US Eyes Embassy Shake-Ups in Wake of WikiLeaks Shaming

Diplomats' Dirty Dealings Necessitate Transfers

After publicly condemning the leader of the nation you’re stationed in or it becomes public knowledge that you’re been spying on an opposition party that is part of the current ruling coalition, how do you remain the US ambassador? The short answer is, you don’t.

With the unseemly comments and behavior of US diplomats the world over slowly unveiled by the WikiLeaks cablegate release, the State Department is said to be planning a massive shake-up of its staff, with large portions of the department needing transfers to places where their reputation will not haunt them.

Officials say the revelation of their most embarrassing moments, and even some of their less than embarrassing moments, has left officials struggling to cope with distrust the world over, and that the truth could take five years of trust-building to undo.

It leaves the State Department in a particularly difficult position as officials the world over are facing the need to be shuffled to places in which they have less experience, and no contacts. Perhaps the bigger problem though is that officials don’t seem to be planning to change their behavior going forward, so it is only their ability to keep their actions secret that will prevent a redo of the shuffling.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.