in effect
This is Executive Order 14211, signed February 12, 2025, and published in the Federal Register on February 18, 2025. It directs the Secretary of State to make sure that everyone who carries out U.S. foreign policy does so in line with the President’s policies, and to overhaul parts of how the State Department manages its personnel.
The order states that failing to faithfully carry out the President’s foreign policy is grounds for professional discipline, up to and including removal from the job. It sets out how discipline is handled: for officials the Secretary appoints, the Secretary takes action directly (under the President’s supervision); for officials the President appointed, the Secretary decides—at the Secretary’s “sole and exclusive discretion”—whether to send the matter to the President. It directs the Secretary to reform the Foreign Service’s recruiting, performance, evaluation, and retention standards, as well as the training programs of the Foreign Service Institute. It also directs the Secretary to revise or replace the Foreign Affairs Manual and to remove, amend, or replace related handbooks, procedures, and guidance. The order sets no specific deadlines, dollar figures, or numeric targets, and says all of this must be done “consistent with applicable law.”
The people most directly affected are State Department employees: members of the Foreign Service, U.S.-citizen Civil Service employees at the Department, and “other staff” such as locally employed staff and certain special government employees. The Secretary of State is tasked with carrying out the reforms and personnel decisions. The order explicitly states that it does not create any legal rights or benefits that anyone can enforce in court against the government.