American Foreign Service Association says multiple ambassadors ordered to go by mid-January with no reason given.
The United States government is recalling dozens of ambassadors and other senior career diplomats to ensure embassies are aligned with President Donald Trump’s “America First” priorities, in a move some predict will erode the country’s credibility on the world stage.
The State Department declined to provide a list of the diplomats being recalled, but a senior official told the Reuters news agency on Monday that the move was “a standard process in any administration”, claiming that an ambassador should be considered a “personal representative” of the president.
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“It is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
People familiar with the matter told Reuters that nearly 30 senior diplomats posted to smaller countries where the top US representative has traditionally been drawn from the apolitical Foreign Service were among those ordered back to Washington.
The Associated Press news agency quoted two anonymous State Department officials as saying that senior diplomats from at least 29 countries began to receive notice on Wednesday about their imminent departures.
The recalls were first reported by Politico, which said on Friday that two dozen ambassadors were being told to leave their posts, quoting a State Department official.
The American Foreign Service Association, which represents Foreign Service officers, said on its Facebook page that it had received “credible reports” that “multiple career ambassadors appointed during the Biden administration” had been ordered by phone to leave their posts by January 15 or 16, with no explanation provided for the move.
“Abrupt, unexplained recalls reflect the same pattern of institutional sabotage and politicisation our survey data shows is already harming morale, effectiveness, and US credibility abroad,” said spokesperson Nikki Gamer in an email cited by Reuters.
‘Giving away US leadership to China and Russia’
Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, although they typically remain at their posts for three to four years.
Those affected by the shake-up are not losing their foreign service jobs but will be returning to Washington for other assignments should they wish to take them, according to the State Department officials who spoke to AP.
The news agency said Africa was most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.
Ambassadorial changes are also coming to Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Armenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Algeria, Egypt, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Guatemala and Suriname, it said.
Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said on X that Trump was “giving away US leadership to China and Russia by removing qualified career Ambassadors who serve faithfully no matter who’s in power”.
“This makes America less safe, less strong and less prosperous,” she said.