Overview
- The administration has ordered nearly 30 Senate-confirmed career diplomats across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America to return to Washington.
- Ten Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent a formal letter urging President Trump to rescind the recalls, saying vacancies would rise to well over 100 out of roughly 195 posts.
- The State Department defends the action as a standard executive prerogative and has not outlined a plan or timeline to install replacements.
- The American Foreign Service Association says its archives show no prior instance of such a mass recall and reports abrupt phone notifications with about 90 days to seek new assignments, as reported.
- The action follows a foreign service overhaul and summer layoffs that cut roughly 11% of State’s workforce, and reporting indicates most recalled ambassadors were originally posted during the Biden administration.