16 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Real Heroes The men and women in the State Department under your charge and direction are real heroes. They’re serving in some very dangerous places, very much like our military. Diplomacy can be a dangerous calling. Thank you very much for showing up and representing our country and our values in some of the most difficult places. So, to those who serve in the State Department, you have my gratitude and admiration. —Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), speaking to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Senate Appropriations hearing, “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the Department of State,” on June 3. Ambassador Vacancies The fact is, it’s not the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate that is holding up [ambassadorial] nominees. It’s the fact that the nominees are not being submitted to us, and that those nominees who start to go through the process often aren’t willing to comply with the ethics requirements that require that they divest of their outside holdings. Right now, the United States has more than 100 vacant ambassador posts. … China’s filling that vacuum, and you just sent over 20 nominees, of whom only four are career people. So, the problem is not in the Congress. ... The problem is in the administration. And I hope that you will begin to take up that slack by appointing more career ambassadors. —Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), in the Senate Appropriations hearing on June 3. Diplomatic Dismantling Mr. Secretary, America cannot win the future by trying to relive the past. And your department is Exhibit A. We’ve seen the systematic dismantling of America’s diplomatic corps. Over 100 ambassador posts sit vacant around the world. Thirteen hundred career professionals, people with decades of expertise in energy, counterterrorism, and nuclear nonproliferation, have been fired. Efforts to ensure U.S. diplomats represent the diversity of America have been squandered. While China increases its diplomatic presence globally, we have cut ours to the bone. America cannot win the future by retreating and ceding the field. —Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), in the House Foreign Affairs Committee FY27 State Department budget hearing on June 3. JOSH Heard on the Hill State Issues Worldwide Caution over Iran The State Department issued a worldwide caution for U.S. citizens on July 21, warning that “heightened tensions in the Middle East” as a result of the Iran War could pose risks to U.S. citizens both in the region and beyond. The alert comes as the conflict over control of the Strait of Hormuz continues. The advisory urged Americans in the Middle East to remain vigilant and prepare for flight cancellations, airspace closures, and other travel disruptions. Americans outside the region were advised to reconsider travel to and through the Middle East, and the department noted that U.S. diplomatic facilities elsewhere in the world have also been targeted, with Iran and its supporters potentially threatening American interests globally. When hostilities with Iran broke out in February, most U.S. diplomats and their family members were evacuated from Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, leaving only emergency staff at posts in the region. Months later, hundreds from the Foreign Service community remain in limbo, working remotely with no clear timeline for when or whether they will return to post. Per diem and temporary housing support for evacuated employees are set to expire in August. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said the extended vacancies at U.S. embassies in the Gulf, most of which currently lack a Senate-confirmed ambassador, leave the United States without critical on-the-ground perspective at a consequential moment. n This issue of Talking Points was compiled by Mark Parkhomenko.
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