The Trump administration will recall nearly 30 career U.S. diplomats serving as ambassadors and senior embassy officials worldwide, including U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien, in a sweeping diplomatic reshuffle first reported by Politico and later confirmed by the Associated Press on Monday. All of the affected envoys were appointed during former President Joe Biden’s tenure and have been informed that their assignments will end in January, as the administration moves to realign U.S. diplomacy with President Donald Trump’s “America First” priorities.
The recall, confirmed by multiple anonymous U.S. State Department officials, represents a large and highly unusual reshuffling of American diplomatic personnel abroad. According to The Guardian, the move is intended to “reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ priorities,” with the recalled ambassadors expected to be replaced by officials aligned with those priorities.
The U.S. State Department declined to disclose the exact number of ambassadors involved or identify them by name, describing the recalls as a routine administrative process and stating that they are “a standard process in any administration.” The Department emphasized that ambassadors are “the personal representatives of the president, and it is the president’s prerogative to ensure that those representing the United States abroad advance the administration’s priorities.”
According to the Associated Press, the affected envoys are career Foreign Service officers. While it is common for new administrations to replace political appointees, career diplomats typically continue serving across administrations. All of the ambassadors had taken up their posts during the Biden administration and had remained in their roles following an initial round of personnel changes early in President Donald Trump’s second term that primarily targeted political appointees, making the current move particularly notable.
Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, though they typically remain at their posts for three to four years. According to two U.S. State Department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January. That process escalated on Wednesday, when diplomats began receiving notices from officials in Washington regarding their imminent departures. A source cited by the Associated Press said the diplomats’ terms of office were set to expire in January 2026.
John Dinkelman, president of the American Foreign Service Association, the union representing U.S. diplomats, told Politico that the organization had received reports from ambassadors in regions including East Asia and the Pacific who were informed by phone that they must leave their posts by January 15 or January 16, without being given a reason.
Africa is the continent most affected by the planned recalls, with ambassadors from thirteen countries set to be replaced: Burundi, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda.
In the Asia-Pacific region, ambassadors in six countries are also expected to be recalled: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
In Europe, ambassadorial changes are limited to four countries: Armenia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia. Additional recalls will affect two countries each in the Middle East, Algeria and Egypt; South and Central Asia, Nepal and Sri Lanka; and the Western Hemisphere, Guatemala and Suriname. Armenia is among the countries directly affected by the recall.
The Associated Press reported that the planned ambassadorial recalls have drawn concern from some U.S. lawmakers, as well as from the union representing American diplomats.
Ambassador Kristina Kvien has served in Armenia since February 16, 2023, becoming the 10th U.S. ambassador to the country. Prior to her posting in Yerevan, she served as Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine from 2020 to 2022. The U.S. Embassy in Armenia has not issued an official comment on the recall.
