State Dept. hopeful even a Trump administration would continue its hiring and reform efforts

Despite recent budget cuts and the potential for forthcoming additional reductions, the State Department is continuing to add to its workforce and onboard employees at near record-high levels. 

State’s top human resources official is hopeful that can continue no matter who is president next year and is already laying out how to make that case. 

The surge is happening due to a mix of Congress authorizing and funding more staff, and its effort to overcome the severe cuts implemented under the Trump administration when a hiring freeze and subsequent “under-hiring” took place. Marcia Bernicat, director general of the Foreign Service and head of the Global Talent Management Bureau, is optimistic she can convince a returning Trump administration, if one is elected, to take a different path in its second go round. 

The civil service at State suffered the second largest losses of any department under former President Trump, with more than 10% of employees heading for the exits without replacements. Under Biden, the civil service has been restored to its pre-Trump level and the foreign service is hiring at its fastest clip in more than a decade. State brought in more than 1,000 foreign service officers in fiscal 2023 and expects to do so again in fiscal 2024. 

“We’re absolutely in a better place,” Bernicat said in an interview with Government Executive, “but there’s more work to do.” 

State will need to continue on its current hiring pace through fiscal 2027 to refill all the gaps that cropped up in recent years. That could prove difficult, both for potential changes in the political winds and for current budgetary realities. After facing a 5% cut in fiscal 2024, lawmakers are anticipating a similar cutback in fiscal 2025 if current spending caps remain in place. For now, the department is managing to stay above water. 

“We've had to pump the brakes a little, but, fortunately, we were able to continue to hire above attrition,” Bernicat said. 

Bernicat is hopeful her changes can last into the future. She noted has “been at this 44 years”—Bernicat has served in a wide variety of roles, including as ambassador to three countries—and she gets worried every four years when administrators could turn over. 

“I would hope that we have not only steady funding for hiring but also a recognition from whoever is president that we are a tiny workforce,” she said. “We’re an incredibly good value for the American people.” 

Bernicat is planning to pitch to the transition team—whether that is under Trump or Biden ushering in the inevitable turnover of political staff that accompanies a second term—the value of the staffing and reform efforts that are underway and “what benefit they are to the American people.”

Ushering in change 

Among the changes Bernicat is implementing is by casting a wider net to potential applicants, including by allowing for remote recruiting. 

Bernicat stressed the department is looking to diversify in every category, including not just race and gender but also socioeconomic background, geographic location, physical ability and educational pedigree. She noted in the last six years, State has recruited more graduates of military academies than Princeton, Harvard or Yale. 

“People talk about the State Department being elitist,” Bernicat said. “I want to really bash that myth, to the extent it was ever true.” 

While Trump and his new nominee for vice president, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, have castigated diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts at federal agencies like those Bernicat has championed and vowed to dismantle them, the ambassador said she finds it offensive that anyone would suggest those programs are leading to inferior candidates. All State’s hires are offered positions because they have gone through a grueling process, she said, and are “among the best that we have in the country.” 

“If I have a team that has multiple perspectives, then I've really reduced the chance that we're going to have a blind spot that prevents us from giving the best advice possible,” Bernicat said. “I can promise the American taxpayer we have not lowered our standards.” 

Rather than damage the department, she added, it will make it more productive and responsive to any international crises that arise. 

“It's our superpower as a country, I think, that people from around the world have come here because they wanted to do their best and they were able to thrive in our democratic process,” Bernicat said. “So how do we not use that strategic advantage?”

While State enjoys one of the lowest attrition rates in government, it is looking to keep employees longer. Under department Secretary Antony Blinken’s orders, State began conducting exit interviews with departing staff to determine why they were leaving. After completing 500, some trends emerged. The departing civil servants cited a lack of advancement and State is now offering more professional development, coaching and even AI tools to help employees self-assess the openings for which they may qualify. 

Foreign service officers cited a broader array of reasons, though the most prominent was a toxic work environment that included bullying and sexual harassment. In previous administrations, Bernicat said, “no one took action to correct that situation.” State is now implementing a “year of accountability,” including by launching a new anti-bullying policy, standing up a conflict prevention and resolution center and creating tools for managers to practice having difficult conversations with staff without crossing any lines. 

Due to all the recent hiring, State now maintains a younger, more early-career centered workforce. One-quarter of State’s foreign service officers, and one-third of its civil servants, were hired since March 2020. Still, Bernicat said that progress could be undone if a future administration stops the momentum. 

“We know we’re losing some people to just being vastly overworked,” she said. 

In an ideal world, Bernicat would like to maintain sufficient staff to create a reserve corps to either deploy into emergency situations or backfill the roles of employees who do so. She and her colleagues have pitched lawmakers on what such a cadre would require, including ensuring job protections for those workers once they go back to their day jobs, eliminating pay caps for reservists and new hiring authorities. State included funding for the corps in its fiscal 2025 budget proposal. 

The initiative would be separate from an existing program in which State sends employees to training and professional development opportunities, such as deploying them to the United Nations, to work on NASA’s Artemis program or to facilitate international dialogues within state governments. 

A sales pitch 

As Bernicat makes her sales pitch to a potential new administration, she will hope to dispel the notion that her workforce comprise or participate in a “deep state” conspiracy, or are motivated by anything other than the missions of their agency and service to the nation. 

“You don't join the federal service to get rich,” the ambassador said. “My colleagues and I joined to serve and it breaks our hearts when people question our motives.” 

Bernicat said throughout her career she has seen colleagues who take on roles with great personal sacrifice, who miss out on important life events or put their families at risk. It is difficult to see, then, politicians suggest employees are making those decisions so they can then “overturn a president or undermine the president’s agenda.” Department staff see a responsibility to “speak truth to power,” she said, but they do so only to lend their experience to political decision makers. 

“I urge everyone coming in: don't take that as a sign we're undermining you, take that as a sign we're giving you critical input to help ensure your decision is the best one possible,” Bernicat said. “Regardless of who wins, our goal is to make sure that the folks who come and join us understand what we do, how we do it, and what we need to do to help drive their agenda.”