Diplomacy: The U.S. Department of State At Work
As the lead U.S. foreign affairs agency, the Department of State helps to shape a freer, more secure, and more prosperous world through formulating, representing, and implementing the President's foreign policy.
The Secretary of State, the ranking member of the Cabinet and fourth in line of presidential succession, is the President's principal adviser on foreign policy and the person chiefly responsible for U.S. representation abroad.
The United States maintains diplomatic relations with nearly 180 of the 191 countries in the world, as well as with many international organizations. We maintain nearly 265 diplomatic and consular posts around the world, including embassies, consulates, and missions to international organizations.
Foreign Service and Civil Service
The Foreign Service and the Civil Service for the U.S. Department of State represent the American people, working together to achieve the goals and implement the initiatives of American foreign policy.
The Foreign Service represents America and responds to the needs of American citizens in other countries. These 9,000 employees are also America's first-line of defense in a complex and often dangerous world. A Foreign Service career is a way of life that offers unique rewards, opportunities, and sometimes hardships. Members of the Foreign Service can be sent to any embassy, consulate, or other diplomatic mission anywhere in the world, to serve the diplomatic needs of the United States.
There are about 6,500 Civil Service employees, headquartered primarily in Washington D.C., that are involved in virtually every area of the Department-from human rights to narcotics control to trade to environmental issues. They also are the domestic counterpart to consular officers abroad, issuing passports and assisting U.S. citizens in trouble overseas.
