The executive order is a response to what President Trump perceives as a leftist bias in the federal government, particularly among foreign service members. The order directs the Secretaries of State, Agriculture, Commerce, and USAID to remove any reference to “discriminatory equity ideology” from their decision criteria for tenure and promotion in the Foreign Service. It also prohibits all officers and employees of those departments from promoting or advocating support for discriminatory equity ideology while acting in an official capacity. The order directs the Secretaries to determine whether any current foreign service members have engaged in unconstitutional or illegal discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and take appropriate action, including referring any findings for President Trump’s consideration. Finally, it states that nothing in the memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof, or the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
Read the full text of the order at the whitehouse.gov website.