On October 9, 2026, the State Department announced that the Lateral Entry Pilot Program (LEPP) is coming back. LEPP is the one route into the Foreign Service that lets experienced professionals start as mid-career officers instead of at the entry level, and it has been dormant since early 2025.
The new version is not the same program people applied to in 2024. The focus areas differ, and the biggest change is in one sentence of the announcement: successful candidates will need to pass the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) and the Foreign Service Officer Assessment (FSOA). In 2024, LEPP applicants skipped the FSOT entirely.
This post covers what the announcement says, what it changes, what State has not said yet, and how we got here, including why the relaunch has drawn sharp criticism from the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA). I will update it when the vacancy announcements go live.
What the State Department announced
Here is the core of the announcement, in State’s words:
The Department of State will soon accept applications for the Lateral Entry Pilot Program (LEPP), which provides experienced professionals with an opportunity to enter the Foreign Service at the mid-career level. LEPP is a congressionally mandated program designed to help address workforce needs in areas critical to U.S. foreign policy.
State says it is looking for professionals from the civil service, the broader public sector, the private sector, and academia with relevant skills and experience in five areas:
- Cyberspace, Super Intelligence, and emerging technologies
- Commercial diplomacy, critical minerals, and secure supply chains
- Strategic competition with China
- IT infrastructure and systems
- Foreign assistance and/or disaster/humanitarian response
The announcement says future LEPP announcements will be posted on careers.state.gov, and that interested candidates should review them for eligibility requirements and application instructions. It closes with this:
Successful candidates will need to pass the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) and the Foreign Service Officer Assessment (FSOA). To sign up for the FSOT at the first available opportunity, please visit Pearson for registration information.
Three things stand out.
Applications are not open yet. “Will soon accept applications” means the vacancy announcements, with the actual requirements, are still to come.
The FSOT is now required. State is telling candidates to register for the FSOT now, before the LEPP announcements are even posted. Read that as a strong hint that your FSOT result will be part of how you are screened.
The focus areas reflect the current administration’s priorities. Climate, global health, multilateral diplomacy, and consular management are gone from the 2024 list. Commercial diplomacy, critical minerals, supply chains, IT infrastructure, and foreign assistance are new.
What changed from the 2024 program
| 2024 LEPP | 2026 LEPP | |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | January 24, 2024 | October 9, 2026 |
| Focus areas | Cyberspace and emerging technologies; climate, environment, and energy; global health security and diplomacy; strategic competition with the PRC; economic statecraft; multilateral diplomacy; consular management | Cyberspace, Super Intelligence, and emerging technologies; commercial diplomacy, critical minerals, and secure supply chains; strategic competition with China; IT infrastructure and systems; foreign assistance and/or disaster/humanitarian response |
| FSOT | Not required | Required |
| Screening before the FSOA | Qualifications Evaluation Panel review of personal narratives and experience | Not yet announced |
| FSOA | Required | Required |
| Entry grades | FP-03 and FP-02 | Not yet announced |
| Number of hires | Up to 35 in 2024 | Not yet announced |
For reference, the 2024 program set these minimums. They may not carry over to 2026, but they show what State meant by “mid-career”:
| Grade | Bachelor’s | Master’s | PhD | Also required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP-03 | 10 years of specialized experience | 8 years | 6 years | |
| FP-02 | 12 years | 10 years | 8 years | Foreign language proficiency and at least 4 years directly supervising others |
The specialized experience had to fall within the previous 15 years. In 2024, those selected became generalist Foreign Service Officers, completed one directed tour, had 54 months to earn tenure, and then competed with other mid-level officers for jobs and promotions.
What the FSOT requirement means for you
For most people reading this, the FSOT change matters more than anything else in the announcement.
As of October 2025, the FSOT has three sections: Job Knowledge, English Usage and Comprehension, and Logical Reasoning. The essay and Situational Judgment were removed. There is no published passing score. State selects candidates for the next stage “based on the highest scores and needs of the Foreign Service.” So, when the LEPP announcement says candidates must “pass” the FSOT, in practice that means scoring high enough to be selected. For the full breakdown of the current test, see How to Study for the FSOT.
The FSOA now opens with a Written Exercise, followed by the Structured Interview and the Negotiation Exercise (the renamed Group Exercise). We cover the current assessment in The New FSOT and FSO Application Process. In 2024, LEPP candidates took the same FSOA as everyone else.
The practical takeaway: if you are considering LEPP, the FSOT is your first deadline, not the vacancy announcement. Experienced professionals who have been away from test prep for years tend to underestimate the breadth of Job Knowledge and the Logical Reasoning section, which rewards a specific, trainable skill rather than general intelligence. If you wait for the LEPP posting to start studying, you may find yourself behind the testing calendar.
The next FSOT testing window runs January 30 to February 6, 2027. Registration opens December 31, 2026, and closes January 28, 2027. State has not said when the LEPP announcements will post, and they may not be up before registration closes. If you want a FSOT result in hand when they do, plan on the February window.
This requirement has precedent, too. At least one candidate from the 2024 round reported on r/foreignservice that, after receiving a conditional offer, they had to sit the FSOT in October 2025 before being placed on the LEPP register. That is a single candidate report, not an official statement, but it fits the new announcement.
The five focus areas
State has not published the specialized experience requirements for 2026. The biggest lesson from 2024 is that “specialized” was read narrowly. Many applicants who looked well qualified on paper, including people with a decade or more of relevant work, were screened out for not meeting the minimum qualifications, with no feedback and no appeal. Candidates in 2024 learned, for example, that “multilateral diplomacy” meant work with the UN and similar institutions, not general work with foreign governments or militaries. Expect the same precision this time, and when the announcements post, map your experience to their exact language.
A few notes on each area:
- Cyberspace, Super Intelligence, and emerging technologies. “Super Intelligence” is new wording for artificial intelligence policy. In 2024, the comparable track described policy work: monitoring and analyzing developments, recommending responses, and the laws, treaties, and agreements governing cyberspace and emerging technology. It was not a hands-on security engineering role. Remember that LEPP hires become generalist officers, and after the first tour, cyber or AI will usually be one part of a broader portfolio.
- Commercial diplomacy, critical minerals, and secure supply chains. This is the closest successor to 2024’s “economic statecraft” and lines up with the economic cone.
- Strategic competition with China. The one area carried over almost unchanged from 2024.
- IT infrastructure and systems. Worth a careful look if your background is technical. LEPP makes you a generalist officer. If what you actually want is to run embassy networks and systems, the Diplomatic Technology Officer specialist track is built for that and has its own test and process. Compare both before choosing.
- Foreign assistance and/or disaster/humanitarian response. This area has drawn the most criticism, for reasons covered below.
What we don’t know yet
Until the vacancy announcements post, State has not said:
- When applications open and close
- Which grades LEPP will hire at, and the experience and education thresholds for each
- How many people it plans to hire
- How LEPP candidates are ranked on the register
Be wary of anyone presenting the 2024 rules as the 2026 rules.
Where LEPP came from
LEPP looks new every time it appears, but Congress ordered it ten years ago.
2016: Congress mandates it. Section 404 of the Department of State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017, signed in December 2016, stated that “the Foreign Service should permit mid-career entry into the Foreign Service for qualified individuals who are willing to bring their outstanding talents and experiences to the work of the Foreign Service.” It directed State to create a three-year pilot within 180 days that targeted mid-career people from the civil service and private sector, allowed placement above the FS-4 grade, required only one directed assignment, and was “in full comportment with current Foreign Service intake procedures, including the requirement to pass the Foreign Service exam.”
2017 to 2023: nothing happened. The deadline passed, and State did not build the program.
December 2023: Congress tightens the law. The FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act amended the provision (Section 6204 of Public Law 118-31). It extended the pilot to five years, required at least 30 participants a year, barred State from using limited, noncareer appointments to satisfy it, and required a report if State still did not launch it, including how it would fill gaps in areas such as cyberspace and emerging technologies.
January 2024: the first LEPP round. State announced the program a month later. In Congress’s framing, the original goal was to let people with valuable outside expertise enter the Foreign Service without starting over at the bottom. State used it to recruit for seven critical areas. Applications closed in February 2024. State never published results, but reporting at the time put applications above 3,000, with roughly 100 invited to the assessment. According to an AFSA update in October 2024, as shared on r/foreignservice, about three LEPP hires had joined orientation classes, and about 14 more were still in process, and most were expected to do their first tour in Washington.
2025: the program goes dark. A federal hiring freeze began in January 2025, and by late May the LEPP page was no longer online at careers.state.gov. No 2025 round was announced.
October 2026: LEPP returns, with a new set of priorities and the FSOT requirement that the original 2016 law spelled out.
Why the relaunch is controversial
AFSA and the USAID firings
LEPP has never been popular with the Foreign Service union, but the 2026 relaunch landed differently, because of what happened in between.
In 2025, the administration dismantled USAID. AFSA says about 2,000 experienced USAID Foreign Service professionals were fired. In July 2025, State itself carried out a reduction in force that cut more than 1,300 employees, roughly 250 of them Foreign Service officers.
Now, one of LEPP’s five areas is foreign assistance and humanitarian response, the work USAID’s officers did. AFSA responded on October 15, 2026, with a statement calling the move “like firing the fire department and posting a help-wanted ad.”
AFSA’s specific objections:
- Recruiting for this expertise after removing the people who had it is wasteful and contradictory.
- Former USAID officers applying through LEPP would have to pass the Foreign Service entrance exam, which treats them as newcomers despite their years of service.
- Taxpayers already paid to train these officers.
AFSA wants State to give former USAID officers a way back at grades that reflect their experience, without “unnecessary entrance exams,” and it has asked Congress to pass two bills it supports: the PATH to the Foreign Service Act and the Foreign Service Test-Free Reentry Act. AFSA also states plainly that it has long opposed lateral entry programs in general.
The long-running debate inside the service
Even before the RIFs, many serving officers objected to lateral entry, and anyone considering LEPP should understand why:
- Promotions. The number of officers at each grade is limited. Officers argue that every lateral hire at FP-03 or FP-02 means one less promotion for someone already waiting, especially since State didn’t get extra positions for the program.
- “Entry-level” officers aren’t junior. The average new officer joins in their mid-thirties, often with advanced degrees and long careers, and still starts at the bottom.
- Bidding after one year. LEPP hires compete for their second assignment after a single tour against mid-level officers with years of Foreign Service networks and evaluations.
- Experts become generalists. A cyber or China specialist hired for that expertise will spend most of a generalist career on broader portfolios, often far from their specialty.
Should you apply?
If your experience closely fits one of the five areas, LEPP is worth serious consideration. It is the only route into the generalist Foreign Service that recognizes mid-career expertise in your starting grade.
But the 2026 version narrows the gap between LEPP and the regular path. Either way, you need a strong FSOT result and a passing FSOA. The difference is the entry grade and the first assignment. Many strong candidates will reasonably pursue both: take the FSOT, register as a regular generalist candidate, and apply to LEPP when the announcements post if they qualify.
How to prepare
Start with the FSOT, because it now sits in front of everything else, and treat it as a scored competition rather than a box to check. Take State’s full practice test early, under timed conditions, and read how to study for the FSOT to build a section-by-section study plan.
The section most likely to surprise an experienced professional is Logical Reasoning. It is learnable, but only if you learn the techniques: how to test whether an assumption is necessary, how to pre-phrase an answer before reading the choices, how to recognize common flaw patterns at a glance, and how to eliminate wrong answers systematically. Job Knowledge rewards breadth across U.S. government, history, economics, world affairs, and math and statistics, which is hard to cram if you have spent fifteen years deep in one field.
If you want structured preparation, I recommend FSO Compass. It offers comprehensive online training for aspiring U.S. diplomats, with practice tests and study guides covering Job Knowledge and English Usage; a full Logical Reasoning course that teaches the techniques named above, with a diagnostic quiz and a full practice test; and support for the FSOA. You can explore FSO Compass here.
When the LEPP vacancy announcements post, read the specialized experience language line by line and write your application to it. In 2024, that is where most applicants were eliminated.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Lateral Entry Pilot Program?
LEPP is a congressionally mandated State Department program that lets experienced professionals enter the Foreign Service as mid-career generalist officers rather than at the entry level. Congress created it in 2016 and expanded it in 2023. State ran the first round in 2024 and announced its return on October 9, 2026.
Do LEPP applicants have to take the FSOT?
Yes, under the 2026 announcement. Successful candidates must pass both the FSOT and the FSOA. In 2024, LEPP applicants did not take the FSOT.
Is LEPP accepting applications now?
Not yet. As of October 2026, State says it “will soon accept applications” and will post LEPP announcements on careers.state.gov. State recommends registering for the FSOT now.
What are the 2026 LEPP focus areas?
Cyberspace, Super Intelligence, and emerging technologies; commercial diplomacy, critical minerals, and secure supply chains; strategic competition with China; IT infrastructure and systems; and foreign assistance and/or disaster/humanitarian response.
What grade do LEPP hires start at?
In 2024, LEPP hired at FP-03 and FP-02. State has not announced the grades for 2026.
Can former USAID officers apply through LEPP?
Yes, if they meet the requirements, but they would have to pass the FSOT and FSOA like any other applicant. AFSA has criticized this and is pushing for test-free reentry paths for former USAID officers.
Why does AFSA oppose LEPP?
AFSA has long opposed lateral entry. In October 2026, it also criticized State for recruiting foreign assistance expertise after USAID was dismantled and about 2,000 of its Foreign Service professionals were fired, calling it “like firing the fire department and posting a help-wanted ad.”