The Foreign Service Journal, March 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2017 23 SPEAKING OUT With Deep Regret... BY TJ LUNARD I January 19, 2017 The Honorable John F. Kerry Secretary of State Department of State Washington DC 20520 Dear Mr. Secretary: With deep regret, I must resign frommy position as a Supervisory Special Agent of the Diplomatic Security Service. I cannot in good conscience serve in the Department of State under the incoming president, a man I believe to be a threat to our constitutional order. For the last 17 years—the entirety of my professional life—I have been proud to work for the American people as a member of the Foreign Service. Without hesitation, I have done so under presidents of both parties. Whether in Baghdad or Berlin, Washington or now in Kyiv, it has been an honor to carry the Diplomatic Security badge, a symbol of the special trust and confidence reposed in me by our fellow citizens to enforce our laws and defend our country’s values and interests. I love this department, which has been my home, and the extraordinary men and women in it, so many of whom have become like family. But I take nothing more seriously than my oath to support and defend the Constitution, to bear it true faith and allegiance, to well and faithfully discharge the duties of my office. Throughout my career, these obligations have guided my every action in service of our country. They are what com- pel me now to resign. As an American, it is an article of my political faith that our Constitution binds the government and its leaders—and by extension all of us in public service—to guarantee certain unalien- able rights: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, due process and equal protection of the laws, among others. In his words and his deeds, Mr. Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he little understands and less respects these tenets of our civic creed. He has threatened the independent media. He has called for the imposition of religious tests and the commission of war crimes. He has incited hatred and violence. He has mocked and bullied the most vulnerable among us. He has empowered racists and emboldened bigots. He has made open league with a despot who seeks to harm our national interests. He disregards and distorts the truth for no other apparent purpose than to maintain his followers in a frenzy of confusion and anger. These are not the acts of a liberal democratic leader. They point the way to authoritarianism, the slippery path to tyranny. TJ Lunardi joined the Foreign Service in 1999 and became a Diplomatic Security special agent in 2002. He has served in Amman, Baghdad, Berlin, London and Kyiv, as well as in the Executive Office of the Secretary of State and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security. At the time of his resignation, his future employment plans were not determined.