Key Officers of the U.S. Foreign Service (KOFS) (1966-2017)

Authors: David Lindsey, Matt Malis, Calvin Thrall

Data description: Officer-post-quarter-year data on over 40,000 U.S. diplomats stationed at over 300 embassies, consulates, and other foreign diplomatic posts between 1966 and 2017. All diplomats are assigned a unique identifier. Metadata include the position(s) that each diplomat held in each quarter.

Data source(s): Key Officers of the U.S. Foreign Service documents (both in print and digital), released publicly by State Department.

Data publicly available? Yes: disaggregated and country-year datasets available on the MAD dataverse.

Associated publication(s): Lindsey, D, Malis, M, and Thrall, C. 2025. Representation Without Authority: Evidence from Gender Disparities in the U.S. Foreign Service. MAD Working Paper 01, Measuring American Diplomacy Project.