WASHINGTON — As military tensions with Iran spread across multiple countries, the U.S. State Department is operating with dramatically fewer Middle East specialists than in previous crises.
The Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which normally coordinates American foreign policy across 18 nations in the region, has been stripped of more than 80 staff members according to internal department surveys. Many were veteran diplomats with decades of regional experience.
The Trump administration initially placed Mora Namdar, an attorney of Iranian heritage with limited management background, in charge of the bureau before reassigning her to consular affairs. Namdar had contributed to Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint. Her Senate-confirmed predecessor was a career Middle East specialist who joined the department in 1984 and previously served as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.
Budget proposals called for slashing the bureau’s funding by 40%, though Congress approved smaller reductions. The administration also dissolved the standalone Iran office, combining it with Iraq operations.
According to interviews with over a dozen current and former government officials, these staffing decisions and President Trump’s preference for centralized decision-making are hampering America’s response to the expanding crisis.
Experienced foreign service officers were terminated, retired early, or transferred elsewhere, replaced by junior staff or political appointees. The assistant secretary position overseeing Near Eastern Affairs remains unfilled, along with several key Middle East ambassadorships. Four of the bureau’s five supervisory roles are held by temporary appointees.
Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity during the active conflict describe an overworked government struggling to implement presidential directives. Remaining staff report their analysis and recommendations are frequently ignored.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott strongly rejected these characterizations.
“As far as we can tell, AP’s entire ‘report’ on the evacuations does not include any conversations with people actually involved. Instead, it relies on ‘outside’ or ‘former official’ sources that have no idea what they are talking about. We walked AP through specific inaccuracy after specific inaccuracy — indeed how the whole premise was wrong,” Pigott stated.
Since Trump assumed office, the State Department has lost over 3,800 employees through layoffs, voluntary departure programs, and regular retirements. The American Foreign Service Association estimates senior diplomatic ranks were disproportionately affected compared to their overall workforce representation.
“He’s making choices without the larger expertise of the United States government that would flag issues of consequence,” observed Max Stier, who leads the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service. “Sometimes government is slow-moving because there are a lot of different factors that need to be balanced against each other.”
The administration appeared unprepared for Iran’s retaliation following U.S. strikes, something Trump himself acknowledged when expressing surprise at Tehran’s response against American regional allies. “Nobody expected that. We were shocked. They fought back,” Trump told reporters recently.
Pigott maintained that staffing reductions “are not having any negative impact on our ability to respond to this operation, our ability to plan, and our ability to execute in service to Americans.” He added the department “rejects the premise that key decisions were made without meaningful input from experienced professionals.”
However, former officials say Iranian retaliation was predictable based on previous military exercises and conflict simulations conducted by both Pentagon and private organizations. The National Security Council, which Trump has downsized, typically would provide presidential briefings incorporating expert bureaucratic analysis.
Instead, a small circle of presidential advisors makes decisions without broader governmental coordination, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who simultaneously serves as national security adviser.
“In the Trump Administration, decisions are made by President Trump and senior administration officials and not by no-name bureaucrat leakers who whine to the press about not being consulted about highly classified operations,” White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson responded.
“In the time that I was there, there was no policy process to speak of,” said Chris Backemeyer, who served as deputy assistant secretary in Near Eastern Affairs before resigning last year. Backemeyer, who supported the Iran nuclear agreement Trump abandoned, recently left government to seek a Nebraska congressional seat as a Democrat.
“They did not want to hear any advice from career people,” Backemeyer added.
When America decided to strike Iran, Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee provided Jerusalem embassy staff evacuation options, indicating advance knowledge of incoming attacks. However, other regional embassies failed to make comparable arrangements, leaving non-essential personnel and families in conflict zones.
The department claims it issued travel advisories since January and maintained full crisis response capabilities when strikes commenced.
Nevertheless, minimal planning apparently occurred for evacuating Americans living, working, visiting, or studying in countries that became conflict zones, partly because the White House seemed to underestimate the possibility of prolonged multi-nation warfare, as Trump’s own comments suggest.
Following Iranian attacks on allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, the State Department urged Americans to leave the region. Multiple former Consular Affairs staffers say such planning should have begun well before U.S. strikes started.
Namdar only advised Americans to evacuate several days into the conflict through social media, when airspace was largely closed and commercial flights unavailable.
“The messaging that went out to American citizens — after the U.S. struck Iran — was woefully late and, initially, confusing,” stated Yael Lempert, who served as ambassador to Jordan until 2025. Lempert is among five former ambassadors scheduled to address departmental failures at Thursday’s American Academy of Diplomacy event in Washington.
While other problematic evacuations, such as the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal, have faced criticism, officials say this situation is worsened by experienced personnel losses. Consular Affairs eliminated over 150 positions during the Trump administration through layoffs, probationary dismissals, and retirements, according to an anonymous official, though other departments suffered greater cuts.
The department reports assisting nearly 50,000 Americans affected by the conflict, with more than 60 evacuation flights from the region. In total, over 70,000 Americans have returned home since hostilities began February 28.
“The loss of experienced personnel through these RIFs has clearly undermined the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ ability to fulfill its most important mission, to protect Americans abroad,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.
Language capabilities are also deteriorating. Thirteen Arabic speakers and four Farsi speakers, all trained with taxpayer funds, were among terminated employees, according to a draft letter circulating among former foreign service officers.
Training a foreign service officer in languages can cost $200,000. The letter estimates dismissed State Department personnel received over $35 million in taxpayer-funded language training and more than $100 million in total training and career development.
The State Department established two temporary task forces addressing the Middle East crisis. One supports Near Eastern Affairs capabilities while another assists Consular Affairs with American evacuations.
More than 250 Foreign Service officers from last year’s reduction-in-force remain on department payroll. Many have volunteered to return for task force work or other duties during the global crisis.
“I haven’t been given any separation paperwork. I still have an active clearance. I could go back to the department tomorrow, either to backfill or staff a task force,” said one foreign service officer requesting anonymity due to their continued payroll status and lack of press authorization. “I will do the scutwork jobs.”
The department hasn’t responded to their offers but stated the task force is “fully staffed.”
