Worrisome Gaps in State Department Staffing
About a month ago, I wrote that Congress’s strong appropriation for the Department of State and for its exchange programs was a very encouraging sign for all of us in the exchange community.
Maybe I wrote too soon.
An NPR interview this week with Max Bergmann, who worked at State for six years during the Obama Administration, publicly reinforced what I’ve been hearing for some time from colleagues in and around the Department: that under Secretary Rex Tillerson, State is being – to use Bergmann’s term – ‘hollowed out’.
Even with a one per cent increase in funding for the current fiscal year (not usually considered a sign of dire financial straits), the Trump administration’s State Department has instituted a hiring freeze. That means that as people leave or retire, they mostly are not replaced. Some senior Foreign Service Officers and civil servants – people with abiding personal commitments to U.S. national security and career-deep expertise – have been reassigned to lesser positions, and have chosen to leave the Department. And the intake of junior Foreign Service officers appears to have slowed to a trickle.
Put these details together and here’s what you get: State is choosing to diminish itself at its senior and junior rungs, and to not fill vacancies. It’s hard to discern how this approach will enhance our diplomacy, or our national security.
You can hear Bergmann’s NPR interview here.
And read his longer treatment of the topic in a Politico article here.
I served in the Foreign Service for about 16 years, with overseas tours in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Beijing, plus several Washington assignments. I can tell you that the State Department’s foreign service and civil service staff is exceptional – smart, dedicated, and passionate about serving the American public. I was proud to be among them, every single day.
The notion that we can conduct successful diplomacy on the cheap is just wrong. The United States remains the most important country in the world, and we need a State Department that can effectively serve our national interests, needs, and ambitions. That requires resources, not just dollars but also human resources.
State Department staffing is not the kind of topic that will lead the nightly news, but it is critically important to our national well-being. This issue raises serious alarm bells, and thus deserves serious attention from Congress, the media, and the public.
Michael McCarry is a Senior Advisor at CENET. With over 37 years of international experience– both as a Foreign Service Officer and the Executive Director of the Alliance for International Exchange– Michael McCarry is a leader within the exchange community, with distinct insight and knowledge in policy, foreign affairs, and public diplomacy.
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