The memo is the latest of several executive actions targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in the federal government.
President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on March 18 removing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies from foreign service positions.
The order directs all agency heads to avoid basing any foreign service recruitment, hiring, promotion, or retention decisions on an applicant’s “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
Department secretaries acting in official capacities are also barred from promoting, advocating for, or supporting “discriminatory equity ideology,” which the administration defined in a previous
executive order as an ideology that treats people as “members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals.”
Additionally, the order directs agency heads to take appropriate action under their authority if they find any foreign service workers they appointed who have engaged in these practices and to determine whether to refer those findings to the president for his consideration.
The Secretary of State must revise the 2022–2025 “Decision Criteria for Tenure and Promotion in the Foreign Service” to remove any reference to “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.”
Department heads are ordered to direct all federal workers not to give this “Core Precept” any “force or effect.”
The memo is the latest executive action from Trump targeting DEI policies in the federal government.
One earlier
order mandated all agencies to terminate DEI programs and hiring practices, including “equity-related” grants and contracts, while
another bars federal funding from organizations that promote DEI and suggests civil rights enforcement actions against DEI programs that allegedly violate anti-discrimination laws.
It also requires all federal grant recipients to certify they do not operate programs that promote DEI policies.
On Feb. 19, a coalition of activist groups
sued the Trump administration over the DEI executive orders, as well as those related to transgender people, due to the loss of federal funding over the canceled contracts and the organizations’ inability to provide “critical social and health services.”
A federal judge
issued a preliminary injunction two days later, partially blocking the president’s executive orders withdrawing support from DEI programs, on the grounds that Trump’s actions likely violated the U.S. Constitution, including the right to free speech.
U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson also forbade the administration from ending or modifying DEI-related federal contracts and grants.
Earlier this month, Abelson
expanded his previous ruling, blocking the Trump administration from rolling back DEI programs in all federal agencies, departments, and commissions.
However, on March 14, a federal appeals court temporarily
reinstated Trump’s two executive orders targeting federal DEI programs and contracts, overturning Abelson’s ruling.
The three-judge panel noted that the administration was likely to succeed in its appeal.
Matthew Vadum, Tom Ozimek, and Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.
