# Plain Language Summary: Stop WOKE at State Act

This bill changes how the U.S. State Department evaluates and promotes its Foreign Service officers—the diplomats and staff who work in embassies and consulates around the world. Specifically, it removes diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (often called "DEI") from the criteria used to judge whether these employees deserve promotions or should keep their jobs. Instead of considering how well an officer supports these principles, the State Department would only evaluate them based on traditional merit system standards like job performance, competence, and qualifications.

The bill makes three main changes. First, it prohibits evaluators from assessing whether a Foreign Service officer advocates for or supports diversity and inclusion initiatives. Second, it prevents the selection boards that decide on promotions from even mentioning diversity, equity, inclusion, or accessibility when ranking candidates. Third, it requires the State Department to replace all references to these principles in its official manuals and evaluation forms with references to basic merit system principles instead. The bill also requires that when considering someone for promotion or tenure, the State Department must review any performance improvement plans from the past five years where the employee's work was deemed unacceptable.

Additionally, the bill removes the requirement that a member of the general public serve on Foreign Service selection boards. Currently, these boards include outside members to bring a civilian perspective, but this bill eliminates that requirement, meaning only career State Department officials would sit on these boards.

The practical effect is that diversity and inclusion work would no longer factor into career advancement decisions for State Department diplomats. Supporters argue this focuses promotions purely on job performance, while critics contend it could reduce emphasis on building a diverse diplomatic corps.