(CNN) — The Trump administration is removing numerous career ambassadors from their posts abroad, marking the latest shake-up of the US State Department and diplomatic corps.
At least two dozen senior diplomats have received notice that they must leave their roles next month, sources said. They were appointed to ambassadorships around the world during the Biden administration, but are career diplomats, meaning they have served for years in the foreign service under presidents of both parties.
Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, but their tenures in each diplomatic mission usually last three or four years. Political appointee ambassadors typically leave their roles at a change of administration.
A senior State Department official described the recall of the ambassadors as “a standard process in any administration.”
“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,” they said.
The official did not confirm the number of career ambassadors being recalled or the locations where they served. Politico first reported on the removal of the career diplomats.
However, former diplomats described the situation as unprecedented.
“This has never happened in the 101-year history of the U.S. Foreign Service. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president. But every president has kept most career professional ambassadors in place until their successors are confirmed by the Senate,” said Eric Rubin, a retired career diplomat and former president of the American Foreign Service Association.
Rubin said the US is now facing a situation where more than half of US embassies abroad will not have a confirmed ambassador, calling it “a serious insult to the countries affected, and a huge gift to China.”
“The ambassadors who have been dismissed will mostly have to retire, which means the State Dept. will lose a large number of our most senior, experienced and accomplished professionals,” he said. “This is bad for our diplomacy, bad for our national security, and bad for our influence in the world.”
AFSA, the union for foreign service officers, said it “has received credible reports from our members in diplomatic posts across the world that multiple career ambassadors, appointed during the Biden administration, have been directed to vacate their posts by January 15 or 16.”
“According to our sources, no explanation was given for these recalls,” its statement said.
In its statement, AFSA warned that “to remove these senior diplomats without cause or justification sends a dangerous message.”
“It tells our allies that America’s commitments may shift with the political winds. And yet again, it tells our public servants that loyalty to country is no longer enough—that experience and oath to the Constitution take a backseat to political loyalty,” the organization said. “This is not how America leads.”
Although the career ambassadors are not being fired, they only have a limited window to find a new assignment, or else they will have to retire consistent with foreign service rules.
According to sources, most of the impacted ambassadors are serving at US diplomatic posts in Africa, but the removals also affect posts in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere.
The move to recall the senior diplomats is the latest by the Trump administration to reshape the State Department and strongly align it with its “America First” priorities. More than 1,300 officials who worked at the State Department headquarters in Washington, DC, including more than 240 foreign service officers, lost their jobs as part of a dramatic overhaul of the agency earlier this year.
Directed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, there have been sweeping changes made to the department to focus on the Trump administration’s priorities, including reducing immigration to the US and promoting the administration’s worldview, with less emphasis on protecting and promoting human rights across the globe.
A scathing report by AFSA released earlier this month found that changes by the Trump administration have left US diplomats demoralized and less able to do their jobs.
The report, based on a survey of foreign service members, found that a vast majority of respondents — 98% — said morale had declined since January, and a third were considering leaving the foreign service early.
25% of the foreign service has “resigned, retired, seen their agencies dismantled, or been removed from their posts” since January, the report said, and more are considering leaving.
At a press conference last week, Rubio downplayed the findings of the report.
“Foreign Service officers are more empowered at the regional bureau than they have ever been,” he said.
“We are changing this place so that it is our missions in the field that are not just driving directives from the top down but also ideas from the bottom up. And I’m very proud of that, and I think that’s going to lead and pay huge dividends for future secretaries of State long after I’m gone,” Rubio said.
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