An Unforced Error at the State Department

Seven days after I packed up my office at Foggy Bottom and six days into what is shaping up to be a very long four years, I was shocked to read about the abrupt exit of an esteemed group of career State Department officials.

You may have never heard of Pat Kennedy, the outgoing Under Secretary of State for Management, or any of the other senior officials leaving the State Department this week. That’s no surprise, as they were not the sort to seek out headlines. They did, however, make State run smoothly for Republican and Democratic Administrations alike and were essential in the Department’s core operations.

I served as a political appointee at State for over six years and no matter the crisis, my colleagues and I were grateful to have so many talented and trusted career diplomats in leadership positions.

Running State is no easy task — there are over 24,000 Americans (and another 45,000 local employees) working at over 300 locations to support countless U.S. diplomatic missions. Dealing with everything from passports to plutonium smuggling, the dedicated and highly-skilled patriots at State are promoting and defending the values and ideals of this nation every single day. They don’t get a lot of parades, but make no mistake, they are major players in our democracy, our economy, and our security.

Given the critical nature of the tasks performed by State, the transition from one Administration to another should be transparent and steady. Under Secretary Kennedy and the other outgoing officials were providing much-needed stability over the past few months and it seems that many were willing to continue this service, as needed. (Keep in mind that these leaders were not political appointees. They were career diplomats with decades of experience and no party affiliation.)

The new Administration should, of course, shape a leadership team that suits them, but when it comes to the top posts at State — no matter who leaves and for what reason — competent replacements should be ready to immediately take the reins.

Further, seasoned diplomats help new appointees learn how to keep small misunderstandings from becoming major conflicts. Public servants with experience can help explain why moving an embassy or undervaluing allies can have long-term, dangerous consequences. Creating vacancies throughout the senior levels of the Department is an unforced error, particularly when the officials in question had such granular knowledge of how the building works.

The error will now compound, as it takes properly-vetted candidates months to make it through the confirmation process in the Senate. With each passing day, the discomfort and unease among our diplomats and their foreign counterparts will grow worse. That is why former officials from both parties are expressing concern about this move.

The new President and his team may have a lot of foreign policy plans, but they are very new to this field (no, international business is not the same thing) and they will need the wisdom and counsel that senior foreign service officers and civil servants can provide.

Serving at State was an honor and I was learning new things from my colleagues up until the day I left. For every wonk out there with a foreign policy idea, there is a State Department employee who has likely contemplated the nuances, complexities, and pitfalls of that idea more thoroughly. That kind of expertise is an asset, not an impediment.

Diplomacy is hard, often thankless work and I can assure you that it cannot and will not be managed in 140-character quips. Until suitable replacements are found, confirmed and brought up to speed, the new Administration should retain every remaining senior leader at State. When the country is dealing with major challenges around the globe, that’s just common sense.