The Trump administration pulled nearly 30 ambassadors from around the world, according to reports.
Ambassadors from Africa, the Asia-Pacific Region, some European areas, and Central America are being recalled. The areas include, as reported by The New York Post: Algeria, Armenia, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Fiji, Gabon, Guatemala, Ivory Coast, Laos, Mauritius, Montenegro, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. The diplomats are not being fired, officials explained, but have the opportunity to be reassigned elsewhere within the State Department.
“This is a standard process in any administration,” a senior State Department official told Fox News in a statement. “An ambassador is a personal representative of the President, and it is the President’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda. We encourage returning ambassadors to continue serving their country by finding new opportunities within the Department to advance President Trump’s America First agenda.”
While officials assert that the diplomats are not being punished or facing retaliation, John Dinkelman, president of the American Foreign Service Association, a union, told Politico that the action hurts the U.S. diplomacy.
“It continues to undermine the confidence in the professional Foreign Service’s ability to effectively carry out the policies of the elected leadership of our nation,” he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in April that he planned to implement sweeping changes to put “America and Americans first.”
Rubio said the State Department’s current form is “bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission.”
“Over the past 15 years, the Department’s footprint has had unprecedented growth and costs have soared. But far from seeing a return on investment, taxpayers have seen less effective and efficient diplomacy,” he said. “The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America’s core national interests.”
