Executive Order 9932—Acquisition of Competitive Status and Reemployment of Certain Persons Appointed or Assigned to the Foreign Service

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Civil Service Act of January 16, 1883 (22 Stat. 403), section 1753 of the Revised Statutes, the Foreign Service Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 999), and as President of the United States, and in order to facilitate the interchange of personnel between the Foreign Service of the United States and other branches of the Government, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. Any officer or employee of the government assigned to the Foreign Service as a Foreign Service Reserve Officer in accordance with section 522(2) of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 who was at the time of his assignment an officer or employee of the Government serving under a war service indefinite or temporary indefinite appointment and who is reached in regular order for probational appointment from a Civil Service register appropriate for filing the position in which he was serving at the time of assignment or who could, with the approval of the head of the agency in which he was serving, have been given a competitive status under Civil Service Rule III if he had remained in his former position, shall be considered as having a competitive status as of the date he is reached for probational appointment or classification.

2. Any officer or employee of the Government who is appointed, at the request of the head of the agency in which he was serving, as a Foreign Service Staff Officer or employee for a period limited in duration to four years or less shall be entitled to the same rights with regard to acquisition of a competitive status as is provided by section 1 of this order, and any such officer or employee who has, or acquires, a competitive status shall be entitled to the same rights with regard to reinstatement in such agency as a person who is assigned to the Foreign Service as a Foreign Service Reserve Officer is entitled to receive under the terms of section 528 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946.

3. Whenever an agency fills a position previously occupied by a Foreign Service Reserve Officer or a Foreign Service Staff Officer or employee entitled to reinstatement in such agency under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 and this order, the appointment, promotion, transfer, or other personnel action shall be made on a temporary basis pending the return of the officer or employee in question.

4. The Department of State shall, at least two months prior to the completion of the service of a Foreign Service Reserve Officer, Staff Officer, or employee entitled to reinstatement under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 or of this order, notify the officer or employee and the head of the agency in which the officer or employee was serving immediately prior to his assignment to the Foreign Service of the proposed termination of assignment in the Foreign Service, make arrangements for the return to duty of such officer or employee.

5. A person shall be deemed to have waived his rights to reinstatement under the terms of section 528 of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 and the terms of this order if he accepts at the termination of his period of service in the Foreign Service a position elsewhere than in the Government agency in which he has previously served or fails to avail himself of his right to reinstatement within thirty days after the end of his period of service in the Foreign Service.

6. The Civil Service Commission is authorized, after consultation with the Department of State, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this order: Provided, that any changes in such rules and regulations made subsequent to the appointment or assignment of personnel for duty with the Foreign Service shall not be effective as to such personnel without the prior concurrence of the Department of State.

7. This order shall become effective as of September 1, 1947.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE,

February 27, 1948