{"id":553706,"date":"2026-04-27T18:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/553706\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T18:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:30:07","slug":"us-ad-for-eyes-and-ears-abroad-featuring-big-ben-stirs-diplomatic-unease-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/553706\/","title":{"rendered":"US ad for \u2018eyes and ears\u2019 abroad featuring Big Ben stirs diplomatic unease | UK news"},"content":{"rendered":"

A US state department post recruiting Americans to be its \u201ceyes and ears\u201d abroad \u2013 and featuring a picture of London<\/a> \u2013 suggests \u201cunease\u201d in ties, say US and UK diplomats.<\/p>\n

In an advertisement for the foreign service over the weekend, the state department invited<\/a> Americans to \u201cnavigate great-power rivalries, defuse global crises, and protect Americans and their interests across the globe\u201d.<\/p>\n

That ad, featuring an American flag against a dark, grainy image of Big Ben, \u201csounds awfully spooky, like they\u2019re recruiting for the CIA and not the state department\u201d, said a former UK diplomat.<\/p>\n

A former US senior diplomat said: \u201cThere is growing uneasiness in DC about the UK\u2019s independence from the US, so this may be seen as a symbol of an overseas post to watch what other countries are doing and report back.\u201d They added there could be other reasons for featuring Big Ben in the image.<\/p>\n

\u201cLondon still holds a charm for people who want to serve in the foreign service.\u201d<\/p>\n

The British diplomat said there could be \u201cinnocent considerations\u201d in the choice: \u201cI don\u2019t know whether they chose Big Ben because it\u2019s recognisably foreign. You could have had the Eiffel Tower, you could have had the Kremlin, I suppose. Maybe it\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he said, in the aftermath of US officials<\/a> lecturing the UK on freedom of speech, \u201cthe implication might be that the US is watching carefully what happens in Britain, and that it\u2019s not a coincidence, perhaps\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re sitting and looking at this in King Charles Street, you couldn\u2019t rule out the thought that this is a little bit pointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last February, the state department froze recruitment for the foreign service \u2013 the US\u2019s diplomatic corps \u2013 amid massive cuts to the US federal government led by Elon Musk\u2019s department of government efficiency, Doge.<\/p>\n

It began to recruit foreign service officers again earlier this month<\/a>, more than a year later, after overhauling its selection process and its curriculum for new US diplomats. The new selection process, announced in April, has eliminated questions aligned \u201cwith the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda\u201d. Meanwhile, the new curriculum will train diplomats on \u201cAmerica First foreign policy\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to this announcement, the American Foreign Service Association said<\/a> there were \u201cserious concerns\u201d about ideology being introduced into the selection and training of US diplomats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration is changing the face of the US diplomatic corps by going back to the 60s and 70s when US diplomats were \u2018male, pale and from Yale,\u2019\u201d said the former US diplomat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recruitment of new foreign service officers will be based on the \u2018correct\u2019 understanding of US history and politics and advancement will be justified on fidelity towards the administration\u2019s policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another recent advertisement<\/a> for the foreign service featured a picture of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, and the words: \u201cToday, America needs dedicated patriots to continue the legacy of American diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orna Blum, a retired US senior diplomat, said the image of London appeared to be \u201cmore a creative choice than a diplomatic one\u201d, but that it struck an odd note.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a recruiting standpoint, there\u2019s a disconnect. The job is human \u2013 earning trust, managing crises, protecting Americans in complex environments. That reality just isn\u2019t coming through here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really odd or striking is that I would never have said that the job of a diplomat is to be the eyes and ears of a country,\u201d said the British diplomat. \u201cThey\u2019ve always been seen in the past as interlocutors, people who would go out and speak on behalf of a country, and not just passively receive information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristofer Harrison, a former state department Russia expert, said: \u201cWe need diplomats to be lines of communications to foreign governments, not our eyes and ears. My gut is that this is just Maga incompetence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state department was approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A US state department post recruiting Americans to be its \u201ceyes and ears\u201d abroad \u2013 and featuring a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-553706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}