Category: Diplomacy in Crisis

Abigail Williams, NBC News
Diplomacy in decline

Shannon K. Kingston, ABC News
US diplomats undergoing divisive new review process

Jeffrey Kluger, Time
Shutting Down USAID Led to a Rise in Global Violence, Study Says

Jennifer Hansler, CNN
As global crises multiply, scores of US diplomats say they have been forced out

Mary Kuntz, Federal News Network
You can’t recruit talent into a system people don’t trust

American Foreign Service Association
AFSA Statement on State Department Reductions in Force

Association of Black American Ambassadors
ABAA Statement on Zambia Aid

Jory Heckman, Federal News  Network
Amid hiring push, State Dept finalizes hundreds of layoffs initiated last summer

Steven E Hendrix, Asia Times
With USAID gone, Indo-Pacific allies face the fallout

Laura Kelly, The Hill
USAID has $19B to close out agency. Critics push to use funds to save lives

Michele Kelemen, NPR
The State Department has had a surge in new retirements

Dennis Jett, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Trump: Down with diplomats, down with aid

John Dinkelman, The Hill
While America fights a war, the State Department is focused on dress codes

Lisandra Gomez-Tate, 2paragraphs
Former U.S. Ambassador to China Says Just 7% of U.S. Ambassadors Are Career Diplomats, “Our Country Deserves Better”

Beatrice Camp, Public Diplomacy Council of America (PDCA)
Where Will the Next Generation of China Hands Come From?

Steven E. Hendrix, Newsweek
America Is Weakening the One Asset It Needs To Compete With China

Philip Wang, Time
‘It’s Not Working’: Diplomats Fear Trump’s Iran Envoys Are Making Things Worse

Nahal Toosi, Politico
Diplomatic cables show Iran war is damaging US on multiple fronts across the world

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

Ibrahim Aksoy,  CBSNews
State Department overhauls Foreign Service Officer Test, introduces “America First” foreign policy lectures

Sean Michael, Govexec
As the number of political appointees surge and career SES ranks shrink, one nonprofit warns of ‘institutional consequences’

Jennifer Hansler, CNN
State Dept. announces ‘reforms’ to foreign service test and inclusion of ‘America First’ curriculum for orientation

Ja’han Jones, MS Now
State Dept. ‘reforms’ foreign service training to include white supremacist teachings

Joseph Gedeon, The Guardian
US directs embassies to team up against foreign ‘hostility’ – and use X to ‘counter anti-American propaganda’
Cable signed by Marco Rubio and seen by Guardian suggests staff work with Pentagon psychological operations unit

Daniella Cheslow and Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing, Politico
Trump admin resurrects soft power

Sasha Regelsberg, Fortune
‘It’s shocking how poorly prepared the administration is’: DOGE gutted major energy personnel who warn the U.S. has lost key insights amid Iran war

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

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

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

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

Ben Johansen, Politico
U.S.-funded international broadcaster sends new round of resignation offers to employees

Ryan Gliha, LinkedIn
What’s Going On With the “RIFed” U.S. Diplomats: a 2026 Update

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

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

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

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

Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau, George W. Bush Institute
The strategic importance of U.S. values-based ‘soft’ power

Argie Ghedi with Andrew Natsios, Max Bergman, Akbar Shahid Ahmed, and Kevin Whitaker, 1a WAMU NPR
dot Gov ’26: The State Department and USAID

Alice Hill and Lindsey Doyle, Foreign Affairs
Less Foreign Aid, More Climate Risk The Massive Costs of Gutting USAID

W. Robert Pearson, Substack
DIPLOMACY and OUR SHARED CREED

J. Brian Atwood and Andrew S. Natsios, The Hill
What Americans lost in the dismantling of USAID

Franklin Foer, The Atlantic
The Purged