Diplomats are National Security‘s first responders to threats to our nation from abroad. Our military is back up. Trump is gutting what Benjamin Franklin so courageously began.

A friend and co-worker’s brother was a career State Department officer. His wife and two boys followed him around the world. 

On one overseas post he bought a home he lived with his wife & 2 boys in Kuala Lumpur. They lived there several years. The moment they returned home to Philadelphia they went to a deli and bought hogies.

He was in Beirut walking on the street with security. There was a traffic jam. A man behind a stopped car brandished a pistol and said move out of the way. The man in front produced an AK-47 & fired into the air. My friends brother, his last name is Cawley, was thrown to the ground by his security. 

He got the best marshal arts trainer he could find to educate his sons. In many countries where they lived his entire family was under constant threat. 

“Democrats and Republicans in Congress must act to protect the State Department and the Foreign Service from Mr. Trump’s overt attacks and implicit disregard. The House in its impeachment inquiry should reaffirm the need for the State Department to be in charge of our relations with foreign countries. It should also examine how private citizens like Mr. Giuliani may have encroached on or usurped those responsibilities. For its part, the Senate should demand that the president send for ambassadorial confirmation a substantially higher number of career officers. 

Congress should also begin work on a bill to reauthorize the Foreign Service in its central mission, structure and responsibilities, which was last done in 1980. Given the changes in the global economy, technology and global balance of power — and in light of this president’s antagonistic relationship with the State Department — reaffirming and strengthening the role and mission of our career diplomats is a necessity. 

The State Department is in crisis. Mr. Trump has done enormous harm to its mission and self-confidence. Republicans and Democrats in Congress must take steps to rescue an American institution that with proper support and presidential leadership, could help make America a great and respected global power once again.”

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American Diplomats Are Being Persecuted by Their Own President

By Nicholas Burns

Oct. 2, 2019