ecruitment:

We congratulate the Department on the impressive success of its ecruiting program. It has resulted in more than ten times as many ersons taking the written examination for the Foreign Service in 955 than 1954. This is clear evidence that the reputation of the oreign Service among young people has been restored and they are eady to make it their careers.

We note also that the new form of examination has produced ubstantially the same percentage of passing grades as the earlier xamination, the figures for six years being:

1950
20.2

1951
22.79

1952
22.4

1953 1954 1955
20.8 20.7 19.7

The screening in the oral examinations is being carried forward igorously. A somewhat smaller percentage of those who have passed he written examination are being accepted after the oral examination. The wastage of prospective officers through security requirements continues to be negligible. From these observations the Committee concludes that there is no evidence of any deterioration of quality >ecause of the revisions in examination procedures which have been nitiated during the last 18 months.

As has been the case in the past and as the Committee hoped, no 'specialized" preparation for the Foreign Service dominated the ecruitment; indeed, those with the broadest and most fundamental educational programs showed the best percentages in passing the written examination.

However, we consider it important that the results of the examinations be continuously evaluated with a view to determining whether the new procedures are producing not only the number but also the type of officer required to meet the needs of our representation abroad. Such continuing reappraisal will pay worthwhile dividends and will assist in maintaining the momentum built up through the growing awareness in the colleges and universities of the rewarding possibilities of a Foreign Service career.

Delays in Processing:

The Committee is seriously disturbed, however, by the present delays in processing applicants for the Foreign Service officer corps, particularly prospective FSO-6's.

Even with increased centers where the written examinations for entry into Class 6 may be taken, with the decentralizing of the oral examination process to various parts of the United States and with the modification of the former requirement for full security clearance for applicants before oral examination, it still remains a fact that the completion of the appointment process is requiring a minimum of

about six months. While it is realized that delay in many cases arises from unavailability due to military service or other causes, we believe that a determined attempt should be made to speed up this operation. The striking improvement in recruiting rests upon assurances that protracted waiting between examination and appointment would be remedied. Failure to carry out those assurances would impair the improved relationship with educational institutions.

Foreign Service Institute:

We are pleased with the evidence of the strengthening of the Foreign Service Institute. With the approval of the White House and the Secretary, the training plans of the Institute have been given high priority and the program has been expanded. Organization has been markedly improved, and the staff has been augmented both quantitatively and qualitatively. Junior and mid-career officer training courses have been instituted.

The Director of the Institute is to be commended on the devotion and imagination he has brought to his work. Three points, however, we would like to emphasize. First, the physical facilities remain unsatisfactory. In spite of energetic attempts to ameliorate the situ ation, the results fall short of providing the facilities such a high-level institution should have. Second, we reiterate our conviction that the Institute program should be greatly strengthened for the career development of senior officers. Third, the language program should be enlarged and made more readily available.

There are and long have been more full time language students enrolled in the Foreign Service Institute for a considerable period of time who come from the Air Force than from the Department of State and the Foreign Service. This means simply that the budget of the Air Force has for years provided enough persons so that when an officer is to be assigned overseas as an attaché there are replacements available to carry on while he spends many months studying a foreign language. This is wise and we commend the Air Force for the procedure.

It is obvious, however, that the Foreign Service has more need for foreign languages than the Air Force. Yet it has been so restricted in available personnel that it has not released adequate numbers of men from daily tasks to permit mastery of the language of the country to which they are to be assigned. We observe with satisfaction that the number is increasing and that requests in the next budget propose to increase it still further; we earnestly hope that this practice will

continue to be developed.

We also feel strongly that the mere requirement that a person shall "pass an examination" in a modern foreign language before he is promoted to grade FSO-5 is inadequate. There should be a requirement that before he is promoted to Class 3 he should be given the

opportunity for further study, if necessary, so that he shall not have lost what knowledge he had but will actually be in fluent command of the appropriate language. In order to make this possible, however, further personnel must be found to permit releasing Foreign Service officers for study on a more comprehensive basis than heretofore.

With regard to earlier recommendations regarding the services which can be adequately and economically performed elsewhere on a contract basis we have noted that university assignments have been substantially expanded and that the Institute has plans for further expansion.

In connection with this and other developments within the Institute we are pleased to learn that the Department will reconstitute an Advisory Committee. In our judgment this Committee should be formed soon so that its advice may be available to the Institute and give it added prestige.

The Committee has at all times been aware of the Foreign Service's difficulties in finding needed specialists. It heard with particular satisfaction that arrangements are being entered into with the Department of Commerce for the exchange of some Foreign Service personnel with Commerce personnel and that a like arrangement has been made for the exchange of an officer with the Budget Bureau. This process is certain to promote better understanding of the problems of mutual concern. We hope this practice may be expanded and that it will facilitate the staffing of posts requiring specialists, particularly during the difficult transition period. We feel also that some problems of staffing which have been acute can be met by greater use of the Foreign Service Reserve provisions of the Law of 1946.

In our discussion there was comment upon recent articles appearing in newspapers and periodicals critical of the Foreign Service and the Department. These have stressed faults or shortcomings to the correction of which your program was directed. These articles and letters have seldom taken cognizance of the new administrative program or of the progress which has been made in its implementation. The Committee recommends urgently that ways be found not only to employ all the available facilities of the Department but also every other means to bring to the attention of the public the essential nature of the program and the steps which are in progress to carry it out and the benefits to the Department and the Foreign Service which will ensue therefrom.

This Committee was appointed in March 1954 and has been in service, at various times, for a year and two-thirds. Since our major report, in June 1954,1 we have had three auditing sessions.

1 Toward a Stronger Foreign Service: Report of the Secretary of State's Public Committee on Personnel (Department of State publication 5458; 1954).

It was upon the suggestion of this Committee itself, when it made its original report, that you continued it in a consultative capacity in order to advise you as to progress in implementing those portions of the program which you specifically approved. The principles of the reorganization have now been established and much of the machinery for the implementation has been framed.

The Committee feels, therefore, that it ought not to continue in the capacity of "watchdog" unless, on thorough review by you and the officers associated with you, you are convinced there are positive reasons for so doing.