate DEI-related testing components and exercises such as the blindfolded bucket-throwing activity.

The changes take effect immediately for new applicants to the Foreign Service. Prospective applicants should prepare for updated examination content emphasizing American history and traditional diplomatic knowledge. Current Foreign Service officers will see changes to ongoing training and professional development content. The reforms represent a significant ideological shift in how the State Department evaluates and prepares its diplomatic corps, moving away from diversity and inclusion frameworks toward traditional merit-based selection emphasizing substantive foreign policy expertise.

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Home Office of the Spokesperson Press Releases … U.S. Department of State Announces Reforms to the U.S. Foreign Service hide

U.S. Department of State Announces Reforms to the U.S. Foreign Service

Fact Sheet

Office of the Spokesperson

April 1, 2026

The U.S. Department of State is modernizing the U.S. Foreign Service selection and preparation processes to ensure that the United States is equipped with the essential diplomatic corps that it needs to meet the challenges of the 21 st century.

These modernization efforts include reinstituting a written examination test, testing applicants on American history, and reforming the Foreign Service orientation to include content on diplomatic theory, economic statecraft, and strategic competition. The State Department invites all Americans with the skill and spirit to represent our nation around the world to apply to join the U.S. Foreign Service.

Preparing the U.S. Foreign Service for the 21 st Century

The State Department has made a series of reforms designed to modernize all aspects of foreign service recruitment and training and ensure that our diplomatic corps is ready to deliver results for the American people around the world.

The State Department is reducing barriers to leadership and management roles by emphasizing merit in the selection process so that officers who excel can have opportunities for leadership across the Department earlier in their careers. This will ensure that promising officers stay in government service and can work in rewarding, high-impact roles.

The State Department overhauled the Foreign Service Officer Test, adding questions on American history and logical reasoning while eliminating those intended to test alignment with the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda.

The State Department redesigned the Foreign Service Oral Exam to refocus on testing substantive knowledge of U.S. foreign policy concepts, diplomatic history, and negotiation skills.

The State Department has returned to the use of a Written Examination to replace the Qualification Evaluation Panel given that the ability to think critically and write clear prose continues to be an essential skill for Foreign Service Officers.

A-100, the Foreign Service onboarding program, has been transformed into a rigorous and comprehensive basic training program to best prepare the commissioned officers of the United States diplomatic corps. Foreign Service Officers will now receive substantive content on policy and tradecraft, which includes lectures on diplomatic history and America First foreign policy.

The onboarding program now features required and recommended readings on American history and international relations, including speeches and writings from George Washington, John Quincy Adams, and James Monroe, selections from the Federalist Papers, and works from George Kennan, Angelo Codevilla, and Samuel Huntington.

A-100 will include lectures on international relations, including on economic strategy, commercial diplomacy, and grand strategy, as well as training on public speaking, negotiation, and leadership.

These lectures and trainings replace exercises that purported to teach communication skills and “team resilience,” including one 90-minute activity that required participants to throw objects into a bucket while blindfolded. Lecture content concerning bureaucratic tedium has been reduced to a minimum.