Our diplomatic service has long been based on a culture of generalists–women and men who through regular rotations around the world developed political, observational, and analytical skills, adaptability, broad knowledge, and constructive pragmatism as well as the ability to lead and manage in the face of the unexpected. These generalists remain essential to our foreign policy success. But the range of global challenges we face also requires much more specialized expertise, and the pace of change and modes of doing business in an in- terconnected world require a greater ability to innovate, experiment, and work with a wide range of partners. And, in all circumstances there will be the ever-present need for those who can reach across all disciplines and manage resources in support of our national goals. At USAID, our Foreign Service personnel have historically been technical specialists, with large concentrations of experts ranging from agronomists to engineers, social scientists to public health experts. But years of attrition and reductions in force have eroded this techni- cal depth, and today—despite recent growth through the Development Leadership Initia- tive (DLI)—our ranks are too thin to meet the needs and achieve the mission.
The challenges of the 21st century demand both traditional skills and specialized knowledge
and experience. We must bolster our efforts to recruit a workforce with the tools needed to operate effectively in today’s global context. We need experts in fields as diverse as public diplomacy and crisis response, public health and food security, gender issues, arms control and police training, counter-radicalization and management. And we need them now. Through the QDDR we will take a number of specific steps to marshal such expertise. We will:
• Draw on outside expertise through expanded fellowships. We will expand our efforts to recruit experts from outside government to participate in fellowship programs (e.g., Franklin Fellows, American Academy for the Advancement of Science Fellows, Jefferson Science Fellows). Fellowships are a low-, almost no-cost way of bringing fresh expertise into our ranks for a limited period of time. The U.S. government benefits from the fellows’ real-world experience and expertise, and the fellow and his/her home institution gain valuable insights into the work of diplomacy, development, and the foreign affairs bureaucracy. The Franklin Fellows program, for example, brings professionals, funded by their home institution, to State and USAID for a one-year assignment. As part of the QDDR implementation we will seek to expand our annual cadre of Franklin Fellows by 50
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percent by 2012 and 10 percent a year thereafter, and will encourage longer service at our agencies. We also will explore opportunities to enlarge our other fellowship programs that enable us to acquire graduate-level experts for limited periods at minimal cost.
• Seek additional authorities to hire specialized needs. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provides excepted service hiring authorities to hire for special needs or to fill jobs in unusual or special circumstances. USAID currently lacks certain flexible civil service hiring authorities that many other federal agencies enjoy. As a result, USAID has turned to interagency agreements and institutional support contracts to augment technical headquarters staffing in the face of rising program budgets and staffing needs. In-sourcing this technical expertise by securing “direct hire authority” for USAID would enable USAID to more rapidly acquire technical expertise and do so at a lower cost than current approaches. As part of the QDDR implementation, USAID will seek approval from OPM for “Schedule B”-excepted service authority to fill staffing requirements and support in-sourcing as operating expense resources become available. Similarly, State will use existing “Schedule B”-authority to allow the hiring of individuals with specialized technical and policy skills in information technology and social media. These skills are critical to supporting the Secretary’s 21st-Century Statecraft agenda and responding to the increasing number of threats posed by malignant actors using new technologies.
• Utilize limited-term authorities to deploy expertise. Our missions overseas increasingly address highly complex, technical issues—from designing foreign assistance programs that buttress Pakistan’s border forces to helping to broker a water-use agreement among nations in Africa. When such temporary needs arise, we need to be able to draw on experts with in-depth knowledge and experience. When a Foreign Service Officer with the requisite skills is not available to meet the need, we must be able to tap into the vast pool of expertise available from within our Civil Service, our community of retired Foreign Service personnel, the interagency, and, when necessary, organizations outside government. State and USAID will expand our use of Foreign Service Limited Non-Career Appointment authority to meet these temporary needs in a timely manner. We will put
particular emphasis on appointment of Civil Service personnel to Limited Non- Career Appointments to expand their professional development opportunities and give them greater exposure to and knowledge of the overseas work environment. At the same time, we will make greater use of existing limited hiring authorities to
address temporary needs for domestic expertise that cannot be met from within our existing workforce.
• Expanded pathways into the Senior Foreign Service. Building and retaining expertise also requires ensuring opportunities for advancement for our best employees who have that expertise. At USAID, technical Foreign Service Officers who are critical to rebuilding the organization’s technical leadership are often disadvantaged in consideration for promotions because of the narrower focus of their assignments. USAID will create a technical career path that includes designated assignments and rotational opportunities, and clear promotion precepts that can lead highly skilled technical officers to promotion into the Senior Foreign Service.
• Enlarge the pool of candidates with specialized skills. State and USAID are fortunate to be employers of choice for many talented people interested in serving their country. More than 16,000 men and women took the Foreign Service Officer Examination in 2009 alone. These applicants bring a diverse range of skills and prior experience in and out of government. The QDDR highlights some specific new skills and knowledge sets State needs to address the challenges of our increasingly complex world: familiarity with new technology; scientific training; security sector and rule of law experience; expertise in humanitarian assistance, gender issues, energy security, environmental issues, and macroeconomics; among others. In addition to providing training to further develop those skills within our existing workforce, we have begun to develop specific recruitment efforts aimed at professional, educational, and other groups whose membership possess the skills we require.
• Draw on the expertise of U.S. government personnel already deployed overseas. We must recognize and embrace the wealth of knowledge and
specialized skill that exists within all civilian agencies of the U.S. government, and effectively deploy it in appropriate circumstances.
• Focus on innovation and specialization in the Foreign Service Officer Test. Based on the QDDR’s examination of required skill sets, an independent committee comprised of former Foreign Service Officers, retired senior State officials, private sector innovation experts, and others as appropriate will review the Foreign Service Selection Process and make recommendations to the Board of Examiners of the Foreign Service for revisions that will better promote the
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hiring of innovative, entrepreneurial personnel with the range of backgrounds and skills needed to meet the challenges of diplomacy and development in the 21st century. The Board of Examiners will report their findings to the Secretary and take any measures necessary to ensure the selection process tests for these skills and requirements.
• Employ technology to match skills to missions, knowledge to needs. To deploy the right people with the right skills where they are needed most, we must be able to identify in real time where those skills reside within our workforce. This is particularly true in a crisis when we need to call on experts quickly. At present, State does not maintain an active, comprehensive database that would allow a quick match of skills to missions, knowledge to needs. The Employee Profile + (EP+) system that State put in place years ago to regularly capture employees’ skills and experience can no longer keep up. We will seek the required resources to upgrade the system and develop procedures for ensuring that employees keep their information current. With these improvements, we will not again face the situation we did in September 2001, when it took us weeks to determine how many Arabic speakers we had and where they were assigned. When the need for specialized skills arises, we will be able to identify where the expertise resides within our ranks and call upon it quickly.