Last Updated 12/10/25

As the labor union and professional association of the U.S. Foreign Service, AFSA provides expert insight on issues affecting the Foreign Service workforce. We work closely with the press to advocate for our members, offer informed analysis, and ensure that the stories of America’s diplomats and development professionals are heard. Please click here to read our most recent press releases.

Media Contacts

• Nikki Gamer, Director, Communications & Outreach
• Nadja Ruzica, Deputy Director, Communications & Outreach
  

AFSA in the News

• Government Executive: Judge temporarily blocks layoffs at State as unions seek to apply shutdown deal pause at 4 other agencies
• Daily Beast: U.S. Diplomats Are Hating Their Jobs Under Trump
• Substack: Destroying American Diplomacy: Pulling Down our First Line of Defense
• Huffington Post: Exodus From State Department Legal Office Could Heighten Risk Of Trump Admin Breaking The Law
• Reuters: US judge blocks 250 State Department layoffs for now
• Axios: "Dangerously low": Morale in the U.S. Foreign Service craters under Trump
• Devex: Foreign service in crisis as 1 in 4 officers pushed out, AFSA warns
• CNN: Trump administration changes have left US diplomats demoralized and less able to do their jobs, report says
• NPR: Survey finds low morale among U.S. diplomats after sweeping job cuts
• NY Times: U.S. Diplomats Report Broken Morale and Abandoned Careers
• FedScoop: Foreign service officers pursuing legal action after State moves forward with RIFs
• Federal News Network: State Dept finalizes mass layoffs, says employees won’t be reinstated under shutdown-ending deal
• FedScoop: Senate-approved resolution to open the government appears to halt diplomat RIFs
• Government Executive: ‘I have no idea what I’m going to do:’ Feds abroad fret about making rent without pay or subsidies during shutdown
• Devex: Former USAID staff honored for their ‘constructive dissent’
• Politico: Trump is breaking US diplomacy, State Department staffers say
• NBC News: U.S. diplomats say they are reluctant to share inconvenient truths with the Trump administration
• Federal News Network: After testing to join Foreign Service, candidates must retake version approved by Trump administration
• Federal News Network: State Dept promotes several diplomats after sending them layoff notices
• The Hill: State Department fires official who drafted Israel, Gaza talking points
• Newsweek: American Diplomacy Is Being Dismantled Before Our Eyes | Opinion
• The Hill: Unions’ battle for survival hits new wave with Trump termination of bargaining agreements
• Foreign Policy: Trump’s State Department Cuts Are a Self-Inflicted Wound
• Devex: Judge dismisses lawsuits challenging Trump’s USAID dismantling
• The Hill: Trump is causing generational damage to American diplomacy
• FT: The evolution of Marco Rubio
• C-Span: Randy Chester on the Future of Foreign Aid
• NY Times: Senate Democrats Rail at ‘Sloppy, Rushed’ State Dept. Firings
• NPR: How layoffs will affect the State Department and American diplomacy
• AP: State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan
• NPR: Hundreds laid off in State Department overhaul
• Politico: State lays off more than 1,300 people as Rubio pledges more efficiency
• NY Times: Rubio’s Cuts at State Department Demote Longtime U.S. Values
• Newsweek: Applause as Teary State Department Workers Exit After Mass Firings
• The Hill: Rubio begins mass firings at State Department: Key takeaways
• The Hill: Senate Democrats join fired State Department employees to rally against layoffs
• The Guardian: US state department issues first of 1,350 termination orders after court lifted ban
• CNN: State Department is firing more than 1,300 staff on Friday
• CBS News: State Department enacts widespread layoffs, cutting 1,353 staff as part of reorganization
• The New Republic: Trump’s First Layoffs After Massive Supreme Court Victory Are Here
• NY Post: State Department cuts over 1,300 staffers as part of Trump administration’s sweeping overhaul
• The Hill: Rubio: USAID officially ceases operations
• Washington Post: Morale craters at State Department as mass layoffs loom
• CBS News: State Dept. layoffs could start as soon as Friday, as Supreme Court decision looms
• Reuters: American Foreign Service Association urges State Dept to halt planned layoffs amid litigation
• The Washington Times: Appeals court allows Trump to strip union rights from USAID, State Dept. employees
• FT: State department planning to lay off hundreds of US-based staff
• American Diplomat Podcast: Squeezing Blood From a Stone
• AP: Trump can’t strip Foreign Service workers of their collective bargaining rights, judge says
• CBS News: USAID to hire lawyers to investigate employees who talked to the press, alleged job posting shows
• Politico: Empty ambassador posts alarm natsec vets
• CBS News: Federal workers spoke to reporters after DOGE fired them. Now they face investigation.
• Government Executive: Rubio denies that Trump will politicize the Foreign Service and slash embassies
• France 24: Trump eyes gutting US diplomacy in Africa, cutting soft power: draft plan
• NPR: Big Changes at the U.S. State Department
• Washington Post: Trump plan would slash State Dept. funding by nearly half, memo says
• Devex: USAID foreign officers to be repatriated, local staff fired by Aug. 15th
• USA Today: Foreign Service union representing 18,000 workers sues Trump administration
• AP: Trump appointment of junior official to oversee State Department personnel meets resistance
• Reuters: Trump administration appoints junior officer to oversee US Foreign Service, sources say
• NY Times: Trump Administration Fires U.S. Aid Workers in Quake Zone in Myanmar
• Washington Post: Trump seeks court approval for most aggressive union-busting attempt ever
• CBS News: What Trump's silencing of Voice of America means for listeners worldwide | 60 Minutes
• Axios: Employees, agencies take legal action to save government-funded media
• CBC: U.S. federal workers clamp down on their communications in climate of DOGE-induced fear
• CNN: Voice of America channels fall silent as Trump administration guts agency and cancels contracts
• Government Executive: Workers and partners make renewed push to block Trump’s dismantling of USAID
• NY Times: U.S.A.I.D. Official Orders Employees to Shred or Burn Classified and Personnel Records
• NBC News: USAID employees told to burn or shred classified documents
• Forbes: USAID Dismantling Disrupts U.S. Workforce
• NPR: The State Department braces for looming cutbacks by the Trump administration
• CBS News: State Dept. claims it's sparing life-saving efforts from USAID cuts, but some groups say it's "not true"
• WTOP: Former USAID employees cheered as they go to their offices one last time
• PBS: USAID workers clear out belongings after mournful final visit to agency under federal guard
• USA Today: 'Least I can do': Supporters applaud as USAID employees given 15-minutes to clear out
• ABC News: USAID worker blames 'stress and strain' of Trump’s aid freeze for wife's pregnancy scare
• CBS News: With the dismantling of USAID, is the Trump administration defying the Constitution?
• NY Times: New Trump Executive Order Calls for ‘Reform’ to the U.S. Diplomatic Corps
• NBC News: Trump's foreign aid cuts scramble young public servants' career plans
• WBUR: Fear and concern pervades federal foreign service workforce
• Bloomberg: US Diplomats Told by Union to Prep "Go Bag" of Digital Records in Case of Ouster
• PBS Newshour: Fate of USAID in question as judge sets back efforts to dismantle the agency   
• CNN: Union president on suing administration over massive USAID changes  
• BBC News: Foreign Service union criticizes plans for USAID, says 'several dozen' staff placed on leave   
• NPR: 'Thank you for your service': Administration puts USAID staff on leave
• Newsweek: Admin Puts Almost All USAID Workers Worldwide on Leave
• Scripps: USAID employees posted outside of the US to be placed on administrative leave
• CNN: Rapid dismantling of USAID leaves workers around world concerned for safety and futures
• NY Times: Appointees to Put Almost All U.S.A.I.D. Workers on Leave
• NBC News: USAID announces nearly all direct hires will be placed on administrative leave
• AP: Administration is pulling almost all USAID workers off the job worldwide
• NBC News: Lawsuits imminent over dismantling of USAID
• Federal News Network (podcast): What foreign aid officers say about what's going on at USAID
• Market Watch: Why buyout offers are a hard sell for employees
• San Francisco Chronicle: Elon Musk Brought Down USAID. Can the Court Save it?

Hometown Voices

• MinnPost: The U.S. is Abandoning Ukraine and the ‘Nothing About You Without You’ Principle
• Middle East Institute: American Commitment to Foundational Values Must Withstand Assault by An Individual
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Real Peace Requires More Than Trump’s Amateurish Plans
• National Security Journal: From ‘Pariah’ to Power Player: MBS’ Triumphant Washington Comeback
• Jerusalem Strategic Tribune: Reforming the Department of State: A Vision for an Elite, Agile Diplomatic Corps
• RealClearWorld: The Quiet Bravery of Public Service
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The President Who Had No Clothes
• SpaceNews: ‘House of Dynamite’ and Where U.S. Missile Defense Goes From Here
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Trump’s Illegal Killings Make Us All Accomplices
• Jerusalem Strategic Tribune: Where We Are Headed with the Trump Peace Plan
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Donald Trump’s Remarkable Achievement
• Fulcrum: From Diplomat to Dissenter: Why I Protest Trump’s America
• The National Herald: Own Goals and Diplomatic Malpractice
• Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Ex-USAID worker mourns agency’s fate
• Chicago Tribune: Why we need dissent
• Cape News, Falmouth: AFSA: A Union That Can’t Strike
• Asheville Citizen-Times: Peace Corps volunteers helped eradicate smallpox through global health diplomacy
• Boulder Daily Camera: Decades of Diplomacy
• Asheville Citizen-Times: My world career: Lessons learned following our dreams in unpredictable times
• CPR News: Former ambassador talks diplomatic rollback, international implications
• Santa Fe New Mexican: Foreign Service budget cuts should be reversed
• The Frederick News-Post: Diminishing diplomacy hurts American interests
• Lexington Herald-Leader: Andy Barr needs to listen to his KY constituents, not just try to please Trump | Opinion
• Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Opinion | Dana Deree: Outside the norm
• WCBD News 2 Charleston: The future of diplomacy
• San Diego Union Tribune: Opinion: Funding cuts are the hidden costs of America’s retreat from global health
• Portland Press Herald: Opinion: USAID is good for the world, the country and Maine
• KOIN CBS 6 Portland: Former US Ambassador addresses ‘disturbing’ shutdown of USAID
• Portland Tribune: Former ambassador saw positive impact of USAID while abroad
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Trump's new America is worse than a banana republic
• Bangor Daily News: Trump Ukraine meeting puts US security in jeopardy
• The Bellingham Herald: Trump’s dismantling of USAID harms U.S. interests and is a gift to our competitors
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Cybertruck's a perfect symbol for America's new diplomacy
• NPR 1A Podcast: Donald Trump and Elon Musk are targeting USAID
• Austin American-Statesman: Why a lifelong USAID officer, ambassador in Texas warn dismantling the agency is a mistake
• Detroit Lakes Tribune: I worked with USAID during seven presidencies. Killing it will only hurt our farmers and help China
• Rappahannock News: Not America the Beautiful, but America the Cruel?
• The Berkshire Eagle: Pushing back against letter-writer's attack on USAID
• Portland Press Herald: Campaign against USAID is foolhardy, misinformed
• The Providence Journal: Cutting USAID weakens our alliances, emboldens our adversaries
• Boulder Daily Camera: Letters to the editor: The American people need USAID; the time to speak up and act is now; selling ourselves slavery
• The Charlotte Observer: Destroying USAID will be a disaster for NC and national security
• Honolulu Star: No time to dismantle USIAD amid heightened competition
• Pacific Daily News: USAID, a key to diplomacy
• The Times Union: USAID is more than a handout. It's a tool of international diplomacy.
• WHO Des Moines: Ambassador Kenneth Quinn on cuts to USAID and NIH
• KGW News Portland: Former US ambassador questions USAID cuts by Trump administration
• K5 Seattle: Retired ambassador critical of Trump's proposed USAID closure
• Hawaii Public Radio: Former U.S. ambassador on tensions in the Pacific and efforts to shut down USAID
• First Coast Connect: 'Chaos' here and abroad

Podcasts

• World Affairs Council of Charleston: US Diplomacy in the 21st Century
• History As It Happens: The Rise and Demise of U.S.A.I.D.
• Today, Explained: Silencing the Voice of America