FSO Career Tracks
There are five career tracks (called cones) for State Department Foreign Service Generalists:
- Consular Affairs
- Economic Affairs
- Management Affairs
- Political Affairs
- Public Diplomacy
FSOs of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Commercial Service, and Foreign Agricultural Service are selected through processes specific to the hiring agency, and follow career tracks separate from those of State Department officers. For example, within USAID, there are multiple technical "backstops" including:
- Agriculture
- Contracting
- Crisis Stabilization and Governance
- Economic
- Engineering
- Environment
- Executive
- Financial Management
- Legal
- Population, Health and Nutrition
- Private Enterprise
- Program/Project Development
In 2009, there were about 6,600 FSOs working at the Department of State, 1,000 at the Agency for International Development, 220 at the Department of Commerce, and 180 at the Department of Agriculture.
The leadership roles at U.S. embassies are filled almost exclusively from the FSO ranks. Two-thirds of U.S. Ambassadors are career Foreign Service Officers. The remaining third are almost all political appointees. FSOs also fill critical management and foreign policy positions at the headquarters of foreign affairs agencies in Washington, D.C.
Read more about this topic: Foreign Service Officer
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