Ordered and Authorized Departure
How the U.S. State Department and peer foreign ministries draw down missions through authorized and ordered departure — the legal framework, triggers, and operational mechanics.
The legal and policy framework
Ordered Departure (OD) and Authorized Departure (AD) are the two formal mechanisms by which the U.S. Secretary of State draws down personnel and eligible family members (EFMs) from a diplomatic or consular post in response to deteriorating security, health, or political conditions. The authority derives from the Secretary's plenary power over Foreign Service assignments under the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. §3901 et seq.) and is operationalized through 3 FAM 3770 (Evacuation Procedures) and 3 FAH-1 H-3760. The Under Secretary for Management (M), advised by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS), the relevant regional bureau, and the chief of mission (COM), formally recommends the action; the Secretary or designee signs the cable.
The distinction is operationally critical. Authorized Departure is voluntary: designated categories of personnel and EFMs may leave post at U.S. government expense, with travel, per diem, and Safe Haven allowances paid under the Department of State Standardized Regulations (DSSR §600). Ordered Departure is mandatory: identified categories must depart within a defined window, typically 72 hours to 5 business days. Both are time-limited — initially 30 days, extendable in 30-day increments up to 180 days, after which the Department must either lift the status, convert the post to unaccompanied, or suspend operations.
Triggers and decision drivers
The triggers are not codified by formula; they are judgments rendered against the Department's duty of care to its workforce, balanced against the diplomatic cost of visible drawdown. Recurring drivers include:
- Armed conflict or imminent hostilities. Embassy Kyiv shifted to ordered departure of EFMs on 23 January 2022, one month before Russia's full-scale invasion, and relocated core operations to Lviv on 14 February 2022 before suspending operations in Kyiv on 28 February.
- Civil unrest or coup. Embassy Khartoum suspended operations entirely on 22 April 2023 following the SAF–RSF clashes that began 15 April; personnel were extracted by SOCOM Chinooks rather than departing commercially.
- Terrorist threat streams. Embassy Sana'a went to ordered departure on 6 August 2013 amid AQAP intercepts, and shuttered on 11 February 2015 as the Houthis consolidated control.
- Pandemic or public health emergency. A global authorized departure was declared on 14 March 2020 under COVID-19 — the first worldwide AD in Department history, affecting all 220+ posts.
- Natural disaster. Embassy Port-au-Prince went to ordered departure after the 12 January 2010 earthquake.
- Host-government hostility or rupture. Embassy Caracas suspended operations on 11 March 2019 after Venezuela severed relations.
The COM holds a unique prerogative under 22 U.S.C. §3927 and the President's Letter of Instruction: the chief of mission may request OD/AD and may, in extremis, order a local evacuation pending Washington concurrence. The COM cannot, however, unilaterally declare a formal OD that triggers DSSR allowances — that signature rests with the Secretary.
Interagency dynamics matter. Department of Defense personnel under chief of mission authority are covered by the OD/AD cable; combatant-command forces are not. Locally Employed (LE) staff are categorically excluded from OD/AD evacuation benefits — a persistent equity issue addressed in part by the Special Immigrant Visa programs for Iraqi and Afghan LE staff under §1059 of P.L. 109-163 and §602 of P.L. 111-8.