This is interesting, and certainly active on the forums. What is this new position with DoS all about? Well, I will tell you my personal opinion on it all. Secretary Clinton needs us for the mission of protecting her people, but she really doesn’t like using private industry to do this. So this is the next best thing. You are basically a contractor that answers directly to the Foreign Service, as opposed to working for the Foreign Service through a full service company like Blackwater.
The crucial aspect of this, is that you will have to pass their 13 week DSTC academy, and then you can be called up and used for overseas stuff. The caveat in this, is that you now have to answer to federal government management and structure. Although some might look at that as a positive deal, because at least there are some protections in the government to make managers do what they are supposed to do.(EEO, Whistleblower Act, etc.) But like most government, most managers are very good at working the system, and the strength of the checks and balances is questionable. Especially in a highly public incident that isn’t clear cut, kind of like the Nisour Square deal in Iraq. And judging how DoS has treated that incident and Blackwater, I am not too confident on how they would treat contractors working directly for them. In forest fire fighting, I have seen management throw their people under the bus, to avoid getting involved and doing the right thing of protecting that employee.