--- description: The former U.S. Ambassador to Panama wrote that diplomatic leadership ranks are being “depleted at a dizzying speed.” title: U.S. Has Lost 60% Of Ambassadors Under Trump image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt323f0f52d2a43352/6988e53097cdffbe6d6b32fb/gettyimages-861992880.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [State Department](/tag/state-department/) ## State Department Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Top Diplomat Says U.S. Has Lost 60% of Its Career Ambassadors Under President Trump  by [Billy Perrigo](/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Nov 9, 2017 12:43 PM CUT  U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Oct. 16, 2017 in Washington D.C. U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Oct. 16, 2017 in Washington D.C.Mark Wilson—Getty Images  by [Billy Perrigo](/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Nov 9, 2017 12:43 PM CUT The U.S. has lost 60% of its [career ambassadors](http://time.com/4650481/state-department-officials-resign/ "undefined") since January, according to the head of the union that represents diplomatic staff. Barbara Stephenson, the head of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and former U.S. Ambassador to Panama, wrote in a [memo](https://afsa-nfe2015.informz.net/informzdataservice/onlineversion/ind/bWFpbGluZ2luc3RhbmNlaWQ9NzEwMTE2MyZzdWJzY3JpYmVyaWQ9MTA4MzgxMjY1MA== "undefined") to members that diplomatic leadership ranks are being “depleted at a dizzying speed.” She referred to a recent [TIME cover](http://time.com/4998276/demolition-crew/ "undefined") which she said corroborated her vision of government being dismantled. “The cover of the TIME magazine that arrived as I was writing this column jarred me with its graphic of wrecking balls and warning of ‘dismantling government as we know it,'” she wrote. She blamed the decline in staff partially on “the decision to slash promotion numbers by more than half.” In addition to the decline in the number of ambassadors, Stephenson pointed to the reduction in the number of Career Ministers from 33 to 19 and of Minister Counselors from 431 just after Labor Day to 369 today—numbers she said were still falling. “These numbers are hard to square with the stated agenda of making State and the Foreign Service stronger,” she wrote in the memo, which is titled “Time to Ask Why.” She warned that the staff leaving the profession could not easily be replaced, and that the loss would affect the capacity of the U.S. to shape world events. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have made little secret of the fact that [reducing the size of the State Department](http://time.com/4703295/stavridis-state-department/ "undefined") is one of their key goals, something Tillerson called “the most important thing I want to do during the time I have,” according to [Salon](https://www.salon.com/2017/11/08/americas-diplomacy-power-is-being-completely-destroyed-ambassador-warns/ "undefined"). However, Stephenson railed against this decision in her memo, notable as it breaks a tradition of the diplomatic corps not commenting on politics. “Were the U.S. military to face such a decapitation of its leadership ranks,” she wrote, “I would expect a public outcry.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5016774/trump-ambassadors-state-department-lost-60-percent-afsa-barbara-stephenson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5016774/trump-ambassadors-state-department-lost-60-percent-afsa-barbara-stephenson/"},"headline":"Top Diplomat Says U.S. Has Lost 60% of Its Career Ambassadors Under President Trump","datePublished":"2017-11-09T12:43:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:10:47.516Z","description":"She wrote that diplomatic leadership ranks are being “depleted at a dizzying speed”","url":"https://time.com/5016774/trump-ambassadors-state-department-lost-60-percent-afsa-barbara-stephenson/","keywords":["State Department","diplomacy","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt323f0f52d2a43352/6988e53097cdffbe6d6b32fb/gettyimages-861992880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Billy Perrigo","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt323f0f52d2a43352/6988e53097cdffbe6d6b32fb/gettyimages-861992880.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tillerson Trump","caption":"Tillerson Trump","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/state-department/","name":"State Department"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5016774/trump-ambassadors-state-department-lost-60-percent-afsa-barbara-stephenson/","name":"Top Diplomat Says U.S. Has Lost 60% of Its Career Ambassadors Under President Trump"}}]}] ```