Shortages of Officers Highlighted

Meanwhile, data presented at a Senate hearing on the foreign service showed that there is a shortage of more than 1,500 foreign service officers worldwide, which translates into a vacancy rate of 11 percent overseas—nearly 20 percent in Near East Asia—and 18 percent domestically. In addition, a lack of mid-level career officers has left embassies with junior officers performing tasks above their grade, and since the State Department does not hire foreign service officers into mid-level positions, this shortage will translate into shortages at senior levels in the future, federal workforce subcommittee chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said. A State Department official noted that the Bush administration’s fiscal 2009 budget requested an additional 1,100 positions and urged that the pay reform be enacted.