United States Department of State

The U.S. Constitution, drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and ratified by the states the following year, gave the President responsibility for the conduct of the nation's foreign relations. It soon became clear, however, that an executive branch was necessary to support the President in the conduct of the affairs of the new Federal Government.

The House of Representatives and Senate approved legislation to establish a Department of Foreign Affairs on July 21, 1789, and President Washington signed it into law on July 27, making the Department of Foreign Affairs the first Federal agency to be created under the new Constitution. Furthermore, this legislation remains the basic law of the Department of State. In September 1789, additional legislation changed the name of the agency to the Department of State and assigned to it a variety of domestic duties.

These responsibilities grew to include management of the United States Mint, keeper of the Great Seal of the United States, and the taking of the census. President George Washington signed the new legislation on September 15. Most of these domestic duties of the Department of State were eventually turned over to various new Federal departments and agencies that were established during the 19th century.

On September 29, 1789, President Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, then Minister to France, to be the first United States Secretary of State.

The State Department became the center of controversy during McCarthyism in the 1950s, as a number of government officials were interrogated and sometimes blacklisted for alleged spy activity for the Soviet Union. Recent declassified Soviet documents have confirmed the existence of spies within the department, though the anti-communist "witch hunt" also caused many innocent individuals to suffer the loss of their careers and reputations.

On September 11, 2001, during the terrorist attacks of that day, the news media reported that there were reports of a terrorist attack at the State Department, reporting that a car bomb went off at the vicinity of it. However, the report turned out to be false.

The Executive Branch and the U.S. Congress have constitutional responsibilities for U.S. foreign policy. Within the Executive Branch, the Department of State is the lead U.S. foreign affairs agency, and its head, the Secretary of State, is the President's principal foreign policy adviser, though other officials or individuals may have more influence on his foreign policy decisions. The Department advances U.S. objectives and interests in the world through its primary role in developing and implementing the President's foreign policy. The Department also supports the foreign affairs activities of other U.S. Government entities including the United States Department of Commerce and the U.S. Agency for International Development. It also provides an array of important services to U.S. citizens and to foreigners seeking to visit or immigrate to the U.S.

All foreign affairs activities - U.S. representation abroad, foreign assistance programs, countering international crime, foreign military training programs, the services the Department provides, and more - are paid for by the foreign affairs budget, which represents little more than 1% of the total federal budget, or about 12 cents a day for each American citizen. As stated by the Department of State, its purpose includes:

• Protecting and assisting U.S. citizens living or traveling abroad;
• Assisting U.S. businesses in the international marketplace;
• Coordinating and providing support for international activities of other U.S. agencies (local, state, or federal government), official visits overseas and at home, and other diplomatic efforts.
• Keeping the public informed about U.S. foreign policy and relations with other countries and providing feedback from the public to administration officials.
• Provides automobile registration for non-diplomatic staff vehicles and the vehicles of diplomats of foreign countries having diplomatic immunity in the United States.

The Department of State conducts these activities with a workforce of Civil Servants. The Foreign Service personnel system, which is part of the Excepted Service, is frequently used for positions requiring service abroad. Overseas, members of the Diplomatic Service, including officers, specialists and other diplomatic personnel represent America; analyze and report on political, economic, and social trends in the host country; and respond to the needs of American citizens abroad. The U.S. maintains diplomatic relations with about 180 countries and also maintains relations with many international organizations, adding up to a total of more than 250 posts around the world. In the United States, about 5,000 professional, technical, and administrative domestic employees work alongside members of the Diplomatic Service compiling and analyzing reports from overseas, providing logistical support to posts, consulting with and keeping the Congress informed about foreign policy initiatives and policies, communicating with the American public, formulating and overseeing the budget, issuing passports and travel warnings, and more.

 

• Bureau of Administration
  • Office of Allowances
  • Office of Authentication
  • Language Services
  • Office of Logistics Management
  • Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
  • Office of Overseas Schools
  • Office of Multi-Media Services
  • Office of Directives Management
  • Office of Commissary and Recreation Affairs
  • Office of the Procurement Executive
• Bureau of African Affairs
• Bureau of Consular Affairs
• Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
• Bureau of Diplomatic Security
  • Office of Foreign Missions
• Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
• Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
• Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
  • Internet Access and Training Program
• Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
• Bureau of Human Resources
• Bureau of Information Resource Management
• Bureau of Intelligence and Research
• Bureau of International Information Programs
• Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
• Bureau of International Organization Affairs
• Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation
• Bureau of Legislative Affairs
• Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
• Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
• Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations
• Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
• Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
• Bureau of Public Affairs
  • Office of The Historian
• Bureau of Resource Management
• Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
• Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation
• Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
• Executive Secretariat
• Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism (which produces the Patterns of Global Terrorism report)
• National Foreign Affairs Training Center (former Foreign Service Institute)
• Office of International Information Programs
• Office of the Legal Adviser
• Office of Management Policy
• Office of Protocol
• Office of the Science and Technology Adviser
• Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
• Office of War Crimes Issues

• American diplomatic missions

• United States Department of State website
• History of the U.S. Department of State

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