Consular Cone
Every FSO spends their first tour doing Consular work. There is a need for it at every embassy, but not enough people in the career track to meet those needs.
Consular Officers solve the problems of American Citizens abroad. This includes visiting Americans in jail. During a crisis or emergency situation you would be involved in the evacuation of American Citizens. Duties like these all fall under American Citizen Services(ACS).
Alternatively you also serve foreigners by interviewing and deciding whether or not to issue visas.
A lot of people find this work robotic and repetitive, but I would imagine these are mostly people in their first tour anxious to take on work in their chosen career track.
There is a level of accountability in Consular work not found in others. Issuing a visa to a terrorist, especially in a post 9/11 world, would come back to you. Because of this many Consular Officers deny visas under the auspices of section 214b.
It seems many perspective FSOs overlook this cone as unimportant, but I think I would find this work interesting. It seems like the only way to directly serve American Citizens. The reason Americans are able to travel so confidently around the world is because of the service Consular Officers offer.
I wouldn't suggest choosing this cone solely because you think it is less competitive, that is the wrong reason to choose a cone, but the State Department does have a need for Consular Officers.
I urge you to read more about this cone by following the links below. You should check out the links I list on articles anyways, but the ones listed here are especially interesting.
Further Reading and Information
- State.gov
- TheHegemonist.com
- Others
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