Senate Democrats push for more career diplomats, fewer political appointees

Or how about the story about the bipartisan political fundraiser that President Barack Obama nominated to be US ambassador to Norway, George Tunis, who had never been to Norway and displayed astonishing ignorance about the country during a disastrous Senate confirmation hearing before subsequently withdrawing the nomination.

In response to these examples, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has introduced legislation aimed at strengthening the State Department’s senior staff, including ambassadors (also called chiefs of mission) and assistant secretaries. Kaine isn’t opposed to politicians taking on high-profile roles, but he wants to ensure they’re competent. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) are co-sponsors.

Incidentally, Tsunis is currently President Biden’s ambassador to Greece. Tsunis speaks Greek and it is his parents’ home country.

One of the senators’ reasons for introducing the bill is the possibility of Trump’s reelection. Kaine opposed a Trump executive order that Biden rescinded that would have created a new category of federal employees, known as “Schedule F,” without the current civil service employment protections. The order threatened to increase the number of political appointees in the federal workforce while reducing the number of independent employees.

“Having seen Donald Trump try that, I believe he will do it again … like he said he would,” Kaine explained during an interview in his Capitol Hill office on Tuesday afternoon.

Unlike many countries, the United States does not necessarily send its best people abroad – highly respected diplomats trained to represent Washington internationally.

“I want to further professionalize our diplomatic service and make sure that our political appointees also have a degree of integrity in addition to being supporters of the president,” Kaine said.

According to a bill summary, Kane’s legislation would:

• Require that at least 75 percent of assistant secretaries in the State Department be selected from senior foreign service or senior administrative officers.

● We call on the President to determine that “ability, not contributions to political campaigns, is the primary qualification for appointment as Chief of Mission.”

● Ensure that “unvetted, unconfirmed political appointees at ambassadorial level are not given long-term, cushy overseas assignments at huge taxpayer expense.”

Susan R. Johnson, president of the Institute for Diplomatic Studies and Training, supports limiting political ambassador positions to no more than 15 percent of the group. “It’s unfortunate that these things have to be made into law, but that seems to be the way it is,” she said.

Thomas Yazdgerdi, president of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), said that while all ambassadors want to be diplomats, the reality is that popular posts “are going to be filled by political ambassadors… and that’s going to be the same for both political parties.”

“For example, I can’t remember the last time France, Britain, Germany or Italy had professional ambassadors,” he added. “And it was a long time ago, anyway.”

Yazdgerdi said an ambassador “must clearly demonstrate the ability to perform the duties of a chief of mission,” pointing to U.S. law that requires that competence include knowledge of the country’s language, culture, economics and political issues “to the greatest extent practicable.” Moreover, “the position of chief of mission should normally be awarded to a career member of the foreign service.” [Foreign] service.”

Currently, 62% of Biden’s ambassadors are career personnel. According to AFSA’s Ambassador Tracking System, 38 percent are not. Trump has increased the share of political appointees to 43.5 percent and career appointees to 56.5 percent. Under Obama, 70 percent were career appointees and 30 percent were political hires. Kaine wants 75 percent of the ambassadorial cadre to be career diplomats.

“At the senior level, even for key posts, the United States has a disproportionate number of political appointees in its foreign service,” said a 2017 study from the University of Texas at Austin. While the study acknowledged “highly accomplished political appointees who have served as exceptional ambassadors,” it added that “there are many more nepotistic appointees with no relevant qualifications who were selected primarily for their support of presidential campaigns.”

Mr. Kaine wants to stop that. Sitting across from a Mark Campbell painting of the James River in the senator’s hometown of Richmond, Mr. Kaine, an avid canoeist and kayaker, called for “the right balance” of professional and political ambassadors. “I don’t think the State Department needs to be a fully professionalized diplomatic corps like we see in other countries,” he said.

Kaine responded that some countries welcome a U.S. ambassador who is “close to the president” and “feel that it’s a sign of respect.” Career diplomats have “great track records” but are less likely to have “a really close relationship with the president.”

But ambassadors from other countries “are typically professionals who speak several languages, are familiar with the host country, and have extensive knowledge of their home country’s ministries,” according to a University of Texas at Austin report.

This is not necessarily the case for ambassadors selected because of their political connections.

“It is important to emphasize that the United States is paying a heavy price for being severely disadvantaged at the top level in many of its key missions overseas,” the university researchers wrote.