Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service

Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service
Type	Medal
Awarded for	"Death or a serious illness or injury that results in death, permanent incapacity or disability"
Presented by	United States Department of State
Eligibility	Foreign Service, Civil Service
Status	Currently awarded
Ribbon
Precedence
Next (higher)	Award for Heroism Award for Valor (obsolete)
Next (lower)	Distinguished Honor Award

The Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service is an award of the United States Department of State. It is presented to employees of State, USAID, and civilian contractors assigned to diplomatic and consular facilities for events that lead to death or serious illness or injury.^[1] It is roughly comparable to the U.S. military's Purple Heart, but since the criteria for the award is so strict, nearly all of them are awarded posthumously.

The award consists of a gold medal set and a certificate signed by the secretary of state and the president of the United States.

The initial regulations limited the issuance of the Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service, originally known as the Foreign Service Star, only to members of the U.S. Foreign Service personnel system who were killed or seriously injured. The rules were later changed to allow for members of other personnel systems killed while working on behalf of a foreign affairs agency.

There had been controversy about the name of the award, which suggested that only diplomats serving under the Foreign Service personnel system were eligible. As a result, Secretary of State Colin Powell proposed changing the name of the award from the Foreign Service Star to simply the Thomas Jefferson Star, naming it for the Founding Father who served as the first secretary of state. The American Foreign Service Association and the Foreign Affairs Council resisted the proposal while many others strongly supported it. In the end, the words "Foreign Service" were maintained as part of the name.^[2]