THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The State Department is a large department because having someone who knows what goes on in each of the many countries makes it easier to interact with them. A region of importance to the US like Latin America has regional experts as well. Or at least it should if the Trump administration was able to keep people in place.

Diplomats say a revolving door of Latin American specialists at the White House and State Department has left the region’s leaders wondering who in Washington they can turn to on important matters of national security and other issues.

The sudden departure of Juan Cruz, the senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the White House’s National Security Council, and ongoing delays to install Kimberly Breier as assistant secretary of the State Department’s Latin America division along with many other departures has left diplomats convinced the region is not a priority.

“We want to know to whom should we talk,” said one South American diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because the diplomat was not authorized to publicly discuss U.S. policy. “First, you cut everyone at the State Department. Now, after a year of getting to know people at the White House, you’re changing everything again.”

The concerns come as the White House wrestles with infighting across the administration, fleeing staff and a president, already distrustful of traditional Washington bureaucracy, tightening his inner circle and questioning who is on his side.

Diplomats have been left questioning whether they will be able to relate to the next person - and even asking reporters if the new officials will care about their country’s key issues.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged the vacancies during a news conference last week announcing new promotions. Citing a promise when he arrived “to get the team on the field,” he said there was still much work to be done.”

The places where we still have gaps, places like Western Hemisphere, where we have challenges in Venezuela and Nicaragua and in Mexico and the Northern Triangle – important areas, we need a leader,” Pompeo said.

It’s not just Latin America, Pompeo said.

The administration also doesn’t have an undersecretary for management or public diplomacy or an assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs and South Asian Affairs. There is no ambassador even nominated at 25 embassies around the globe and the ambassador post hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate in 75 embassies.

In fact, of 716 “key positions” requiring Senate confirmation, 157 have no nominee and 187 have been nominated, but not confirmed, according to data compiled by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that tracks political appointees.

Under former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the State Department lost 60 percent of the State Departments’ top-ranking career diplomats and new applications to join the Foreign Service fell by half, according to data from the American Foreign Service Association, the professional organization of the U.S. diplomatic corps.

But perhaps nowhere has the the brain trust been as noticeable than in Latin America.

Diplomacy works best when diplomats know who can say it and what it means. A constant churn of peoplein posts, if there is any one at all, creates confusion, uncertainty and doubt. This may work when you run for office but not when you do foreign policy.