Agency overview | |
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Formed | March 13, 1947 |
Headquarters | National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Arlington County, Virginia, U.S. 38°52′04″N77°06′08″W / 38.8677°N 77.1023°W |
Employees | 1,332 (as of December 2012) [1] |
Annual budget | $115 million (FY 2012) [1] |
Agency executive |
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Parent department | U.S. Department of State |
Website | www |
The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States federal government's primary training institution for members of the U.S. foreign service community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives overseas and in Washington. [2] FSI provides more than 800 courses—including up to 70 foreign languages—to more than 225,000 enrollees a year from the U.S. Department of State and more than 50 other government agencies and the military service branches. [3] FSI is based at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia.
The institute's programs include training for the development of all cadres of the U.S. Department of State, including United States Foreign Service, Civil Service, and Locally Employed staff, who serve at U.S. embassies and consulates overseas as well as in domestic offices. Ranging in length from one day to two years, courses are designed to equip foreign affairs professionals with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to achieve U.S. foreign policy priorities, to promote successful performance in each professional assignment, to assist in navigating international transitions, and to enhance the leadership and management capabilities of the U.S. foreign affairs community. [4] Other courses and resources help family members prepare for the demands of a mobile lifestyle and living abroad, and provide employees and their families with important information about such critical and timely topics as emergency preparedness and cyber-security awareness, among others.
The director of the Foreign Service Institute is equivalent in rank to an Assistant Secretary of State, [5] and is appointed by the Secretary of State. The FSI director is the chief learning officer responsible for professional training for the U.S. Department of State and federal foreign affairs agencies.
The Foreign Service Institute was first proposed as an in-service, graduate-level training institute for State Department employees and others in the Foreign Service. A number of different training schools and programs preceded the Foreign Service Institute, including the Consular School of Application (1907), the Wilson Diplomatic School (1909), the Foreign Service School (1924), the Foreign Service Officers' Training School (1931) and the Division of Training Services (1945). [6] [7]
In 1946, President Truman signed legislation that enabled Secretary of State George C. Marshall to establish the Institute on March 13, 1947. The Foreign Service Institute was initially authorized in Title VII of the Foreign Service Act. The issuance of Departmental orders fulfilling this section of the Act were delayed by the need to first resolve certain administrative issues. The orders were ultimately issued and, on March 13, 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall announced the establishment of the Foreign Service Institute. [8]
In 1947, the Foreign Service Institute opened in the Mayfair Building in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., at 2115 C Street NW, a building that was subsequently razed for the new State Department headquarters. [9] The institute included four schools: Basic Officer Training, Advanced Officer Training, Management and Administrative Training, and Language Training. [8] FSI then moved to leased space in Rosslyn, Virginia until October 1993, when it relocated to its current home. In 1954, the Wriston Report criticized the resources and support being devoted to FSI, and in the following year, FSI overhauled its curriculum, adding longer specialized training, putting a greater emphasis on language training, and opening up courses to wives of Foreign Service Officers. [9] [10]
In October 1993, FSI moved to the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia, and remains headquartered there today. [9] [8] [11] [6]
In 2017, FSI celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding, with the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training releasing an e-book in honor of its anniversary. [12]
The Foreign Service Institute comprises the School of Language Studies, the School of Professional and Area Studies, the School of Applied Information Technology, the Leadership and Management School, the Transition Center, and the Office of the Historian. FSI also contains an executive office for administrative functions and a number of cross-cutting, Institute-wide offices. [5] [8] [1]
The School of Language Studies (SLS) [13] offers instruction in more than 70 languages and proficiency testing in over 100 languages. Enrollments may be 8–44 weeks, depending on the difficulty of the language and the individual's proficiency objectives. The Foreign Service Institute's School of Language Studies also maintains a network of language field schools in Taipei, Yokohama, Seoul, and other regional programs in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia where a further 44 weeks of instruction is offered overseas in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic. [5] Programs and courses of study also include self-study, early morning classes and distance learning courses. FSI is a co-creator of the speaking and reading language proficiency rating scales used throughout the U.S. government. SLS is active within the U.S. government's interagency community of language trainers and testers and frequently benchmarks with external foreign affairs agencies on language instruction.[ citation needed ]
The School of Professional and Area Studies (SPAS) [14] offers training in foreign affairs specialties, such as consular, management tradecraft, political and economic affairs, public diplomacy, curriculum and staff development, office management, and orientation programs. It also offers guidance on the socio-cultural patterns, politics, economics, and international relations of world regions and individual countries. SPAS provides tailored programs in Consular, Economic and Commercial, Management, Office Management, Political, and Public Diplomacy, as well as new-hire orientation programs and in-depth Area Studies courses. SPAS is also home to the Center for the Study of the Conduct of Diplomacy (CSCD), [15] which examines recent diplomatic experiences in order to capture best practices and lessons learned. CSCD produces comparative analyses which are incorporated into FSI training and used to help prepare foreign affairs professionals at all ranks for the challenges faced at U.S. missions around the world.
The School of Applied Information Technology (SAIT) [16] is divided into four broad generalities: training to improve the business application skills of all employees, training in the technologies employed across the Department of State for IT professionals, IRM tradecraft courses that provide IT managers with broad IT management skills, and training for new Information Management Specialists and Information Management Technical Specialists to prepare them for initial and continued overseas employment with the department.
The Leadership and Management School (LMS) [17] offers mandatory and elective leadership and management training for supervisors and managers from entry to executive levels; roundtables and policy seminars for senior leaders; and crisis management training overseas and at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center. [18]
The Transition Center (TC) [19] prepares employees and their family members for effectiveness in the foreign affairs community throughout, and after, their careers. The Transition Center provides: insights and information on all domestic and overseas posts; workshops and courses on Foreign Service life skills and security training; and training, counseling, and other assistance for Department of State and foreign affairs employees from other agencies leaving U.S. Government service. TC's Center of Excellence in Foreign Affairs Resilience (CEFAR) provides consultations and training designed to help individuals, family members, and teams perform in high-stress and high-level-threat environments.
The Office of the Historian (OH) [20] is responsible, under law, for the preparation and publication of the official documentary history of U.S. foreign policy in the Foreign Relations of the United States series. Published since 1861, the series contains documents from numerous government agencies that reveal how U.S. foreign policy was created and executed at the highest levels. Additionally, the office prepares policy-supportive historical studies, helps train department personnel through historical components taught in Foreign Service Institute courses, and answers historical research questions from scholars, educators, students, journalists, and other agencies. The office's website includes a full text archive of the Foreign Relations series, as well as numerous publications and datasets on the department's institutional history and the history of U.S. foreign relations.
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nations, its primary duties are advising the U.S. president on international relations, administering diplomatic missions, negotiating international treaties and agreements, and representing the U.S. at the United Nations. The department is headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building, a few blocks from the White House, in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.; "Foggy Bottom" is thus sometimes used as a metonym.
Arlington Hall is a historic building in Arlington, Virginia, originally a girls' school and later the headquarters of the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) cryptography effort during World War II. The site presently houses the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center, and the Army National Guard's Herbert R. Temple, Jr. Readiness Center. It is located on Arlington Boulevard between S. Glebe Road and S. George Mason Drive.
The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S. citizens abroad. The current director general is Marcia Bernicat.
The United States Department of State Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) is responsible for overseeing the construction, management, and operations of U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world.
The Defense Language Institute (DLI) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) educational and research institution consisting of two separate entities which provide linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other federal agencies and numerous customers around the world. The Defense Language Institute is responsible for the Defense Language Program, and the bulk of the Defense Language Institute's activities involve educating DoD members in assigned languages, and international personnel in English. Other functions include planning, curriculum development, and research in second-language acquisition.
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The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) is the principal security and law enforcement agency of the United States Department of State (DOS). As the operational division of DOS Bureau of Diplomatic Security, its primary mission is to provide security to protect diplomatic assets, personnel, and information, and combat visa and passport fraud. DSS also conducts counterterrorism, counterintelligence, cybersecurity and criminal investigations domestically and abroad.
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A Foreign Service officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U.S. embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic missions, though some receive assignments to serve at combatant commands, Congress, and educational institutions such as the various U.S. service academies.
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The Office of the Historian is an office of the United States Department of State within the Foreign Service Institute. It is legally responsible for the preparation and publication of the official historical documentary record of U.S. foreign policy in the Foreign Relations of the United States series, which can be accessed at its website. It researches and writes historical studies on aspects of U.S. diplomacy for use by policymakers and the public.
A-100 is the colloquial name given to the introductory/orientation training class for incoming Foreign Service Officers. These courses are taught in the Foreign Service Institute at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. The purpose of the class is to provide orientation to the United States Department of State, information on embassy operation and foreign affairs, intelligence collection and dissemination, State Department computer systems, and the roles different categories of personnel perform in the conduct of diplomacy. It is the basic job-orientation course for the United States Foreign Service before diplomats branch off into different career tracks or geographic specialties.
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The Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership organization that encourages dialogue between business and political leaders in different countries. It holds events, briefings and programs for networking and education. Membership comprises more than 200 companies.
The International Academy is an institution of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom. It was originally the Diplomatic Academy when it was part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The International Academy is located in the main building of the FCDO in King Charles Street, London.