LATERAL ENTRY PROGRAM.

SEC. 6204. LATERAL ENTRY PROGRAM.(a) In General.—Section 404 of the Department of State Authorities Act, Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–323; 130 Stat. 1928) is amended—(1) in subsection (b)—(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “3-year” and inserting “5-year”; (B) in paragraph (5), by striking “; and”; (C) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and (D) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:“(7) does not include the use of Foreign Service-Limited or other noncareer Foreign Service hiring authorities; and “(8) includes not fewer than 30 participants for each year of the pilot program.” ; and137 STAT. 973 (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:“(e) Certification.—If the Secretary does not commence the lateral entry program within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees—“(1) certifying that progress is being made on implementation of the pilot program and describing such progress, including the date on which applicants will be able to apply; “(2) estimating the date by which the pilot program will be fully implemented; “(3) outlining how the Department will use the Lateral Entry Program to fill needed skill sets in key areas such as cyberspace, emerging technologies, economic statecraft, multilateral diplomacy, and data and other sciences.” .