The State Department has aggressively overhauled its foundational training program for new diplomats, purging seminars on LGBTQIA+ issues, pet ownership, and blindfolded team-building games in favor of an intensive, policy-heavy curriculum focused on grand strategy and constitutional principles.
The sweeping changes to the six-week orientation course—traditionally known as “A-100″—mark a stark ideological and structural pivot for America’s premier diplomatic corps under the Trump administration. According to internal agency documents and officials speaking with the Daily Caller News Foundation, the revised program aims to strip away what critics within the department characterized as “juvenile” exercises and deep-seated bureaucratic bloat.
Among the casualties of the institutional housecleaning are several niche workshops introduced under previous administrations. Trainees will no longer attend sessions such as “LGBTQIA+ in the Foreign Service Community,” “Considerations for FS Singles,” or “Bidding with Pets in Mind”—the latter of which was designed to help pet owners navigate the complex internal process of angling for their next international or domestic assignments.
Also left on the cutting room floor are unorthodox team-building exercises. One axed module, intended to cultivate “leadership, followership, and perspective-taking,” famously required prospective diplomats to toss objects into buckets while blindfolded.
“The Trump administration knows that an elite diplomatic service is key to effectively pursuing America’s national interests,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told the DCNF. “That’s why the State Department has undertaken broad reforms to Foreign Service recruitment and training programs.”
A Rigorous New Calculus
Rather than shortening the orientation, the department has significantly expanded its academic rigor. The revamped A-100 program now mandates $111$ distinct training sessions—a $37\%$ spike from the $81$ sessions required for the incoming class of January 2025.
The new course load trades progressive social seminars for classical statecraft and American civics. New modules include:
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“The Need for Grand Strategy”
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“Theories of Foreign Policy”
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“America’s Founding Principles” (focusing heavily on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Federalist Papers)
“Instead of being forced to endure bureaucratic tedium and ideological content, America’s diplomats will spend more time learning the foundations of foreign policy and developing the critical skills that are required to deliver results for the American people,” Pigott said.
The Broader Reform Mandate
The classroom shakeup coincides with a renewed public recruitment push. A recent State Department promotional campaign on social media featured the slogan: “Be the face of America, wherever America needs you. Join the United States Foreign Service.”
However, getting through the front door is also becoming more difficult. According to an internal State Department memo circulated in April, the agency is reversing previous hiring trends by reinstituting a formal written examination that heavily tests applicants on American history.
“These modernization efforts include reinstituting a written examination test, testing applicants on American history, and reforming the Foreign Service orientation to include content on diplomatic theory, economic statecraft, and strategic competition,” the April memo stated.
The overhaul of the A-100 curriculum is not an isolated bureaucratic shift; it reflects a broader, self-declared mandate by the current administration to systematically eliminate what it describes as “radical gender and racial ideologies” from federal institutions.