EXPANSION OF MODEL FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE POSTS.

SEC. 161. EXPANSION OF MODEL FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE POSTS. (a) Designation of Posts.— In order to carry out the purposes of section 702 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, and in light of the positive report issued on March 28, 1986, by the Department of State, as required by section 2207 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, the Secretary of State shall designate as model foreign language competence posts a minimum of six Foreign Service posts, representing the Department of State’s five geographic bureaus, in countries where English is not the common language. Such designation shall be made not later than February 1, 1990, and shall be implemented so that not later than October 1, 1991, in the case of non-hard language posts, and October 1, 1992, in the case of hard language posts, each Government employee permanently assigned to those posts shall possess an appropriate level of competence in the language common to the country where the post is located. The Secretary of State shall determine appropriate levels of language competence for employees assigned to those posts by reference to the nature of their functions and the standards employed by the Foreign Service Institute. (b) “Hard Language Country” Post To Be Designated.— At least one of the posts designated under subsection (a) shall be in a “hard language’’ country, as identified in the report to the Under Secretary of State for Management of May 12, 1986, entitled “Hard Language Proficiency in the Foreign Service”. Such post shall be in one of the countries where the official or principal language is Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, or Russian. (c) Termination Date.— The posts designated under subsection (a) shall continue as model foreign language posts at least until September 30, 1993, in the case of non-hard language posts, and September 30, 1994, in the case of hard language posts. Not later than January 31, 1995, the Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives a report describing the operation of such posts and the costs, advantages, and104 STAT. 47 disadvantages associated with meeting the foreign language competence requirements of this section. (d) Exemption Authority.— The Secretary of State may authorize exceptions to the requirements of this section if— (1) he determines that unanticipated exigencies so require; and (2) he immediately reports such exceptions to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. (e) Excluded Posts.— The posts designated under subsection (a) may not include Dakar, Senegal, or Montevideo, Uruguay. The report required under subsection (c) shall include progress made in these posts in maintaining the high foreign language standards achieved under the initial pilot program. (f) Authorization of Appropriations.— There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.