About 30 veteran diplomats are fired by the Trump administration
The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it seeks to reshape the US diplomatic posture abroad with personnel considered fully supportive of President Donald Trump’s America First priorities. Last week, chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were notified that their tenures would conclude in January, as per two State Department officials. All of them had assumed their roles in the Biden administration but had endured an initial purge during the early months of Trump’s second term, which primarily focused on political appointees. That changed on Wednesday when they started receiving notices from officials in Washington regarding their imminent departures.
Ambassadors serve at the discretion of the president, although they generally hold their positions for a duration of three to four years. Officials stated that those impacted by the shake-up will not be losing their foreign service jobs; instead, they will have the option to return to Washington for other assignments if they choose to do so. The State Department refrained from providing details on specific numbers or ambassadors impacted, yet justified the alterations, describing them as a routine procedure in any administration. It emphasized that an ambassador serves as a personal representative of the president, and it is the president’s prerogative to appoint individuals in these countries who promote the America First agenda.
Africa stands as the continent most impacted by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 nations being dismissed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda. Next is Asia, where ambassadorial changes are set to occur in six nations: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Four countries in Europe—Armenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia—are affected, along with two each in the Middle East (Algeria and Egypt), South and Central Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka), and the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname). Politico was the first to report on the ambassadorial recalls, which have raised concerns among certain lawmakers and the union representing American diplomats.
