Career Diplomacy: Life and Work in the US Foreign Service

An all-new edition of the candid insiders’ guide to the US Foreign Service as an institution, a profession, and a career

Career Diplomacy takes readers inside the world of American diplomats in the US Foreign Service. Members of the Foreign Service represent the country abroad, protect and support American citizens overseas, manage government programs and facilities, and move foreign policy from the abstract to the actual. In this new and thoroughly revised edition, Foreign Service veterans Harry W. Kopp and John K. Naland lay out what to expect in a Foreign Service career, from the entrance exam through midcareer and into the senior service―how to get in, get around, and get ahead.

Part one begins with the history and structure of the US Foreign Service in the Department of State and other agencies. Part two looks at a number of professional challenges, including how to be a diplomat in a war zone and how to respond when what the government demands conflicts with what the Constitution requires or one’s conscience compels. In part three, the authors explore the trajectory of a Foreign Service career through their own experiences and through interviews with more than a hundred current and former members. Part four brings the discussion up to the present and looks to the future, describing a Service emerging from the Trump years determined to improve diversity in its workforce, protect a high standard of nonpolitical public service, and reward performance with responsibility.

This best-selling guide demystifies the US Foreign Service for those interested in working within or alongside the institution. Kopp and Naland offer readers a candid look at the profession, with its dangers, rewards, challenges, frustrations, and excitement.

Harry W. Kopp, a former Foreign Service officer, served as deputy assistant secretary of state for international trade policy in the Carter and Reagan administrations.

John K. Naland, who had a distinguished twenty-nine-year career in the Foreign Service, is now a part-time lecturer at the US Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. He is a former president of the American Foreign Service Association.