US diplomatic service ‘depleted at dizzying speed’

The top ranks of the US diplomatic service are being “depleted at dizzying speed”, according to the head of the American Foreign Service Association union, Barbara Stephenson. More than half its career ambassadors have either retired or resigned since Donald Trump took office.

“The number of career ambassadors (professional diplomats rather than political appointees) was down 60 per cent since January, while the number of career ministers, one rank below, has declined from 33 to 19,” The Guardian reports.

According to Stephenson, "the rapid loss of so many senior officers has a serious, immediate, and tangible effect on the capacity of the United States to shape world events". She predicts a “public outcry” unless the shortfall is rectified.

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If it is not, says ABC News, “the US could face a diminished role on the world stage, unable to keep up with the increasingly aggressive foreign policies of rising countries like China”.

However, the Trump administration has imposed a hiring freeze on the State Department, and seems to be in no hurry to fill vacant diplomatic roles.

“A year after President Donald Trump's election, there are no nominees for scores of unfilled senior posts at the Department of State,” the BBC reports. There is no US ambassador to South Korea, for example, despite tensions throughout Asia over North Korea’s missile programme.