WASHINGTON — With microphone stands firmly in hand, the State Department’s key climate policy team descended on Haydee’s, a much-loved karaoke joint in northwest Washington DC, Thursday night, to belt out tunes at their office farewell party.
The song lineup flowed from Chappel Roan to Selena’s Como La Flor and a Whitney Houston classic even got a run out as the office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) bid each other their final goodbyes.
President Biden appointed John Kerry, President Obama’s second Secretary of State, to be the inaugural climate czar in 2021. Kerry left the role in early 2024, but his team of career diplomats and climate policy experts remained, working alongside the Office of Global Change (EGC) to “exercise U.S. leadership to increase global climate ambition.” Today will likely be their last day on the job.
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The incoming Trump Administration has signaled it will likely cut the SPEC position and remove climate change issues from the core of US foreign policy.
On the face of it, there’s nothing unusual about that — it is common practice for a new administration to make personnel changes, particularly among senior bureaucrats in charge of politically sensitive agendas.
But for the climate team, it’s a little different. They’re not making way for successors, as several SPEC staffers told Intrigue that Trump’s return to power would end the Special Climate Envoy role altogether.
Climate change no longer dominates Washington’s policymaking like it once did. Donald Trump’s position is that “we don’t have a global warming problem,” and the world’s largest asset managers have taken note, leaving the UN-backed Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero in droves since November 5th. Its co-chair, Mark Carney, abandoned ship to run for political office in Canada earlier this week.
Experienced diplomats are growing frustrated by the proliferation of political appointees
Reuters also reported this week that the Trump team has asked career diplomats Dereck Hogan, Marcia Bernicat, and Alaina Teplitz – all of whom work in the Department’s workforce and internal coordination functions – to step aside.
Generally, career foreign service officers (FSOs) in non-politically exposed roles are retained from administration to administration to lend some stability to the federal bureaucracy.
But it’s not just Trump asking diplomats to leave. Dozens of career offices have left of their own accord, dissatisfied with the Biden Administration’s foreign policy. Outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview on Thursday that he had “a couple of dozen” memos sent his way from staffers on Gaza and other issues, while more than a dozen have resigned, many publicly.
On top of that, some senior officials are growing tired of the inefficient Senate confirmation process. Jen Gavito, a former career diplomat tapped to be US Ambassador to Libya, withdrew her nomination after waiting 32 months to be confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Gavito isn’t the only one waiting—dozens of senior positions remain unfilled, stalled by deadlocked Senate politics. According to the former foreign service officer, this gives America’s adversaries an advantage in the global battle for influence.
Will circumstances change under incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio? During his confirmation hearing this week, the Florida Senator evaded questions on whether he would work to fill career senior overseas diplomatic positions, saying he’d prioritize roles in Washington. Gavito said she doesn’t foresee circumstances getting better for career diplomats and expects the Senate to continue prioritizing political ambassador appointments.
Despite the 1980 Foreign Service Act detailing that political appointees should be a rarity, Trump set a record for political ambassadorships during his first term (over 40%). Thus far, the incoming president has appointed his daughter’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner, to be the ambassador to France, and tasked his real estate partner Steve Witkoff with getting the Israel-Hamas ceasefire across the line.
President Joe Biden’s political appointee record hasn’t been much different, with 40% of his appointments classified as ‘non-career,’ according to the American Foreign Service Association. The rise in political appointees doesn’t sit well with career FSOs Intrigue has spoken to, who see their chances of rising to ambassador declining in the current political climate.
Back at Haydee’s, SPEC staffers closed the night huddled together, singing “I hope you had the time of your life”, the wistful chorus of Green Day’s 1997 classic, “Good Riddance.” It was a fitting choice.
