Elizabeth Shackelford, an up-and-coming career diplomat at the U.S. State Department, resigned in a scathing public letter, blaming Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for abandoning the core values of America’s mission of human rights around the world. From Foreign Policy:
“I have deep respect for the career Foreign and Civil Service staff who, despite the stinging disrespect this Administration has shown our profession, continue the struggle to keep our foreign policy on the positive trajectory necessary to avert global disaster in increasingly dangerous times,” Shackelford wrote in her Nov. 7 letter, which is published below. One phrase was redacted on Shackelford’s request.
Shackelford warned that many of the best and the brightest at the State Department are abandoning ship:
“With each passing day, however, this task grows more futile, driving the Department’s experienced and talented staff away in ever greater numbers,” she wrote.
Schakelford is raising the red flag, warning about the lack of leadership and the decision to hand over policy decisions to the military alone.
The department’s position within the interagency has also diminished, as we have ceded to the Pentagon our authority to drive U.S. foreign policy, at the behest of the White House but to the detriment as a nation. The trench in this direction will accelerate further with the budget and staffing cuts you are championing. In these challenging global times we should be seeking to conduct more diplomacy with more resources, not less with less. Top career leadership in the Department has been gutted, leaving few empowered to make hard foreign policy decisions. With dozens of vacant positions and so many officials in acting capacities, it is little wonder we lack direction.
She cited America’s diminishing influence in critical regions and urged others to walk away, in hopes of forcing change.
“The cost of this is visible every day in Mission Somalia, my current post, where State’s diplomatic influence, on the country and within our own interagency, is waning,” she wrote.
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“If you are unable to do so effectively within this Administration, I would humbly recommend you follow me out the door.”
We are at a dangerous crossroads in America. Diplomacy and good relations around the world are critical for our security, both at home and abroad. Driving away the people at the State Department who help ensure global security could have dire consequences down the road. You can read Elizabeth Schackelford’s full resignation letter here.