This seems a good moment to reflect on American Diplomacy’s goals and founding principles. Our goal is “to inform readers about international issues and diplomacy, to promote greater understanding of the Foreign Service and the role of diplomats, and to encourage readers to consider a Foreign Service career.” Our founding principles are balance and nonpartisanship and we welcome articles that represent a wide variety of foreign policy views in our journal. These principles do not require us to turn a blind eye to the fact that the current political climate in Washington threatens the very existence and functioning of a professional diplomatic service. In response, in March of this year the American Diplomacy Board issued a statement calling attention to this crisis and its implications for the US and the world. We have also begun the weekly publication of articles that question the wisdom of certain administration actions that will have a deleterious effect on the structure, functions and norms of the professional diplomatic service.
A country’s political leadership decides on its foreign policy goals; members of the diplomatic profession have a duty to advance those goals to the best of their ability. Resignation is an honorable, albeit costly, alternative. Subversion rarely is, although the post-World War II Nuremburg trials established that the “I was just following orders” defense cannot justify atrocities. Professional diplomats can offer policymakers a unique perspective both on how to present US policies abroad and on how the priorities and interests of other countries may affect US policies. Doing that requires a measure of trust and respect at both ends of the of the process. The policymaker does not have to accept the diplomat’s information and recommendations but must trust that they are being made in good faith. Diplomats must accept that their recommendations may not be adopted but must trust that they will not suffer consequences to their careers for making them.
No administration of which I am aware has achieved anything like perfect adherence to this ideal standard. But, because of its attacks on the structure, functioning and norms of its professional diplomatic service, no administration has fallen so far beneath this standard as the current one. This is a tragedy for America’s current diplomats. But it is more than that. It will lead to foreign policy decisions that are ill-informed, self-defeating, and contrary to our country’s fundamental interests. We are not prey to the illusion that our small efforts will alter this sad trajectory, but we also feel a responsibility to add our voice to those speaking in defense of our professional diplomatic service and we will continue to do that to the best of our ability.