An undiplomatic system: Political appointments are undermining America’s image abroad |
An undiplomatic system: Political appointments are undermining America’s image abroad
At a Senate hearing last month, Jeremy Carl, President Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary of State for international organizations, was pressed about past remarks claiming that “anti-white racism is tearing America apart” and that “the Jews love to see themselves oppressed.” Democrats called the comments vile and offensive; Carl’s nomination appears unlikely to advance.
That outcome is justified, but it misses the deeper problem. The real scandal is that Jeremy Carl was nominated and advanced in the first place.
As a former Senate staffer, I have seen the Senate confirmation process in action. In a typical administration, it exists to prevent ideologically extreme people from wielding consequential authority. Yet in today’s hyperpolarized United States, that safeguard is faltering. Party loyalty now outweighs national interests. Nominations are tribal contests rather than job searches for the best candidate.
As a result, figures once sidelined now stand on the brink of shaping America’s role in the world. To ensure a competent and credible diplomatic corps, we must overhaul our nomination system and put a limit on political appointees.
Sound nomination practices didn’t erode overnight. Over the past two decades, the line between ideological loyalty and political reward has nearly disappeared. Ambassadorships and senior diplomatic posts increasingly go to donors, loyalists and movement figures whose chief qualification is personal allegiance.
The acceleration has been dramatic.
For decades, presidents of both parties nominated career diplomats to roughly two-thirds of ambassadorial posts. That norm is now collapsing. Political appointees exceeded 40 percent under both Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, and then exploded to more than 90 percent in Trump’s second term. It is no longer unusual to hear would-be ambassadors emphasize personal access to the president rather than diplomatic experience, or even, in this vetting season, a willingness to conduct “golf-course diplomacy” on Trump’s commercial properties.
Source: Compiled from https://afsa.org/list-ambassadorial-appointments
The problem, however, is not confined to the presidency. It lies with the Senate as well.
Research shows that Congress has largely abdicated its constitutional role in keeping the executive branch in check. Instead of questioning the president, as Article II intends, the Senate routinely accommodates presidential preferences.
When the Senate is controlled by the president’s party, as it currently is, the Senate is even less willing to go against the president. The result shields the president from accountability and normalizes the political takeover of diplomacy.
The consequences are real. Some recent nominees have displayed startling ignorance or open bigotry. The nominee to Singapore did not know the significance of the region for U.S. national security, or that Singapore would host an important upcoming ASEAN meeting. Another, to Luxembourg, compared Chinese companies to vermin coming “in through the crawl spaces” — an undiplomatic and highly racist trope. Both advanced through the process.
Some may view ambassadorships as glamorous, high-status postings without significant responsibilities. But they’re not—and shouldn’t be. Ambassadors protect Americans abroad, as well as manage military alliances, negotiate trade relationships, defuse crises, and represent the United States at moments when a single misstep can reverberate globally.
Good ambassadors are largely invisible — and that means they are doing their jobs.
Thomas Pickering, who served as ambassador to six countries and the United Nations, built global coalitions in the U.N. Security Council. Caroline Kennedy strengthened critical alliances with Japan and Australia, leveraging credibility and discipline to deepen strategic ties. Ryan Crocker, a career Foreign Service officer who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and elsewhere, helped steady U.S. policy in war zones. These were not ceremonial roles. They were frontline assignments. That is what ambassadorships are supposed to be.
There is a better way forward, and the solutions are not complicated. Congress should put a cap on the percentage of political nominees — perhaps make it the two-thirds career-professional practice that prevailed for decades. Congress should also require baseline qualifications for senior diplomatic and international posts. Do nominees speak the language? Know the country’s history? Have they demonstrated diplomatic or foreign policy experience in previous work?
It should also go without saying that any nominee who has expressed racist, misogynistic, antisemitic or Islamophobic rhetoric should be eliminated before hearings if they do not clearly repudiate their remarks.
Until the confirmation process once again functions as a genuine vetting system, and until both parties accept that some standards must exist beyond party loyalty, the United States will continue to bleed credibility abroad and competence at home. The real danger is not one controversial nominee. It is a system that keeps producing them.
Amy Stambach is professor of anthropology and international studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She previously has been an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a research fellow at the Smithsonian Institution.
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