President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on March 18 removing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies from foreign service positions.
The order directs all agency heads to avoid basing any foreign service recruitment, hiring, promotion, or retention decisions on an applicant’s “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
Department secretaries acting in official capacities are also barred from promoting, advocating for, or supporting “discriminatory equity ideology,” which the administration defined in a previous executive order as an ideology that treats people as “members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals.”
Additionally, the order directs agency heads to take appropriate action under their authority if they find any foreign service workers they appointed who have engaged in these practices and to determine whether to refer those findings to the president for his consideration….