GTM SBO swears in first cohort of Foreign Service specialists under new administration

By Amanda McCarthy 

The Bureau of Global Talent Management’s (GTM) Senior Bureau Official (SBO) Lew Olowski administered the oath of office to 104 Foreign Service specialists, April 7. This was the first cohort of Foreign Service professionals to be sworn in to the Department of State under the new administration. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently affirmed, “To advance our national interest, we will build a more innovative, nimble, and focused State Department.” These new diplomats will play a vital role in advancing top U.S. foreign policy priorities.

Foreign Service specialists are essential in providing the technical, medical, administrative, security, or management expertise needed to sustain U.S. operations around the world and across the United States. Bringing unique skills and experience, this new cohort collectively speaks more than 30 languages, such as Afrikaans, Mongolian, and Ukrainian. Their professional backgrounds include aviation, law enforcement, education, medicine, engineering, and data science. Among them are returned Peace Corps volunteers, military veterans, and even a wild horse wrangler.

All incoming Foreign Service specialists undergo orientation at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), which lays the foundation of diplomacy and U.S. foreign policy. They hear from numerous Department senior leaders and subject-matter experts who introduce the programs and services that will help them support the Department’s mission to make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. Some orientation milestones include the much anticipated “Flag Day”—where these professionals learn of their onward assignments—and the swearing-in ceremony, which marks the final stretch of the six-week onboarding journey.

“I am so excited to be starting my career as a Foreign Service professional with the Department of State,” said an April 2025 class member. “This orientation program [was] incredibly helpful to set us up for success.”

Another class member remarked, “I have really loved interacting with so many people and having a group that we can ask questions of. I really got to know so many people within the first week.”

Members of the April 2025 cohort will be dispersed around the world in a variety of roles. As a special agent in Miami, office management specialist in Ottawa, security technical specialist in Manila, or financial management officer in Riyadh, among others, these specialists will be helping to meet the challenges of a new era.

Olowski was joined by Associate Deputy Attorney General Ketan Bhirud, Acting Director of the Foreign Service Institute Ambassador Maria Brewer, Orientation Director Rachael Schmitt, class mentors Deputy Assistant Secretary Seth Green and Deputy Chief Information Officer Deborah Larson, and other Department officials in welcoming the new specialists to the Department on their first day and administered the official oath of office. 

“More than one million American citizens will likely benefit over the next several decades through the direct impact that you all will achieve starting today as Foreign Service officers of the United States of America,” said Olowski in his remarks at the ceremony. “When we go overseas, people treat us diplomats as if we are the United States itself, and they’re not wrong. We are the United States. This oath is our communion with the Constitution.”

The swearing in ceremony occurred a few weeks prior to the Department’s annual homecoming, Foreign Affairs Day. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau will lead this year’s ceremony and events, May 2. 

Amanda McCarthy is the multimedia editor of State Magazine.