US state department suspends diversity and inclusion training materials | Trump administration

The US state department’s Foreign Service Institute has suspended access to over a thousand training materials and courses, including the removal of over 2,100 items related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to an internal department announcement issued on Monday and seen by the Guardian.

The sweeping review, which took effect on 22 January, affects more than 1,200 courses used to train American diplomats and other foreign service personnel and stems from recent executive orders.

The Foreign Service Institute, based in Arlington, Virginia, acts as the federal government’s main training institution for diplomatic personnel and other government employees involved in foreign affairs.

Since returning to the White House Donald Trump and his Republican allies have cracked down on DEI initiatives in government and also in corporate America. This sudden overhaul of diplomatic training materials marks one of the most significant changes to state department educational policy in recent years.

Sixteen courses were immediately unpublished for “evaluation”, while over a thousand materials relating to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) have been removed from the department’s on-demand learning platform, making them inaccessible to state department employees.

It is unclear which specific courses would be suspended or under review, but DEIA criteria typically include race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, disability status and veteran status.

The institute has also frozen new enrollments for an unspecified number of courses and suspended its centralized evaluation system during the review period. According to the announcement, there’s indication some courses may never return to the catalog, while others could become available after revision.

The state department did not respond to a request for comment on the duration of the review or on what it means for diplomatic training programs.