The Face of America Abroad

Author: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Every year, hundreds of Americans answer the call to represent their country on the world stage as Foreign Service Officers. In so doing, they become both heirs and participants to one of the richest and most unique traditions in the history of human statecraft.

U.S. Foreign Service Officers are the face of America abroad. Posted in embassies and consulates across the globe, they are tasked with managing relationships with foreign nations, negotiating with foreign governments, analyzing the impact of changing political dynamics on America’s standing in the world, and advocating for American interests with close allies and fierce adversaries alike. It is a vocation with unprecedented stakes.

Today’s American diplomats navigate great-power rivalries, defuse global crises, and protect Americans and their interests in every corner of the globe. Their predecessors have forged miracles, averted apocalypse, and transformed America from a fledgling agricultural republic to the most powerful nation on Earth.

This vital work places Foreign Service Officers within the storied tradition of American diplomacy -- a tradition which has proven indispensable for the security, prosperity, and global ambitions of the United States from its very founding to the present day.

This calling is as old as America itself. In early 1776, the Continental Congress secretly dispatched Silas Deane to France to begin negotiating support for the cause of American independence. Six months after the United States formally declared independence from Britain, Benjamin Franklin traveled to Paris in a bid to win support for the fledgling American cause.

The French covertly supported the Americans at first, then signed treaties in 1778 formally recognizing the United States. The spirit of 1776 triumphed in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, with the United States recognized as a sovereign state by the British crown.

Without diplomats like Deane and Franklin, there would be no United States. The story of American diplomacy is inseparable from the story of America itself.

American diplomacy secured the territory that would make the United States a continental power, negotiated trade that would build the largest economy on Earth, and established alliances that ultimately made America the most powerful nation in the world. From the Monroe Doctrine to the reassertion of American leadership in the Western Hemisphere, diplomats have been at the center of the most decisive moments in American history.

But as America emerged as the global superpower, the focus of our foreign policy drifted away from our national interest. Policymakers and diplomats alike became preoccupied with multilateralism and global governance.

Enamored by the siren song of the ‘end of history,’ America’s political class lost sight of the purpose of our foreign policy, and with it, the purpose of our Foreign Service.

America’s national interest succumbed under the weight of unaccountable international institutions, pragmatic statecraft was replaced with heady idealism, and extreme ideological dogmas supplanted merit. Our political class allowed America’s Foreign Service to atrophy, even as our strategic competitors worked to steadily erode the unipolar order.

History hasn’t ended. It’s still being made, and America’s Foreign Service must be at the forefront of crafting a future in which America maintains its strength, its sovereignty, and the self-confidence to unapologetically pursue its national interest.

Our present moment requires a foreign policy that makes America safer, stronger, and more prosperous, bolstered by an elite diplomatic corps united in a shared mission. Under President Trump, this mission is clear: to put America first.

This is why the State Department has undertaken efforts to bolster Foreign Service recruitment efforts and refine the selection process to ensure that our diplomatic mission is prepared to deliver America’s answer to the most pressing of challenges, from the reorientation of supply chains to mass migration and beyond.

Under President Trump, the Department has removed DEI excesses from Foreign Service hiring and refocused our entrance exams to better measure intellect and relevant knowledge. New officers are being taught serious diplomatic history, tradecraft, and the basics of America First foreign policy rather than sitting through bureaucratic tedium. High-performing officers can be promoted to leadership positions younger rather than being stuck in the bowels of the bureaucracy. We’re building a diplomatic corps that leverages American power to get results for our country anywhere in the world.

Franklin may have been one of America’s first diplomats, but the virtues he embodied are the same ones that our Foreign Service Officers must strive towards today. Franklin was wise and tactful, magnetic and persuasive, determined yet patient. His compatriots noted Franklin’s unshakeable confidence and composure in even the most consequential of situations. Most vitally, Franklin possessed an unyielding commitment to the cause of the United States, granting him the strength to marshal these many virtues in the service of a nascent country that would one day call him a founding father.

Our modern age requires great Americans who strive towards the ideal presented by Franklin, who are driven at their core by a love of country, who too bring their intellect, their talent, and their resolve, to the service of our nation. To join the Foreign Service is not only to be weaved into this rich history but to, like Franklin, become the face of America and act on history as it’s made.

Marco Rubio was sworn in as the 72nd Secretary of State on January 21, 2025. The Secretary is creating a Department of State that puts America First.