The Mass Recall Of Experienced Us
Photo of the former Ambassadorial Residence in Baku, Azerbaijan
As we consider the consequences to our national security, well being and prosperity that the Administration’s firing of 30 experienced ambassadors (replacements for whom no candidates have been nominated) has wrought, we cannot set aside the cruelty of this sudden and expedited recall of these ambassadors and disruption to lives of their their families. We cannot set aside the fact that these ambassadors will be forced out – the administration has made it clear that senior assignments to career officers will be rare and favor only those officers who publicly align themselves with the MAGA movement. We cannot set aside this clear message of disrespect and lack of concern to people who have devoted decades to service to their country, as well as their family members who have sacrificed greatly. Nor can we set aside the message of disrespect and lack of concern that their withdrawal telegraphs to the governments of the countries in which they were serving.
This action is but the latest in a year full of tragic Administration attacks on the first line of defense required to protect and advance our national interests. It follows an earlier mass firing of Washington-based State Department officials as well as similar actions taken against the military, FBI, intelligence community, Centers for Disease Control, and tens of other agencies established to serve and protect Americans.
Ambassadors and our other diplomats serve abroad as America’s eyes and ears around the world. They are charged with identifying opportunities as well as threats, working ceaselessly to advance national security and interests of the United States as determined by our elected officials. The ambassador, armed with the rank and credibility as the president’s personal representative and confirmed by congress, establishes and sustains access to the decision-makers and key influencers in the country to which s/he is assigned. That means not just with the president, king, or prime minister, but also with those who influence or seek to influence them, whether legislators, other politicians, business people, religious leaders, figures in the prime minister’s or president’s office, government ministers, top bureaucrats, tribal chiefs, police and security figures, the country’s defense establishment, academicians and leading scientists, journalists, or local and regional government figures. American ambassadors may also need to sit down with judges and prosecutors as part of the embassy’s job to protect Americans.
At the same time, because U.S. ambassadors have long maintained a practice of seeking out opinions from across the whole of the country to which they are assigned, our ambassadors will often hear from and engage with opposition and dissident figures.
Our ambassadors and embassies should know as much as anyone about what is going on in a country and how to influence it.
Contrary to the way the current administration seems to regard ambassadors, and our diplomats overall, they are much, much more than mouthpieces hanging around and waiting for words to repeat from Washington. Ambassadors, leveraging the expertise of their staffs – including that from Foreign Service Officers –address the entire spectrum of areas of concern to the United States, be it political, economic, commercial, military, as well as consular matters to issue visas and protect Americans abroad. “ Career” ambassadors – those coming from the Foreign Service – will have acquired experience in these areas over the course of their careers, plus a proven ability to manage large operations as well as perhaps emergencies such as terrorist threats or evacuating Americans in the face of a collapse. (Bob Cekuta had to manage two evacuations of hundreds of Americans when a country he was in fell into chaos; he also stayed behind and took on extra jobs in other posts when the security situation required drawing down staff. He later served in four countries that were involved in wars with neighbors.)
The point here is simple: Our national security requires a U.S. ambassador and a diplomatic team with experience, judgment, drive, and creativity. Our ambassadors, whether appointed from outside government or from the Foreign Service, must serve the administration in office with clarity and that includes telling Washington what it needs to hear and when it needs to hear it, even if Washington doesn’t want to hear it.
The job of ambassador requires experienced, tough, multitalented people who will energetically and fearlessly advance — not just defend but advance — the interests of the United States. That’s what taxpayers have a right to expect. And that is what the apparent purge of the career U.S. Foreign Service, including the firing of 30 ambassadors, endangers. The tremendous loss of experienced senior leaders in the Foreign Service cannot easily be remedied. The next president, regardless of party, will not be able to call upon the kind of senior advice and experience that every previous president has inherited. The damage is generational. We have already passed the tipping point.
Ambassador (ret.) Robert Cekuta is a four-decade veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service whose postings included Berlin, Tokyo, Albania, and the Middle East as well as senior positions in State and Ambassador to Azerbaijan.” He is a member of The Steady State.
Ambassador (ret.) Eric Rubin is a four-decade veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service whose postings included Tegucigalpa, Kyiv, Chiang Mai, Moscow and Sofia. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria before returning to Washington to lead the American Foreign Service Association. He is a member of The Steady State.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 360 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.