A foreign service labor union on Thursday dismissed worries about brain drain at the State Department, saying senior diplomats who resign can be replaced easily.
“Have no doubt that the next generation of leaders is eager to step up and serve, ensuring the continuity of this great institution,” American Foreign Service Association Barbara Stephenson said Thursday.
Stephenson, a former ambassador to Panama, issued that statement in response to news that several senior State Department officials had their resignation letters accepted in recent days. It’s not clear whether all the officials left under pressure or of their own accord, but the departures stoked concerns outside the government that Trump’s incoming foreign policy team would be unprepared.
“It’s the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember, and that’s incredibly difficult to replicate,” David Wade, who spent two years as Secretary of State John Kerry’s chief of staff, told the Washington Post. “Department expertise in security, management, administrative and consular positions in particular are very difficult to replicate and particularly difficult to find in the private sector.”
AFSA acknowledged the “large turnover in a short period of time,” but maintained that there is “nothing unusual” about the Trump administration bringing in a new team.
“Like the military, the career Foreign Service is an up-or-out system — those who fail to move up are forced out — and it relies on regular rotations (we typically move to a new job every 2-3 years) to perform a key mission — that is, developing a deep bench of experienced senior leaders year after year,” Stephenson said. “Thus, both rotations to new positions and retirements after a fixed number of years of service are part of the DNA of the Foreign Service.”
