THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2024 57 Service Association suggests the Trump and Biden administrations have had the highest ratios of political appointees since Reagan (see gure on page 58). Host-country GDP is, of course, an imperfect measure of the in uence of career diplomats. e collective in uence of ambassadors depends on the complicated interaction between the power of the host government, the ow of current events, the strength of the individual ambassador, and more. Nevertheless, the trend identi ed here is noteworthy. Why It Matters e choice of who leads our embassies has a measurable impact on the quality and capacity of our foreign policy institutions. Research has demonstrated that career o cials, according to some metrics, are on average more e ective leaders who oversee higher performance compared with their political-appointee counterparts. Career ambassadors, on average, have more of the desired quali cations, as de ned by Congress, according to a study published in the Duke Law Journal in 2019. e career diplomatic service was created to ensure presidents had access to nonpartisan experts who were insulated from political pressures so that they could speak truth to power. e State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, for instance, famously dissented against the incorrect claim that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Some fear that the reliance on political appointees at the helm of U.S. embassies risks returning our country to the pre– Pendleton Act, pre–Rogers Act spoils system. e law governing diplomacy, the Foreign Service Act of 1980, directs that “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 quali ed individuals who are not career members of the Service.” Worryingly, many talented young foreign policy aspirants no longer believe that joining the career Foreign Service is the most viable pathway to in uence in U.S. foreign policy. e sacri- ces of public service loom larger when one’s in uence wanes. Morale inside the institution su ers. What Career Diplomats Can Do e next president of the United States, whether it be Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, will have experience in the White House. This trend and its implications are important to keep in mind as we transition to a new administration in the coming months. Figure 1: Aggregate GDP of Countries with Career FS U.S. Ambassadors. MATT MALIS
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