§2734f Strategic Staffing Plan for the Department of State

Summary

The Secretary of State must send Congress a 5-year staffing plan no later than 18 months after December 27, 2021. The plan must line up with the U.S. National Security Strategy (December 2017 or any replacement issued within that same 18-month period). It must include a full dataset showing current and planned employees and any staffing gaps (including those noted in GAO–19–220), broken down by Foreign Service ranks and specialists, civil service job codes and grades and their bureaus, contractors and schedule C hires with equivalent codes and bureaus, and by overseas region. The plan must also give recommended numbers of Foreign Service officers by service cone for each U.S. post and for Washington, D.C., with the reasons for those numbers, and recommended totals for civil service staff with supporting detail. The workforce dataset must be kept up to date. The Secretary will lead making the plan but may work with private experts in labor economics, management, or human resources and with groups that know the Department’s workforce needs. Also, not later than 120 days after December 27, 2021, the Secretary must report to Congress on the root causes of Foreign Service and civil service shortages, how those shortages affect national security goals, and the Department’s plan to carry out the recommendations in GAO–19–220.