Article Source: American Diplomacy
Image courtesy of the Government Accountability Office.

by Charles A. Ray

Every spring, members of the U.S. Foreign Service are required to submit performance evaluation reports, and every summer, dozens of panels review those reports and determine who deserves to be promoted to the next level in the bureaucratic hierarchy. Like the military, the Foreign Service has an up-or-out personnel system, in which every officer has a certain number of years to get promoted — failure to do so spells an end to the officer’s career. In addition to the State Department, the service includes representatives from the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development.