January's issue of State Magazine featured an article about diversity in the Foreign Service. Compared to the entire U.S. population demographics, the State Department is doing pretty well representing all Americans except for one glaring omission: Latinos, or Hispanic-Americans.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 16.7% of all Americans are Hispanic. In the State Department, just 5.1% of Civil Service (CS) employees are Hispanic, and only 5.7% of Foreign Service (FS; Specialists & Officers combined). Overall, the Foreign Service is still predominently white: 80.1%. 

As a first-generation Latino American and Foreign Service Officer, I find this depressing. I don't have any theories or explanations for these bleak statistics. But we can't very well represent Americans overseas if we don't look like the American population at large.

By comparison, other DOS diversity statistics include:

Whites: US 72.4%; CS 61.8%; FS 80.1%

Hispanics: US 16.7%; CS 5.1%; FS 5.7%

Blacks: US 12.6%; CS 25.6%; FS 7.0%

Asians: US 4.8%; CS 6.4%; FS 6.6%

American Indians: US 0.9%; CS 0.5%; FS 0.3%

Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: US 0.2%; CS 0.2%; FS 0.1%

Two or more Races: US 2.9%; CS 1.1%; FS 1.4%

Mr. Crab recently signed up for the Hometown Diplomats Program, a unique program aimed at promoting the Foreign Service and recruiting future diplomats. One of my personal goals will be to target Hispanic Americans, particularly college students. I'll keep ya'll posted of any upcoming speaking engagements.