Nicholas Burns, former U.S. Ambassador to China (Biden administration), U.S. Ambassador to NATO (George W. Bush administration), and U.S. Ambassador to Greece (Clinton administration), recognized Foreign Service Day on Friday.
Burns tagged the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and wrote on social media: “On Foreign Service Day, we honor our career diplomats. In normal times, over 70% of all U.S. Ambassadors are from the career ranks. Today, the number is just over 7%. Our country deserves better.”
[NOTE: Founded in 1924, the AFSA is the professional association and labor union for American diplomats as they serve their country all over the world. The AFSA represents 28,000 active and retired Foreign Service employees.]
On Foreign Service Day, we honor our career diplomats. In normal times, over 70% of all U.S. Ambassadors are from the career ranks. Today, the number is just over 7%. Our country deserves better. @afsatweets
— Nicholas Burns (@RNicholasBurns) May 1, 2026
During his second administration, President Trump has named several friends and allies without foreign service experience to represent the U.S. as ambassadors, including his son’s former fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle (Greece), his son-in-law’s father Charles Kushner (France), former NFL football player Herschel Walker (Bahamas), billionaire co-founder of PayPal, Ken Howery (Sweden), and orthopedic surgeon Anjani Sinha (Singapore), among others.
The practice of rewarding donors and supporters with ambassadorships isn’t new — it has been in use long enough by both Democratic and Republican administrations to have been given a name by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center (CLC), which calls it the “donor-to-ambassador pipeline.”
Speaking to ABC News during the early days of Trump’s second term, Anthony Gardner, a former ambassador to the European Union during the Biden administration, called it, frankly, “the sale of diplomatic posts in return for campaign money, and both sides have been playing that.” Acknowledging the long use of the “pipeline,” Gardner also asserted that “it’s gotten much more pronounced in this term, the second Trump term, than ever before.”
Burns isn’t alone in criticizing Trump’s selection of ambassadors and envoys. Former New Jersey Governor and two-time GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie has also been criticizing Trump for sending “two real estate developers” — Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was designated a “U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions” in February, and billionaire Steve Witkoff, the President’s special envoy to the Middle East — to negotiate an end to the Iran war.