Bureau of Budget and Planning employees pose for a group photo in the Dean Acheson Auditorium at the Harry S Truman Building, March 30. Photo by Bintou Njie
By Matt Goshko, John Higgins, Marina Kate Stephens, and Stacy D. Williams
The Bureau of Budget and Planning (BP) works with bureaus and offices across the Department of State to formulate strategies and secure funding to implement the secretary of state’s foreign policy agenda. This ranges from recruiting and developing a diverse workforce, responding to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, helping relocate Afghan partners, securing the Department’s global facilities and data, paying multilateral contributions, and investing in new technologies.
BP is the Department’s central budget bureau, overseeing nearly $25 billion annually. The bureau plays a pivotal role in the strategic and operational processes required for the Department’s budget formulation and execution activities for diplomatic engagement appropriations. BP also plays a central role in mapping out the foreign policy agenda for every administration through its co-drafting of the Joint Strategic Plan. Utilizing this foundational policy document, BP’s analysts work closely with the Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance (F), as well as with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), USAID, Congress, and other stakeholders to ensure the advancement of White House priorities.
In a policy driven environment with many competing priorities and dynamic global events, BP’s highly trained and motivated analysts provide the intellectual rigor and objective scrutiny to inform recommendations to the Department’s leadership. Current examples include the Department’s Modernization Agenda, finalization of the Department’s Learning Agenda, and the establishment of the new Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Diplomacy.
The bureau’s staff are integral to the Department’s timely, effective, and efficient implementation of diplomatic and operational initiatives. In partnership with F, BP maintains the Managing for Results framework, which includes guidance and resources for planning, budgeting, managing, and continual learning within the Department. BP assists all missions and bureaus as they develop strategic plans informed by policy priorities and perform strategic reviews to report on the results of these efforts. This includes providing guidance to BP’s partners across the Department as stakeholders develop Integrated Country Strategies, mission resource requests, and bureau resource requests.
BP’s staff embodies the diversity of the American public, as demonstrated through its joint Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Council with the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services. The Council celebrates employees’ experiences and backgrounds through commemoration events, recruiting, developing, promoting, and retaining a truly inclusive and representative workforce.
The bureau team includes Civil Service, Foreign Service, Pathways interns, Presidential Management fellows, and contractor positions across a wide range of grades. BP also supports workplace flexibilities, with two domestic employees teleworking overseas (DETOs).
For BP to remain successful on behalf of the Department, its team members must closely partner and collaborate with nearly 50 bureaus and offices, as well as 195 missions.
This perspective provides BP staff with a comprehensive understanding of how the Department functions at not only the agency level, but also at the bureau level. BP focuses on each bureau’s policy priorities, benefits, hurdles, and opportunities.
“Ensuring that all stakeholders are in the room is critical,” said BP Division Director for Resource, Strategy, and Liaison Miranda Longstreth. “BP convenes and works closely with implementing bureaus to discuss the resources needed to achieve the Department’s highest priorities, such as relocating Afghan partners via Enduring Welcome, and implementing the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act for America Fund.”
Responding to a need to build the Department’s evaluation capacity and increase the use of evidence-based decision-making, BP relaunched the Managing Evaluation course in 2022. The course, intended for bureau evaluation coordinators and other monitoring, evaluation, and learning staff, is focused on evaluation and assessment activities and helps staff develop skills relevant to the Department’s program and project design, monitoring, and evaluation policy. BP offers the course approximately four times each year and provides the funding for employees’ participation.
Following the initial stages of the Russia-Ukraine War, Congress approved multiple Ukraine supplemental packages. BP budget analysts worked with bureau counterparts to ensure supplemental funding was made available to support operations there. BP analysts worked with the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs on sanctions related to the Ukraine crisis. BP analysts were also heavily engaged in the development of congressional notifications to inform congressional actors of the need to allocate supplemental funding for local guard, security, and other operational and program requirements. The dedicated work by BP budget analysts directly contributed to the Department’s ability to remain in Kyiv, thereby demonstrating sustained U.S. support for the Ukrainian government.
The bureau’s leadership maintains 67 years of combined experience in the Department, an invaluable resource available to team members. Director Douglas Pitkin began his federal career with the White House Office of Management and Budget, and joined the Department in 2006.
“Success of the Department’s policies and programs relies on clearly understanding our goals and objectives, aligning our resources to achieve the best outcomes, and thinking creatively on how we address emerging challenges and opportunities,” he said.
Other stakeholders in the Office of the Undersecretary for Management rely on collaboration with BP to sustain and strengthen the Department’s workforce.
Acting Under Secretary for Management Ambassador Alaina Teplitz said, “BP plays a crucial and constructive role in virtually every management issue, from helping identify funds to provide emergency payments to our locally employed staff facing high inflation to finding innovative solutions to help us address mid-level staffing gaps.”
The Bureau of Global Talent Management (GTM) also works closely with BP to advance the Department’s highest priorities.
“Over the last couple of years, BP’s advocacy with OMB and Congress has provided the resources for landmark changes in the way the Department attracts and recruits a diverse talent pool,” said GTM Deputy Assistant Secretary Philippe A. Lussier. “For example, last year the Department launched the first ever large scale paid internship program reaching underserved communities and providing travel, lodging, and salary for interns to work at the Department for five weeks, targeting 1,200 interns per year when the program is fully operational.”
Managers for BP’s eight divisions impart critical lessons learned and best practices essential to the bureau’s success.
“The latest new idea may not require new funding. Organizations and analysts should be prepared to critically reflect on operations, identify efficiencies and offsets, and then identify the best courses of action when/if funding increases are not provided,” said BP Program Accounts Division Director Mark Schmidt.
Acting Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Ambassador John Bass led the Department’s Press Briefing to roll out the President’s FY 2024 budget, March 9.
“Because of the wide-ranging expertise, support and dedication of BP staff, in partnership with the Office of Foreign Assistance, on both the OMB passback and FY 2024 budget preparations, I was well positioned to make the strongest case possible to our congressional committees, the press, and the American people about the president’s foreign policy priorities,” said Bass.
With the rapid pace of global events the Department must draw upon the considerable skills and strengths of its entire workforce, while continuously developing new expertise through training and organizational learning. BP’s unique role at the intersection of financial management, performance oversight, and strategic planning is essential to the Department’s success and providing stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
Matt Goshko is the deputy director for performance and planning in the Bureau of Budget and Planning. John Higgins is a program analyst in the Resource, Strategy, and Liaison Division within the Bureau of Budget and Planning. Marina Kate Stephens was an executive assistant in the Bureau of Budget and Planning. Stacy D. Williams is the chief of staff in the Bureau of Budget and Planning.