WASHINGTON – Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is convening a Congressional briefing on Tuesday, July 28, 2020 at 2:30 PM EDT to unveil a new report being published by the SFRC Democratic Staff. Commissioned by Ranking Member Menendez, the report, entitled “Diplomacy in Crisis: The Trump Administration’s Decimation of the State Department,” presents a comprehensive examination of the Trump administration’s assault on U.S. diplomacy. Through an analysis of the senior-level vacancies plaguing the State Department, repeated nominee vetting failures, and attacks on career employees, the report recounts the impact on morale and the resulting damage to U.S. foreign policy, and issues a set of recommendations for rebuilding and retaining diplomatic expertise.
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Joining Senator Menendez for a virtual panel discussion will be: Ambassador Thomas Shannon, former Under Secretary of State; Ambassador Barbara Stephenson, former American diplomat and former President of the American Foreign Service Association; Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, former Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, U.S. Department of State; and Elizabeth Shackelford, former member of the Foreign Service.
Margaret Taylor, former SFRC Chief Democratic Counsel and former lawyer at the Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State, will moderate the discussion.
WHAT: “Diplomacy in Crisis: The Trump Administration’s Decimation of the State Department” Briefing
WHEN: Tuesday, July 28, 2:30 PM EDT
WHO:
Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.),
Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Ambassador Thomas A. Shannon, Jr.,
Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; Senior International Policy Advisor, Arnold & Porter
Ambassador Barbara Stephenson,
Former American diplomat, former career member of the Foreign Service, former President of the American Foreign Service Association, and Vice Provost for Global Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins,
Former Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, U.S. Department of State
Elizabeth Shackelford,
Former member of the Foreign Service, serving in Warsaw, Poland, South Sudan, Somalia, and Washington, D.C.
WHERE: Virtual Meeting, Hosted via Zoom
PRESS: Open to press
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