To clarify religious freedom training requirements for Foreign Service officers.

SA 5176. Mr. PORTMAN (for Mr. Corker) proposed an amendment to amendment SA 5175 proposed by Mr. Portman (for Mr. Corker) to the bill H.R. 1150, to amend the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to improve the ability of the United States to advance religious freedom globally through enhanced diplomacy, training, counterterrorism, and foreign assistance efforts, and through stronger and more flexible political responses to religious freedom violations and violent extremism worldwide, and for other purposes; as follows:

Beginning on page 13, strike line 12 and all that follows through page 16, line 20, and insert the following:

(a) Amendments to Foreign Service Act of 1980.--Section 708 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 4028) is amended--

(1) in subsection (a)--

(A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively;

(B) by striking “(a) The Secretary of State” and inserting the following:

“(a) Human Rights, Religious Freedom, and Human Trafficking Training.--

“(1) In general.--The Secretary of State”; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

“(2) Religious freedom training.--

“(A) In general.--In carrying out the training required under paragraph (1)(B), the Director of the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center shall, not later than the one year after the date of the enactment of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, conduct training on religious freedom for all Foreign Service officers, including all entry level officers, all officers prior to departure for posting outside the United States, and all outgoing deputy chiefs of mission and ambassadors. Such training shall be included in--

“(i) the A-100 course attended by all Foreign Service officers;

“(ii) the courses required of every Foreign Service officer prior to a posting outside the United States, with segments tailored to the particular religious demography, religious freedom conditions, and United States strategies for advancing religious freedom, in each receiving country; and

“(iii) the courses required of all outgoing deputy chiefs of mission and ambassadors.

“(B) Development of curriculum.--In carrying out the training required under paragraph (1)(B), the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, in coordination with the Director of the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center and other Federal officials, as appropriate, and in consultation with the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom established under section 201(a) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6431(a)), shall make recommendations to the Secretary of State regarding a curriculum for the training of United States Foreign Service officers under paragraph (1)(B) on the scope and strategic value of international religious freedom, how violations of international religious freedom harm fundamental United States interests, how the advancement of international religious freedom can advance such interests, how United States international religious freedom policy should be carried out in practice by United States diplomats and other Foreign Service officers, and the relevance and relationship of international religious freedom to United States defense, diplomacy, development, and public affairs efforts. The Secretary of State should ensure the availability of sufficient resources to develop and implement such curriculum.

“(C) Information sharing.--The curriculum and training materials developed under this paragraph shall be shared with the United States Armed Forces and other Federal departments and agencies with personnel who are stationed overseas, as appropriate, to provide training on--

“(i) United States religious freedom policies;

“(ii) religious traditions;

“(iii) religious engagement strategies;

“(iv) religious and cultural issues; and

“(v) efforts to counter violent religious extremism.”;

(2) in subsection (b), by striking “The Secretary of State” and inserting “Refugees.--The Secretary of State”; and

(3) in subsection (c), by striking “The Secretary of State” and inserting “Child Soldiers.--The Secretary of State”.