Trump administration appoints junior officer to oversee US Foreign Service, sources say

By Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration has appointed a national security lawyer who entered the foreign service just four years ago as the top official overseeing the State Department's global workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter and an internal email seen by Reuters.

The hiring of Lew Olowski to run the department's Global Talent Management Bureau comes as President Donald Trump shrinks the federal workforce and looks to revamp the U.S. diplomatic corps to ensure a dedicated implementation of his "America First" policies. 

Olowski served as a senior counselor at the Department of Homeland Security under the first Trump administration. He was named the Senior Bureau Official at the Department's Global Talent Management Bureau, officials said. 

Olowski, who entered the foreign service in 2021, will temporarily fill a position traditionally occupied by veteran foreign service officers, including ambassadors, typically with decades of experience.

The move comes as Trump is looking to revamp the U.S. diplomatic corps to ensure a dedicated implementation of his "America First" policies. 

His appointment sent shockwaves across the State Department workforce and drew an objection from the American Foreign Service Association, which represents foreign service officers, saying it was "deeply concerning" to appoint Olowski and compared the move to putting a junior military officer in charge of the Pentagon’s personnel system.

"Placing an untenured, entry-level officer who has only served one complete overseas tour into this critical role, even in an acting capacity, not only disregards that tradition but also sends a clear message about the value this administration places on experience and professional progression," the Association said in a statement. 

It was not immediately clear when the administration was planning to nominate a Director General for the Foreign Service, which is a Senate-confirmed position.

"MOMENT OF TRANSITION"

In an internal email to some State Department staff, Olowski's predecessor Catherine Rodriguez, who had led the Global Talent Management Bureau since the start of the Trump administration, described the past few months as a "profound moment of transition" and urged staff to welcome Olowski, who will take up his new role starting next week.

At least one diplomat has threatened to resign over the appointment.

Kent Logsdon, a career diplomat and a former ambassador to Moldova who served as the principal deputy assistant secretary in the bureau that Olowski would be leading, said he would quit in protest in a meeting on Thursday at the State Department, two U.S. officials familiar with the conversation said.

Logsdon referred any queries to the State Department.

"We are not going to comment on internal personnel matters," a State Department spokesperson said when asked about Olowski's appointment.

The State Department's nearly 70,000 global workforce is bracing for potential job cuts and closures of U.S. overseas missions as Trump, with the help of billionaire Elon Musk, presses ahead with an effort to cut the federal workforce.

Olowski is a Ben Franklin fellow, a network that includes many individuals who have served under Trump including the current Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. 

In February, Trump issued an executive order directing U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revamp the foreign service to ensure "faithful and effective implementation" of Trump's foreign policy agenda.

The order said failure to implement the president's agenda is grounds for professional discipline, which may result in the termination of personnel.

During his campaign, he had repeatedly pledged to "clean out the deep state" by firing bureaucrats that he deems disloyal.

Trump, along with Musk, has already fired thousands of federal workers and dismantled Washington's top aid agency U.S. Agency for International Development, jeopardizing the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and disrupting global humanitarian relief efforts.

(This April 5 story has been corrected to fix the spelling of diplomat Kent Logsdon's name in paragraphs 11 and 12)

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Don Durfee and Diane Craft)