Foreign Service Officer Resigns Rather Than Continue to Serve Under Trump
A U.S. Foreign Service officer just resigned in protest over President Trump's leadership. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Chuck Park stated,
I’m ashamed of how long it took me to make this decision. My excuse might be disappointing, if familiar to many of my colleagues: I let career perks silence my conscience. I let free housing, the countdown to a pension and the prestige of representing a powerful nation overseas distract me from ideals that once seemed so clear to me. I can’t do that anymore.
I posted a series of essays in this blog recently addressing the moral dilemmas diplomats and other government officials sometimes face when serving under a malevolent leadership. I cited the cases of German and other diplomats during WWII who risked careers and lives in thwarting evil and saving lives. America's first diplomat, Benjamin Franklin, warned us that "a man without courage is a knife without an edge" and that "it is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority." And the great English conservative political thinker Edmund Burke admonished, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I posited that public servants must know when not to follow clearly illegal or immoral orders lest they be no different from the functionaries who sat in the docks at Nuremberg.
After Trump won the election in 2016, a number of active duty Foreign Service officers sought me out to express their deep anxiety for the country with a racist, incompetent, pandering populist about to occupy the Oval Office. One senior officer confided, "When our country starts following Trump’s ‘charge them, cheat them and leave them’ business model, no one will trust our word, our alliances or our loyalty. The American diplomat will go the way of the Edsel salesman, with one small exception. No Edsel salesman ever stood in front of a war crimes commission, whereas, under some scenarios, some of my colleagues who stay in the Foreign Service might someday do so."
A number made noises about resigning rather than serve this president. But as far as I could tell, most of those who did leave merely took early retirement with full benefits, cutting short their careers by mere months.
After Trump took office, all became quiet, and anxious State Department folks pretty much hunkered down and ceased messaging me - though one mid-level diplomat reached out recently to let me know he was finding it increasingly difficult "sticking it out." He reflected the ideals of many colleagues in wanting to be around to restore the institution and America's stature in the world once the Trump Occupation ended. A handful of others have told me that all are "keeping their heads low." But mostly it's been crickets. Retired ambassadors with whom I'm in touch report the same. Fearful active duty friends with whom we're in contact refuse to allow us to divulge their harrowing tales of the Trump wrecking ball that is demolishing institutions, reputations, careers and policies inside State.
It appears a combination of fear, resignation and careerism has gripped the Foreign Service and State Department as a whole. Chuck Park has now shed some light on it.
Park calls the bureaucracy under Trump, the "Complacent State" --
The Complacent State sighs when the president blocks travel by Muslim immigrants; shakes its head when he defends Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; averts its gaze from images of children in detention camps. Then it complies with orders.
He continues:
Almost three years since his election, what I have not seen is organized resistance from within. To the contrary, two senior Foreign Service officers admonished me for risking my career when I signed an internal dissent cable against the ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries in January 2017. Among my colleagues at the State Department, I have met neither the unsung hero nor the cunning villain of Deep State lore. If the resistance does exist, it should be clear by this point that it has failed.
For this, he insists, "We should be named and shamed."
As Hannah Arendt said, "Conscience is the anticipation of the fellow who awaits you if and when you come home." In other words, can you look at yourself in the mirror without shame?
I wish Mr. Park full success in his future endeavors. And likewise to those serving this president as they contemplate their own moral consciences.
See also:
How Populist Strongmen Wreck Diplomacy and Foreign Ministries: Now It's Our Turn
The Conscience of a Diplomat: When It’s OK to Buck Orders
What Should Diplomats Do When the President's Policies Are Beyond the Pale?
State Department in Crisis? - A Foreign Policy Based on Whim, Driven By Theology and Implemented By Hacks