Category: Commentary

RIF’d State and AID Employees, American Foreign Service Association
Service Disrupted: Firsthand Accounts from the Field

Alex Thomas, Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Ex-USAID worker mourns agency’s fate

Day Mount, The Falmouth Enterprise
AFSA: A Union That Can’t Strike

Nahal Toosi, Politico
Trump is breaking US diplomacy, State Department staffers say

Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor
State Department cuts raise a question: What is the US national interest?

Sarah Gal, Public Diplomacy Council of America
People to People Outreach — How It Works for Orlando Florida

Abigail Williams and Dan De Luce, NBC News
U.S. diplomats say they’re reluctant to share inconvenient truths with the Trump administration

The Cost to America and the World The American Diplomacy journal has focused its mission on presenting the voices of practitioners:  commentaries and stories from people who “have been there.”  With this section of the journal, we aim to explore … Read more

Shiv Patel and Karen Ames, Asia Times
The agony and death left by USAID’s exit from Myanmar

Michael C. Loftus, War on the Rocks
Gutting U.S. Government Humanitarianism Makes the Defense Department’s Job Harder

The Editor’s Page Commentary Shifting Sands for Public Diplomacy in the USSR and Russia by Michael Hurley The Destruction of USAID: How to Cause Innocent Deaths, Save Little Money, Betray Our Legacy and Help Our Adversaries by W. Robert Pearson … Read more

The Trump administration’s assault on our nation’s professional diplomatic service continues.  As of mid-July, of 195 ambassadorial positions in the State Department, 107 are currently vacant.  The administration has still not nominated ambassadors to India, Indonesia, or Brazil—three of the five most populous countries in the world–to Germany, Russia, or Ukraine. 

by Michael Hurley 

How to Cause Innocent Deaths, Save Little Money, Betray Our Legacy and Help Our Adversaries
by W. Robert Pearson

Did One Side “Blink” and Why Did Each Go to Paris?
by Thomas E. McNamara

Ambassador Harrop’s memorial and a reception to follow will be held at Fox Hill Residences, 8300 Burdette Road, Bethesda, MD 20817 on Saturday, June 28, from 3:00–5:00 PM. There will be valet parking, as parking at Fox Hill is limited, … Read more

Kate Knibbs, Wired
‘People Are Going to Die’: A Malnutrition Crisis Looms in the Wake of USAID Cuts

Steve Inskeep, NPR.org
How layoffs will affect the State Department and American diplomacy

Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, Annie Gray, CNN
State Department firings will hit Trump admin’s ability to tackle its own priorities, sources say

Trygve Olson, Searching for Hope
Firing the Front Line: Why Hollowing Out the State Department Destroys American Power

Jeff Hovenier, The Bellingham Herald
The U.S. just fired nearly 1,400 diplomats. That should alarm us all

Glenn C. Altschuler, The Hill
A postmortem on the dismantling of USAID

Press Release, American Foreign Service Association
AFSA Strongly Opposes State Department Reductions in Force

Press Release, The American Academy of Diplomacy
The Academy Opposes Deep Cuts to American Diplomats

Abigail Williams, NBCNews
Veteran U.S. diplomats baffled after mass layoffs at State Department

Kama Garrison, The Oklahoman
The cruelty of ending work at USAID erases a lifetime of humanitarianism

The Steady State
Statement from The Steady State on the Mass Firing of State Department Officers

Michael Boorstein, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
USAID closure will hurt Florida – and America

Jonathan Landay and Daphne Psaledakis, Reuters
Over 100 former senior officials warn against planned staff cuts at US State Department
Anna Gawel, devex
State Department employees in anxious limbo over massive staff cuts
Jory Heckman, Federal News Network
‘Fidelity’ to Trump policies now part of criteria for Foreign Service promotions
Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press News
Bush, Obama — and singer Bono — fault Trump’s gutting of USAID on agency’s last day
Ari Daniel, npr
Farewell to USAID: Reflections on the agency that President Trump dismantled
Jim Bever, The Foreign Service Journal
When USAID Disappears
Shaun Tandon, Barron’s (from AFP News)
Rubio Hails End Of USAID As Bush, Obama Deplore Cost In Lives

The Guardian

US state department told to end nearly all its overseas pro-democracy programs
All but two of the programs awarded under the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor would be cut, affecting nearly $1.3bn in grants

General Joe Votel, former Centcom Commander, YouTube
VOA Is a National Security Asset, Not Just a News Outlet

Ambassador William Burns, YouTube
Stand Up for Service

Humeyra Pamuk, Reuters
American Foreign Service Association urges State Dept to halt planned layoffs amid litigation

William Herkewitz, NYT
I Worked at U.S.A.I.D. for Over 8 Years. This Is Our Biggest Failure.

Ben Johansen, Politico
Majority of staff axed at Voice of America

Various Authors, AFSA Media Digest. What We’ve Lost
ELLEN KNICKMEYER and LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press. Rubio orders firings of all USAID staffers overseas to move forward
Briana (Odom) Imran, Federal News Network. Executive order may alter rights for Foreign Service employees
Dennis Jett, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Donald Trump is selling more ambassadorships than normal
Ben Johansen, Politico. US scrambles to bring back VOA’s Persian service amid Iran-Israel conflict 
Opinion Letters, New York Times. Dimming America’s Beacons to the World

David Folkenflik, NPR. From 1,300 to 81 workers: Trump official plans to cut Voice of America to the bone 

Scott Busby and Charles O. (Cob) Blaha, Just Security. How the Proposed State Department Reorganization Guts U.S. Human Rights Diplomacy

Ben Johansen, Politico. Termination notices expected to go out to all remaining Voice of America employees this week
Joseph Gedeon, The Guardian. Trump administration closes state department’s office of analytic outreach
Robbie Gramer, Politico. Rubio outlines plans to drastically cut human rights offices in State
Elizabeth Colton, Citizen Times. Support, honor US Peace Corps and other civilian services now being dismantled