I was Pres Bush’s Amb to Turkmenistan (bordering Iran & Afghanistan)just after 9/11.In his letter of instruction to me & in every USG meeting,stressed my top responsibility was the protection of Americans in that country.Trumps cavalier attitude to Americans abroad is dereliction

Witkoff and Kushner Get an F in Diplomacy - Inexperienced and overextended, Trump’s envoys have failed on three fronts. foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/03/wit…

🆘🇺🇸💔😱Congressional hearings and oversight are urgently called for! U.S. Embassy consular crisis management is a highly specialized, non-transferable proficiency honed over decades by career State Dept. diplomats. It requires navigating complex international law and

Former U.S. ambassador to Greece and Algeria here:

France can get its citizens home and we are claiming it will take time? Ridiculous. As Ambassador we constantly rehearsed plans with the team. Each US Embassy has an emergency plan. The problem is that senior leadership in Washington did not let them go ahead. No leadership

Americans are stranded abroad — we all have a responsibility to do everything in our power to safely get them home. The federal government must immediately provide clear evacuation guidance and plans to leave the region. I’m calling on the State Department to take action now.

This crisis exposes real gaps in America’s diplomatic readiness. For months, AFSA has warned that the State Department’s capacity has been weakened as the result of layoffs and forced departures. Read AFSA's statement: afsa.org/afsa-statement…

These were the warnings sent to Americans in Bahrain Nothing between last June and the attack commencing Similar situations at our embassies across the Middle East No advance advisory was sent to keep Americans out of harms way

I would not trust some of the figures given on the number of Americans who are NOW being “helped”. All Embassies have lists of registered Americans so the potential number of evacuees was known and was probably quite large. They simply are covering their tracks.

What happens if you call the Department of State hotline looking for travel help in the Middle East? A mix of callousness and incompetence on the other end: "The agent who eventually picked up was little help, she said, asking her to spell Oman and advising her to 'monitor the news and

We asked people around the world to rate the morality and ethics of others in their country. The U.S. is the only place we surveyed where more adults describe the morality and ethics of others living in the country as bad than good. See our full morality report here:

“In an increasingly dangerous world, critical national security tools such as personal security clearances and safeguarding classified national security information must be free of partisan considerations and abuse.” zurl.co/ztUHk

Retired Major Gen. Randy Manner, who was stuck in Dubai when the war began, describes seeing other countries evacuate their citizens as Americans were stranded. “I’ve evacuated Americans, hundreds of Americans on very short notice… it was very deflating to get a non-stop answer

#word #USA🇺🇸 #Iran🇮🇷

NEW from The New York Times: Trump appointees in the State Dept. failed to urge Americans to leave the Middle East even though the US and Israel had been planning their war for weeks. Thousands are now frantic amid missile barrages. Rubio pushed out many veteran diplomats last year.

One plane only?

Academy member Ambassador Philip Kosnett makes the point that U.S. security interests in Greenland parallel those in Iceland. cepa.org/article/how-sh…

An Americas summit should bring the entire region together to solve real challenges. Instead, Trump is convening a meeting of ideological allies while sidelining key partners. Our engagement in the region should be built on shared interests and democratic values—not Trump's

Not a great showing. No Mexico, Brazil, Colombia. …..

From my own life experience as a hostage in Iran for 444 days, I know how fragile safety can be--and how precious our rights are, especially now that we are plunged into war with Iran. I am outraged that a woman, one who I know, who has lived her entire life in the United