President Donald Trump's two top lieutenants have turned America's diplomatic apparatus into a "catacomb," according to one analyst.
Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer, have assumed the lead role in negotiations spanning the war in Ukraine to Middle East diplomacy and other matters. Despite their vast portfolio, the duo has largely turned the "nerve center of the world’s most consequential foreign-policy institution and more like the catacombs for diplomacy," Vivian Salama, staff writer at The Atlantic, reported on Tuesday.
"Several officials in the Middle East told me that diplomats are seldom looped into the discussions Witkoff and Kushner have about regional matters, and instead learn about them after the fact," Salama wrote. "The pair of businessmen turned diplomatic dealmakers have approached the issues with a preference for quick wins, often absent the nuance and historical and linguistic command that more traditional brokers possess."
Salama added that Kushner and Witkoff's leadership has left some top diplomats feeling "sidelined" because of their lack of respect for the expertise that comes with long-term service.
"The State Department’s culture has long depended on the belief that expertise accumulates over time—that years spent in Ankara or Accra or Moscow or Beijing are valued in Washington and necessary experience for senior positions in Foggy Bottom," Salama wrote.
"Now some career diplomats tell me their expertise can feel like a liability, proof of their association with a bureaucracy viewed by political appointees as part of the so-called deep state," she added. "Meetings are fewer; paper trails are thinner. Proximity to power trumps process."
