For Immediate Release
May 5, 2026
Press Contact: Communications & Outreach Director Nikki Gamer | gamer@afsa.org

Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, the State Department separated more than 200 Foreign Service members under the reduction in force first announced last July, even as it continues to recruit and onboard new officers. Those forced out include officers with rare language skills, specialists with decades of institutional knowledge, and crisis responders, at a moment when the United States is managing an active conflict with Iran.

AFSA strongly opposes these separations.

We opposed them at the outset, and what we have seen unfold inside and outside the department over the past 10 months has only deepened our concern. The department has never adequately explained why it is removing experienced Foreign Service professionals with critical skills while simultaneously hiring new personnel. This is not sound workforce planning. It is a disruption to the career diplomatic corps at a moment when the country can least afford it.

AFSA believes the procedures used to carry out these RIFs were legally flawed and inconsistent with the Foreign Service Act of 1980. Diplomats separated through this process, including those with skills directly relevant to the Iran crisis, have been sidelined from contributing to the response.

Congress has taken notice. We are grateful to the sponsors and cosponsors of the Protecting America’s Diplomatic Workforce Act for their efforts to restore and codify the Foreign Affairs Manual provisions that should have governed this process from the start. We urge Congress to pass the bill and restore the guardrails this process ignored.

On Friday, AFSA held its annual memorial plaque ceremony at AFSA headquarters to honor those who died while in service. This was done after the State Department declined to hold the event on the first Friday in May, as families of the fallen have long expected. AFSA showed up for the workforce then. We will continue to show up wherever the department does not.

That is our mission, and we will keep pushing for change.

The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) is the professional association and labor union of the men and women of the United States Foreign Service.