The State Department cut LGBT seminars and other exercises in a reconfiguration of its Foreign Service recruitment efforts.
Foreign Service orientation, or “A-100,” is a six-week training effort for new officers. The Daily Caller obtained the revised curriculum, which seeks to remove left-wing ideologies and irrelevant exercises. For example, one activity that has since been removed involved throwing things into a bucket while being blindfolded.
Programs offered under the previous administration include “LGBTQIA+ in the Foreign Service Community,” “Considerations for FS Singles,” and “Bidding with Pets in Mind.”
The new orientation requires 111 training sessions, a 37% increase from the 81 required as of January 2025. New sessions include “The Need for Grand Strategy,” “Theories of Foreign Policy,” “America Founding Principles: Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers,” among others.
“The Trump administration knows that an elite diplomatic service is key to effectively pursuing America’s national interests,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told the outlet. “That’s why the State Department has undertaken broad reforms to Foreign Service recruitment and training programs.”
Pigott added, “Instead of being forced to endure bureaucratic tedium and ideological content, America’s diplomats will spend more time learning the foundations of foreign policy and developing the critical skills that are required to deliver results for the American people.”
In April, the State Department announced a modernization effort to the U.S. Foreign Service as a means of ensuring that the nation is “equipped with the essential diplomatic corps that it needs to meet the challenges of the 21st century.” The efforts include a written exam, an American history test, and shifting the orientation to include content on “diplomatic theory, economic statecraft, and strategic competition.”
