Issues

President Trump’s Memorandum

Instructing the Secretary to End “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility”

The White House - March 18, 2025

RESTORING THE VALUES OF INDIVIDUAL DIGNITY, HARD WORK, AND EXCELLENCE: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a memorandum removing radical “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) from the Foreign Service.

  • The memorandum directs the Secretary of State to remove the “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility” Core Precept from Foreign Service tenure and promotion criteria.

  • It further directs that the U.S. government will not base Foreign Service recruitment, hiring, promotion, or retention decisions on an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, nor embed discriminatory equity ideology within any element of the Foreign Service.

  • Relevant agencies shall identify and take appropriate action regarding any Foreign Service Officer who knowingly and willfully engaged in illegal discrimination.

PUTTING MERIT FIRST: President Trump believes that hiring in all parts of government should be based solely on merit.

  • Under the previous administration, divisive and discriminatory policies were systematically embedded into every part of the State Department.

  • Biden’s State Department conditioned eligibility for promotions on an employee’s ability to pass a DEI loyalty test.

    • In 2023, Biden’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the State Department, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, said: “We made the change that if you wanted to be considered for promotion at the Department of State, you must be able to document what you are doing to support diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility. This is how you are judged for promotion.”

  • Biden’s State Department published a “Five-Year Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan” that included a department-wide “DEIA Climate Survey” and implemented a comprehensive recruitment plan to aggressively target so-called “underrepresented groups.”

  • Foreign policy positions should be filled by the most qualified individuals, not by discriminatory quotas or ideological requirements.

SERVING AMERICA, NOT IDEOLOGICAL AGENDAS: President Trump is restoring fairness and accountability in federal hiring, and terminating DEI across the federal government.

  • In his first week in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order restoring merit-based hiring and promotions across the federal government.

  • President Trump also signed an Executive Order ending radical and wasteful DEI programs and preferencing.

  • President Trump: “We will terminate every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the entire federal government.”

Perspectives on the Ukraine-Russia War

How the Trump Administration Can Reform the Foreign Service

HUDSON INSTITUTE

03

December 2024

In the 100 years since the 1924 Rogers Act, many reforms have been proposed to make the Foreign Service more effective. Congress this year funded the bipartisan Congressional Commission on Reform and Modernization of the Department of State to “examine the changing nature of diplomacy and the ways in which the department can modernize to advance the interests of the United States.”

In recent years, prominent former foreign service officers have published studies on how to strengthen the Foreign Service and the State Department. But despite America’s massive deficit spending and declining US influence abroad, most proposals double down on the status quo: they recommend larger staffs and budgets, more emphasis on race and sex preferences in hiring, and greater control by career officials at the expense of elected leaders. 

The incoming Trump administration has a rare opportunity to address these weaknesses and help the Foreign Service, and more broadly the State Department, advance the US national interest in the context of intensifying great power competition.

Join Senior Fellow Matt Boyse for a conversation with three former senior foreign service officers: Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Simon Hankinson, Ambassador (ret.) Tibor Nagy, former assistant secretary of state for Africa, and University of Pittsburgh Adjunct Professor Drew Peterson. They will take stock of where the Foreign Service is today and highlight the opportunities for and challenges to reform during the second Trump administration.

Speakers:

Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation
Fellow of the Ben Franklin Fellowship

Former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa
Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University
Fellow of the Ben Franklin Fellowship

Adjunct Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Fellow of the Ben Franklin Fellowship

Moderator:

Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation
Fellow of the Ben Franklin Fellowship

Reforming State Department and the Foreign Service

How DEI Harmed the State Department and U.S. Foreign Policy

  • USDA Needs an America First Foreign Agricultural Service

    Poor Richard

The Need to Remake PRM: Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration

USAID’s Nefarious Activities Go Beyond Foreign Aid Corruption

Is Flying the Pride Flag at Embassies and Consulates Smart U.S. Diplomacy?

U.S. embassy in Moscow on June 30, 2022 | NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images