Federation Diplomatic Service

The Federation Diplomatic Service (FDS), often referred to as the Diplomatic Corps, is a a body of the Federation that negotiates with other powers on the behalf of the UFP or its member states. It is responsible for negotiating treaties with foreign states and, when called upon, maintaining relations between Federation members. The service executes the foreign policy set forth by the Federation President, Federation Council, and Federation Secretary of Interstellar Relations and often often works hand-in-hand with Star Fleet.

The Diplomatic Service Bureau (DSB) provides the administration that supports the executive appointees and staffs the embassies, consulates, missions, and the rest of the bureaucracy necessary for the diplomatic objectives of the UFP. It is considered to be a different, but supporting, bureau from that of the FDS, due to the necessity to provide a strong diplomatic infrastructure separate from the political and other factors that often impact the FDS.

Organization

Aside of the separate and independent organization of the DSB, the Diplomatic Service has several different tiers of executive positions:

Ambassador: This is the head of mission for an embassy located within a sovereign state (ex: Klingon Empire) or the capital world of a member state (in order to represent the UFP). They serve as the host state sovereign's personal representative from the President of the United Federation of Planets. Ambassadors may also serve in an at-large function or as a specific representative to a foreign state, when ambassadorial relations have not yet been formalized. Like special envoys, they may call upon the assistance of Star Fleet. (They are not to be confused with the ambassadors that are heads of mission from member states to the Federation Council.)

Consul: This is the head of mission for a consulate located within a sovereign state (ex: Klingon Empire) for the purposes of assisting and protecting the citizens of the UFP that are present in that state. In that roll, the consul is often required to interact or mediate with the various agencies of the host state, often with the collaboration of the resident UFP embassy. Due to the far-ranging nature of the UFP and its citizens' interests in these foreign nations, consulates may be numerous, often located throughout a given region or even on all host planets that accommodate large numbers of UFP citizens.

Special Envoy: These are specialists in a given area of interest that can range from agricultural to economics to disaster relief to military matters, who are recognized experts and representatives of the UFP in that matter to a host state. Their role or assigned location is generally temporary—or circumstance-limited—but they may pick up an additional and relevant assignment upon their completion or recall from the current one. Due to the nature of their potential missions, they often operate individually or with a very limited staff and may rely on the services and expertise of local Star Fleet assets.

Attaché: These are usually the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher-placed diplomatic executive (as above) who are trusted and presented with some relevant degree of diplomatic authority derived from their ambassador, consul, or special envoy.