|
 Who We Are
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.
Bureaus and Offices
The links below provide online information for the domestic organizational components of the U.S. Department of State, in alphabetical order. Also see the list of components grouped by organizational responsibility under the Secretary and Under Secretaries. (Information about Bureaus and Offices that do not have web pages can be found in "Department Organization" and on the organization chart.)
Secretary of State (S)
Deputy Secretary (D)
Counselor of the Department (C)
Under Secretary for:
Arms Control and International Security (T)
Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs (E)
Global Affairs (G)
Management (M)
Political Affairs (P)
Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (R)
Bureaus and Offices:
Administration (A)
African Affairs (AF)
Allowances (A/OPR/ALS)
Arms Control (AC)
Authentication Division (A/OPR/GSM/AUTH)
Coordinator for Counterterrorism (S/CT)
Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Chief of Staff (S)
Consular Affairs (CA)
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL)
Diplomatic Security (DS)
Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (DGHR)
East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP)
Economic and Business Affairs (EB)
Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA)
European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR)
Executive Secretariat (S/S)
Foreign Service Institute (FSI)
Human Resources (M/HR)
Information Resource Management (IRM)
Inspector General (OIG)
Intelligence and Research (INR)
International Information Programs (IIP)
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL)
International Organization Affairs (IO)
Legal Adviser (L)
Legislative Affairs (H)
Management Policy (M/P)
Medical Services (M/DGHR/MED)
Near Eastern Affairs (NEA)
Nonproliferation (NP)
Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES)
Office of Civil Rights (S/OCR)
Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO)
Policy Planning Staff(S/P)
Political-Military Affairs(PM)
Population, Refugees, and Migration(PRM)
Protocol (S/CPR)
Public Affairs(PA)
Resource Management (RM)
Science & Technology Adviser (G/STAS)
South Asian Affairs(SA)
Trafficking in Persons(G/TIP)
Verification and Compliance(VC)
War Crimes Issues (S/WCI)
Western Hemisphere Affairs(WHA)
Women's Issues
Equal Opportunity Employer. Privacy Statement
| 
Print Friendly Version
