12 JULY-AUGUST 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL TALKING POINTS 92 Percent: Political Ambassadors T he confirmation of U.S. ambassadors in the Senate continues sporadically. There has been little to report since our last update in March. Seven ambassador nominees were confirmed in mid-May, all but one from outside the career Foreign Service for postings to ASEAN, Iceland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. In addition, five nominees for senior positions in the State Department were confirmed: the assistant secretaries for the bureaus of African Affairs, Educational and Cultural Affairs, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, as well as the coordinator for counterterrorism, the only career FSO. There has been some good news. In late April, the Senate confirmed more than 160 Foreign Service promotions. Much work is yet to be done on that front, but any movement on these lists is positive. Fifteen ambassador nominees are awaiting either committee or Senate action. AFSA is tracking 109 vacancies at posts around the world. This is a staggeringly high number given that we are 16 months into a presidential administration. This number can be attributed in part to the unprecedented recall of at least 31 career ambassadors at the beginning of this year. At the same time, five nominees for senior State Department posts await confirmation. Not a single member of the career Foreign Service has received an ambassador nomination this year. The ratio of career versus political nominees in this administration stands at 92.5 percent political—by far the most egregiously skewed number in 50 years. It is worth repeating, yet again, that the Foreign Service Act of 1980 is very clear on this issue: “Positions as chief of mission should normally be accorded to career members of the Service, though circumstances will warrant appointments from time to time of qualified individuals who are not career members of the Service.” AFSA views 92.5 percent as wildly inconsistent with any interpretation of the phrase “from time to time.” Senators Press State on Stalled Fellow Onboarding On March 19, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) led 21 of his Senate colleagues in dispatching a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising alarm over the State Department’s indefinite delay in onboarding Thomas R. Pickering and Charles B. Rangel Fellows into the U.S. Foreign Service. More than 50 fellows from the 2024, 2023, and deferred 2022 cohorts remain in the onboarding pipeline, with only a small fraction having received orientation invitations. An additional 90 fellows will become eligible to be hired this coming September. The senators argued that the delay “undermines U.S. diplomatic readiness, wastes congressionally appropriated taxpayer dollars, and directly harms these outstanding Americans while simultaneously discouraging future talent from applying to the Foreign Service.” The Pickering and Rangel fellowships, described by the department as “flagship initiatives for recruiting toptier talent,” have an annual acceptance rate of under 5 percent. As of 2022, the two programs had increased the number of Foreign Service generalists from underrepresented groups by 33 percent and the number of women by 6 percent. Congress reauthorized both fellowships on a bipartisan basis in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. The senators urged Secretary Rubio to include all remaining eligible fellows in the upcoming 2026 A-100 orientation classes and requested a response by April 19 to eight questions covering pipeline numbers, selection criteria, reimbursement obligations, and steps to prevent future delays. As we went to press, the State Department had not responded. The national interest has never been defined so narrowly. The United States has been the world’s leading nation, not because of military might or economic power alone. We have been a leader because we have been instrumental in creating a world order that is based on the rule of law and on humanitarian principles. While we have sometimes strayed, for the most part our presidents have seen it as their responsibility to uphold this rules-based international system. —Former USAID Administrator and Under Secretary of State for Management Brian Atwood at a DACOR event, “State and AID—Building Back Better,” on May 12. Contemporary Quote
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