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U.S. diplomatic corps expands

09 May 2009 11:42 (UTC +04:00)

Washington â€“ APA. President Barack Obama’s proposed foreign affairs budget calls for a massive hiring drive at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to staff a dramatic shift from military to civilian operations abroad, APA reports quoting the Associated Press.
The spending plan submitted to Congress on Friday calls for adding 1,226 new foreign and civil service diplomatic positions at the two agencies in the budget year that starts in October. It projects a 25 percent boost in the total number of foreign service officers by 2013 and doubling the number at USAID by 2012.

There are currently 6,600 foreign service officers at the State Department and another 1,000 at USAID.
"Smart power starts with people," said Jacob Lew, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources who detailed the specifics of the $53.9 billion budget proposal for reporters on Friday. "We want to be able to pursue the policies that we’re calling smart power and we don’t have the troops to do it without this buildup."