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Quote, "unjustified seismic shift" in the U.S. foreign policy enterprise - that is how some Democrats are describing the reforms taking place at the State Department. The Trump administration has already gutted the lead U.S. aid agency, and the remnants will now be absorbed by the State Department, which is also facing cutbacks. As NPR's Michele Kelemen reports, all of this has veteran diplomats worried.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: For a hundred years, the American Foreign Service Association has supported U.S. diplomats at home and around the world. The Trump administration has stripped it of its collective bargaining rights with the State Department, something AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi is now fighting in court.
TOM YAZDGERDI: Without collective bargaining rights, any major initiatives, say, on assignments or promotions, we no longer have eyes on. That's not only bad for our members, I think it's bad for the Foreign Service.
KELEMEN: But it's not only the union's troubles that worry Yazdgerdi, a veteran Foreign Service officer. He says it's important for the U.S. to have a professional, nonpartisan Foreign Service to help Americans overseas promote American businesses and carry out the policy of the president. But right now, he's seeing a lot of talent leaving.
YAZDGERDI: We have more people who have retired in the first 2 1/2 months of this year than in all of last year, so it's on pace to be a record year. And that's unfortunate because I think we want to also maintain, you know, that senior experience and knowledge. Mentorship is a huge thing in the Foreign Service. We might be losing some of that if we just see a run for the door from our senior Foreign Service members.
KELEMEN: The State Department has canceled summer internships. There's a hiring freeze and talk of closing a couple dozen diplomatic posts, including embassies and consulates. Retired Ambassador Ronald Neumann of the American Academy of Diplomacy says these kind of cuts can be done smartly.
RONALD NEUMANN: There's an intelligent way to reduce the size of the overseas footprint. But you can also do it stupidly.
KELEMEN: And what he's seen so far from the Trump administration gives him pause - that includes the dismantlement of USAID and a more recent decision to put a junior Foreign Service officer in charge of the State Department's Bureau of Global Talent.
NEUMANN: This is like, say, taking a second lieutenant and saying, OK, you should be chief of staff for the Army.
KELEMEN: The State Department would not comment on personnel matters related to Lew Olowski, a lawyer and Trump loyalist who joined the Foreign Service four years ago. He's now acting as the top official in a bureau usually run by a veteran diplomat confirmed by the Senate. Senator Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on a foreign relations subcommittee overseeing the department, is alarmed.
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Another very alarming proposal would be to replace experienced, knowledgeable career Foreign Service officers with political hacks.
KELEMEN: Van Hollen and other Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who used to be one of their Republican colleagues on the committee.
VAN HOLLEN: Rubio has been pretty much AWOL. I will say that the, you know, Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have not been exercising their oversight responsibilities.
KELEMEN: Republican Chairman Jim Risch has, so far, backed the changes the Trump administration is making, saying he did not want USAID to survive. But he says he does plan to have Rubio appear before the committee at some point to talk about the reforms. Van Hollen says things are moving too quickly, and America's soft power institutions are suffering.
VAN HOLLEN: The Trump administration is doing grave damage to America's ability to conduct diplomacy around the world, and they are leaving the door wide open for China to rush in. And we're already seeing that in many areas where AID has been dismantled.
KELEMEN: Democrats say they have seen one positive sign this past weekend. The man who oversaw the dismantlement of USAID, Pete Marocco, has now left the State Department. But in a statement, the department says it expects big things for Marocco's next mission, though it didn't elaborate. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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