Title 22 — Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73not60
§3927a Review by Chief of Mission
Title 22 › Chapter 52— FOREIGN SERVICE › Subchapter II— MANAGEMENT OF SERVICE › § 3927a
Summary
Each chief of mission must review every staff position they oversee at least once every 5 years, including employees from other U.S. departments or agencies, and decide whether each position should be approved or not. The reviews must follow the President’s staffing process for diplomatic posts called the “NSDD–38 process,” and the Secretary of State must carry out the recommendations from those reviews as part of that process.
Full Legal Text
Title 22, §3927a
Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Secretary of State shall require each chief of mission to review, not less than once every 5 years, every staff element under chief of mission authority, including staff from other departments or agencies of the United States, and recommend approval or disapproval of each staff element. Each such review shall be conducted pursuant to a process established by the President for determining appropriate staffing at diplomatic missions and overseas constituent posts (commonly referred to as the “NSDD–38 process”).
(b)The Secretary of State, as part of the process established by the President referred to in subsection (a), shall take actions to carry out the recommendations made in each such review.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Codification Section was enacted as part of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005, and also as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, and not as part of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 which comprises this chapter.
Amendments
2011—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 112–74 struck out subsec. (c). Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “Not later than 1 year after December 8, 2004, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit a report on such reviews that occurred during the previous 12 months, together with the Secretary’s recommendations regarding such reviews to the appropriate committees of Congress, the heads of all affected departments or agencies, and the Inspector General of the Department of State.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
22 U.S.C. § 3927a
Title 22 — Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60