194. Action Memorandum From the Chairman of the Secretary’s Executive
Level Task Force on Affirmative Action (Moose) to Secretary of State Vance1
Washington, November 7, 1977
Report of the Task Force
On March 15 you appointed an Executive Level Task Force to examine
affirmative action efforts in the Department. I am pleased to forward
for your consideration the report of its findings.
The goal of the Task Force was to seek, pragmatically and without
rhetoric or haste, ways to implement a meaningful affirmative action
program in the Department of State. We proceeded on the premise that in
addition to providing more equitable opportunities for women and
minority group individuals, a sound and vigorous affirmative action
program would make the Department a more effective institution and one
more truly representative of our Nation. Through a successful
affirmative action program we would expect to sharpen our sensitivity to
new foreign policy challenges and to bring the Department into closer
touch with the American people.
Although the Department has had an affirmative action program for several
years, it has so far made little headway. For example, at the end of
1976 less than ten percent of Foreign Service officers were women and
only four percent came from minority backgrounds. Of our Civil Service
employees, minority group members constitute less than four percent of
the senior level, while 47 percent of all minority individuals are found
in the lowest six grades. Similarly, women occupy 16 percent of
senior-level Civil Service positions in the Department.
In our view, this situation is inconsistent with our American value
system. The existing imbalance in the Department’s personnel structure
affects us all. Accordingly, we believe that prompt and determined steps
must be taken at all levels and in all areas of the Department in order
to assure the success and integrity of our affirmative action
program.
The Task Force divided itself into two committees to examine in detail
Selection and Hiring Practices and Upward Mobility and Handicapped Programs, and our
report is presented under these two broad headings. At Tabs 1 and 2 you
will find summaries of the two committees’ findings and recommendations.
The complete report of each committee
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with appropriate backup material is contained in
loose-leaf binders accompanying this memorandum.2
During its deliberations, the Task Force sought advice and comments from
a wide spectrum of employees and special emphasis groups. Each committee
included members from all levels of the Department. Special emphasis
groups consulted included the Thursday Luncheon Group,3 the Hispanic Group,
the Women’s Action Organization, and the Asian-American Foreign Affairs
Employees Caucus.
The Task Force did its best to reconcile natural and inevitable
differences of opinion among the members, and in large measure it
succeeded. The only major recommendation on which the group was not
unanimous was that proposing a considerable expansion of the two special
programs, one for minorities and one for women (Recommendation 29
singled out for your attention at Tab 3). It was the consensus of the
Task Force that the limited number of women and minorities in the
Foreign Service constitutes an important problem and Recommendation 29
is the Task Force’s proposal for meeting it. You should know, however,
that the Director General, Carol
Laise, did not concur in this recommendation. The Task
Force believes that you should be made aware of her concerns. In her
words, they are:
—If the targets are met, and if the present limits on the
Department’s overall personnel levels continue, adoption of the
recommendation would mean that less than 40 percent of all intake
would come into the Foreign Service via the regular Foreign Service
examination route.
—Larger special programs without a consequent expansion in numbers of
positions could have a negative effect on our efforts to recruit
more women and minorities through the regular Foreign Service
examination and on the promotion prospects for women and minorities
presently in the Service.
The majority of the Task Force believes, however, that the benefits of
increasing the size of the two programs outweigh these two possible
negative effects, neither of which they believe is inevitable. In
particular, we believe that we should be able to strengthen our
recruiting programs aimed at bringing more women and minorities into the
Foreign Service through the examination method. You will note that the
Task Force recommends a review of the progress of recruitment in June
1978. At that time, adjustments will be made, if appropriate, in target
numbers for the special programs, depending upon the extent to which we
have been able to increase the number of women and
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minority group members entering the
Service by way of the examination method.
I recommend that you approve recommendation 29 as proposed. While some
may find comfort in the rationalization that the situation and
representation of women and minorities in the Department of State today
is no worse than that found in other parts of the Government, we cannot
accept the present state of affairs. It is an unfortunate reality that
minority members, women and handicapped persons generally do not regard
the foreign affairs agencies of the Government as offering equal
employment opportunities. Many members of these groups already employed
in these agencies do not feel that they have been fairly treated. We
believe that the Department, given its world-wide role and exposure,
simply must do better and must be more aggressive in pursuing
affirmative action.
Our recommendations are quite varied in their character and scope, in the
speed with which they could be put into effect, and in their impact on
our present system. Therefore, before you take definitive action on the
Task Force Report, I would recommend that you seek the views of
Ben Read whose task it will
be to carry out the new programs and to secure the assent of AFSA to those recommendations on which
the employee representative has a right to be consulted.
The implementation and follow-up phases of our affirmative action effort
will be of critical importance, and I thus want to call your attention
to the Task Force proposals that we:
1. Lodge administrative control in the office of the Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for Equal Employment Opportunity. This office would
be authorized to establish working groups to develop further
implementation procedures for specific approved recommendations.
2. Include approved recommendations in the Department’s affirmative
action plans. Deadline dates and responsible action offices would be
clearly designated.
3. Keep the Task Force in being for an indefinite period of time. It
should meet at least quarterly to enforce implementation and monitor
progress in all foreign affairs agencies. The Task Force would be
empowered to require responsible offices and officials to explain delays
or problems encountered in implementation of any recommendation.4
In closing I wish to add a personal note. During the few months in which
it was my privilege to serve as Deputy Under Secretary of State for
Management, no area of responsibility was more perplexing
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to me than that of affirmative
action. Through the fault of no individual and, indeed, despite the
devoted efforts of some, the system does not function well in this
area.
The remedy is clear. Progress will come only as the result of living,
daily concern and action by executives and supervisors at all
levels.
While I found the affirmative action effort enormously frustrating at
times, I also found our few accomplishments in this area more satisfying
than any I have had in the Department.
Tab 1
Summary of a Report Prepared by the Committee on
Selection and Hiring Practices, Secretary’s Executive Level Task
Force on Affirmative Action5
Washington, undated
Report on Selection and Hiring
Practices—Summary
FINDINGS
The Committee examined the Department’s image and its recruitment
procedures as they affected women and minority group members. Simply
put, the Committee focused on the Department’s relationship with
people up to the moment of entrance on duty. It also studied in
detail the two affirmative action programs.
Its principal findings follow:
1. Image.
A. Women and minorities generally view the Department as an
inhospitable and alien environment, lacking in role models.
B. Problems of image and problems of recruitment are fundamentally
interrelated; increased and more favorable knowledge about the
Department and its work would have an automatic recruitment
payoff.
2. Recruitment.
A. Recruitment efforts, particularly of women and minorities at
professional levels, have not been very effective because of the
Department’s poor image, a lack of resources, and the absence of
centralized recruitment, particularly for FSR positions.
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B. Recruitment must be carefully targeted to reach the people we want
and need without at the same time creating unrealistic expectations
about extensive employment opportunities with the Department.
3. Selection.
A. Officials making selections for FSR and GS positions
make their decision without reference to equal employment
opportunity goals. Bureaus frequently simply refer the name of a
pre-selected individual to the Office of Employment.
B. The written examination, of crucial importance in FSO selection, must be a neutral
screen insofar as women and minorities are concerned.
4. Affirmative Action Hiring Programs.
A. Neither the junior officers hiring program for minorities which
began in 1967 nor the mid-level program for women and minorities
which began in 1975 has met its annual hiring goals, although the
former program expects to do so this year.
B. A period of time as a reserve officer before conversion to tenured
career FSO status is a desirable
part of both programs, but the current requirement for both an oral examination for initial entry
into the programs and a lateral entry oral
examination for conversion to tenured career status is not
essential; the Committee found that one oral examination should be
sufficient.
5. Schedule C Hiring.6
The career system will inevitably bear the brunt of corrective
actions that will be needed to give women and minorities better
representation in the Department, but for reasons of equity and as a
demonstration of serious commitment, it is important that the senior
officers of the Department appoint a more significant number of
women and minorities to Schedule C and executive-level positions
than is now the case.
6. Lateral Entry.
Because the Mid-level Hiring Program for Women and Minorities has
only a five-year life, and because no lateral entry program now
exists for entrance from outside the Department for white males
(leaving the Department open to possible legal challenge,
particularly if the
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Supreme Court finds for the plaintiff in the Bakke case this
fall),7 the Committee believes it necessary to reinstitute
an opened-up lateral entry program.
7. Medical and Security Clearances.
A. Medical standards for the Foreign Service need to be reviewed
periodically to take account of advances in medical technology.
B. Security standards should be reviewed for possible changes that
can reduce the amount of time required for a full field
investigation.
As a result of these and other findings, the Committee made 43
recommendations. The Committee recognized that some of its
recommendations touch on areas that will require consultation with
the elected employees’ representative; the recommendations were made
without addressing the question of consultability.
8. Image. The Committee recommended:
A. That the Department develop a public affairs strategy on image and
recruitment, to include the possible development with the
Advertising Council of a nationwide media program (Recommendations
36 and 43).
B. That the Department expand its public affairs activities, making
use of its women and minority officers where possible, to include an
expanded speakers’ program, increased participation of women and
minorities in international conferences, and participation in the
National Conference on International Women’s Year in Houston in
November (Recommendations 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41).
C. That an officer in the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity
clear all publications of a general nature and especially
recruitment literature (Recommendations 12 and 42).
9. Recruitment. The Committee
recommended:
A. That the Department centralize and strengthen its recruitment for
all pay plans (Recommendations 2 and 3).
B. That certain specific actions be taken, including a new
recruitment brochure, a half-hour tape for college campus radio
stations, feature articles on women and minority officers,
recruitment seminars, and, possibly, a first-rate documentary film
(Recommendations 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 11).
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C. That the Department contract for the professional development of
an affirmative action recruitment plan (Recommendation 1).
D. That the Department develop a special intern program, coordinate
recruitment with the Peace Corps using their on-campus
representative, establish a Cooperative Education Program, and seek
to use participants in work programs under the Intergovernmental
Personnel Act8 as informal
recruiters (Recommendations 6, 8, 16 and 17).
[Page 4 of the original is missing.]
12. Schedule C Hiring. The Committee
recommended:
A. That the Deputy Under Secretary for Management report to the
Secretary twice a year what Schedule C hiring has taken place under
the authority of each of the principal officers of the Department,
broken down by sex and minority status (Recommendation 28).
13. Medical and Security Clearances. The
Committee recommended:
A. That the Department review security procedures to shorten the time
required for pre-employment clearances, and that in particular it
expedite clearances for those hired under the mid-level program
(Recommendations 32 and 33).
B. That an Applicant Review Panel to judge the suitability of
applicants for employment be more representative, and also be used
to review medical standards (Recommendations 34 and 35).
In conclusion, the Committee stresses that resources in money and
personnel are essential to the implementation of many of the 43
recommendations. The bureaus most heavily tasked have some capacity
to take on responsibility for implementation of many of the
recommendations within current resource capabilities; but other
recommendations will require the allocation of both funds and new
positions. A first, very rough estimate of what will be needed after
the bureaus have absorbed all possible costs would require
approximately $500,000 and a minimum, initially, of eight positions.
The Committee feels strongly that its recommendations should not go
unimplemented simply because resources are not available or because
other programs receive a higher priority. To cite lack of resources
as the reason for lack of implementation would be inconsistent with
the Department’s commitment to equal employment opportunity.
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Tab 2
Summary of a Report Prepared by the Committee on
Upward Mobility and Handicapped Programs, Secretary’s Executive
Level Task Force on Affirmative Action9
Washington, undated
Report on Upward Mobility and Handicapped
Programs—Summary
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
The Committee on Upward Mobility and Handicapped Programs examined
the Department’s personnel practices to identify ways to enhance
equal employment opportunity for our employees. It accorded special
attention to the subject of handicapped persons.
Shaping the Committee’s analysis was the assumption that the
Department’s work force will remain stable in the forseeable future:
our numbers will not increase and attrition rates will be low. In
view of these factors the Committee concluded that while we should
continue efforts to reform recruitment practices, affirmative action
programs should concentrate primarily on current employees. In the
years ahead, the Department must seek inventive means of
reallocating existing resources to meet new priorities, including
affirmative action.
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Leadership. The Committee found that the
single most important element in equal employment opportunity is
leadership at the top management levels of the Department. The
Committee recommended:
A. That the Secretary set the example at staff meetings by insisting
that administrators at the level of Assistant Secretary and above
involve themselves in furthering equal employment opportunity. The
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Equal Employment Opportunity should
be present at such meetings to give advice and counsel.
B. That Assistant Secretaries should enter into the same process with
their deputies and ambassadors.
C. That executive directors and administrative officers overseas
should be charged with the responsibility for monitoring and
facilitating the implementation of affirmative action programs.
2. Education and Information. The Committee
recommended:
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A. That existing equal employment opportunity training programs be
greatly expanded.
B. That training be required for supervisors and others who make
personnel decisions.
C. That equal employment opportunity training be given in conjunction
with chief of mission and other overseas conferences.
3. Upward Mobility. Support employees in both
the Foreign Service and Civil Service are all too often locked into
dead-end positions. The Committee recommended:
A. That the Department develop a formal upward mobility program for
the Civil Service.
B. Reform of the present Mustang
Program for the Foreign Service.
C. Development of a new upward mobility program for Foreign Service
employees who wish to fill positions in other specialties.
4. Training. Recognizing that training is
almost always necessary to qualify for advancement, the Committee
recommended:
A. Comprehensive training programs for the Civil Service.
B. An improved system for identifying training needs and responding
to training requests.
C. Improved training opportunities for neglected groups such as
secretaries and communicators and consular officers.
D. Encouraging supervisors to integrate affirmative action into
on-the-job training.
5. Career Planning and Development. The
Department needs a comprehensive program of career planning and
development which is tied closely to training. It must be managed by
experienced personnel counselors. The Committee recommended:
A. Training programs for personnel counselors.
B. Specific mechanisms for identifying troubled employees.
C. A system for analyzing feedback from employees concerning the
effectiveness of counseling.
6. Orientation. Women and minorities, as a
major element of the work force, are significantly affected by the
quality of orientation programs. The Committee found that
orientation is weak at the Bureau and Office level and
recommended:
A. Required orientation for persons newly assigned to bureaus,
domestic field offices and overseas posts.
B. That supervisors be instructed to brief newly arrived
employees.
C. That orientation material be periodically reviewed and
updated.
7. Assignments. The Committee concluded that
the assignment process is an area in which the Department should
take an aggressive affirmative action stance. It recommended:
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A. Lateral transfers to enable employees who are in dead-end careers
to gain new opportunities for advancement.
B. “Stretch assignments,” i.e. assignments at higher grade levels for
Foreign Service personnel in equal employment opportunity
categories.
C. Procedures to ensure that employees in equal employment categories
are considered for all vacancies, and that situations of de facto discrimination are discontinued.
D. Special efforts to include women and minorities among those
considered for high visibility positions such as Office Director,
DCM and Ambassador.
8. Position Classifications. Position
descriptions sometimes contain stereotypes that tend to freeze women
and minorities in dead-end jobs. The Committee recommended:
A. Annual reviews of all position descriptions.
B. That position classifiers receive training to ensure their
sensitivity to equal employment opportunity.
9. Performance Evaluations. The Department has
taken steps in recent years to purge performance evaluations of bias
and stereotypes. To institutionalize that progress, the Committee
recommended:
A. That performance evaluations comment on contributions to equal
employment opportunity and affirmative action.
B. That performance evaluations record training completed in equal
employment opportunity.
C. That rating officers provide a full evaluation on employees in
dead-end positions.
D. That rating officers give consideration to those in equal
employment opportunity categories when assessing potential for
future assignments; i.e. consideration of women for
ambassadorships.
10. Promotions. Promotions stand at the end of
the affirmative action process and tend to reflect the degree to
which assignments, training and position classification have been
successful in providing equal employment opportunity. Bearing this
in mind, the Committee’s recommendations dealt more with promotion
panel procedures than with allocating promotions. They included:
A. Revising Foreign Service precepts to insure that they stress
affirmative action.
B. Appointing women and minorities to Selection Boards and Merit
Promotion panels for the Civil Service.
C. Including, when possible, women and minorities on lists of best
qualified candidates for Civil Service promotions.
D. Before management makes final determinations on the number of
Foreign Service promotion opportunities per conal specialty, it
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should take into
consideration the effect this will have on minorities and women.
11. Handicapped Program. The need for a
handicapped program was considered separately by the Committee,
because the Department has no personnel program directed toward the
handicapped. The worldwide availability requirement for entry into
the Foreign Service debarred handicapped persons, and the Department
ignored this minority. This policy defeats the intent of the
Rehabilitation Act,10 which
encourages selective waivers of medical requirements. The Committee
recommended the following actions:
A. Appointment of a coordinator for the handicapped persons for
domestic duty.
B. Accelerated recruitment and hiring of handicapped persons for
domestic duty.
C. Making building modifications worldwide to accomodate handicapped
employees.
D. An annual review of medical standards for the Foreign Service.
The Committee also urged immediate review of the following
proposals:
A. Instituting waivers of Foreign Service medical standards.
B. Designation of overseas posts suitable for handicapped
persons.
C. Development of a junior officer program for the statically (as
opposed to degeneratively) handicapped.
12. Monitoring, Inspections and Reviewing. The
test of the Department’s commitment to equal employment opportunity
will be the implementation of the Task Force’s recommendations. The
Committee recommended:
A. Charging S/IG with responsibility
for inspecting equal employment opportunity and affirmative
action.
B. Appointing a panel for the implementation and review of Task Force
recommendations.
C. Implementation of the recommendation in the Rouse report11 with
respect to functions of M/EEO and
charging that office with monitoring responsibilities.
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Tab 3
Paper Prepared by the Secretary’s Executive Level
Task Force on Affirmative Action12
Washington, undated
Recommendation 29
The Department will emphasize recruitment of women and minorities,
setting as a goal that shortfalls in the target levels for the two
special programs be made up by 1980. This would mean that:
a. The FSR/JO program could
recruit against a target of 68, in addition to the annual target of
20.
b. The Mid-Career Program could recruit against a target of 27, in
addition to the annual target of 20.
Every effort will also be made to increase the number of women and
minorities qualifying for entry through the examination process. The
Task Force will review all recruitment in June 1978 to adjust target
goals as necessary to insure that objectives are being met.
