3 FAM 4170: Review of Official & Personal Capacity Public Communications

On January 2, 2026, the State Department revised a policy on official and personal communications. The policy has long required prior review of personal communications, including social media posts, if they involve matters of "departmental concern." However, this January 2026 policy appears to tighten rules for speaking externally and centralizes the review process for such speech. Specifically, for example, official communications now cannot be inconsistent with "U.S. Government policy and positions." The Bureau of Global Public Affairs (GPA) makes all final determinations in reviewing potential employee speech, and the GPA may even prohibit employee personal capacity speech if it determines that the speech is "highly likely to result in serious adverse consequences to the mission or efficiency of the Department."