Gottinger writes: "The United States now has Special Operations Forces in more countries than it has ambassadors, according to a new analysis from an academic at Tufts University. The US has Special Operations deployed in a record 149 countries, while US ambassadors are currently working in just 144 countries."
U.S. Air Force pararescuemen, 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, secure the area after being lowered from a U.S. Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk during a mission on November 7, 2012, in Afghanistan. (photo: Staff Sgt. Jonathan Snyder/Air Force)
30 March 18
he United States now has Special Operations Forces in more countries than it has ambassadors, according to a new analysis from an academic at Tufts University. The US has Special Operations deployed in a record 149 countries, while US ambassadors are currently working in just 144 countries.
The death of four US Special Operations personnel in Niger – a location in which most Americans had no idea US forces were operating – has brought increased scrutiny to Trump’s more aggressive use of Special Operations Forces.
Much of the task of carrying out the US global “war on terror” has fallen on the backs of Special Operations. Since the end of the Bush administration, there has been a 150% increase in the number of countries in which Special Operations are operating. Now, almost three-quarters of the nations on Earth have US Special Operations Forces operating, with very little oversight. Trump used Special Operations to disastrous effect last year when he authorized a raid in Yemen, which killed 30 civilians, resulted in the death of a US Navy SEAL, and “recovered no actionable intelligence.”
Since Trump came to office, the US State Department – tasked with carrying out US diplomacy – has deteriorated significantly. Trump has failed to make ambassadorial appointments in many important countries, and a total of 44 countries are currently without a US ambassador.
Senior staff at the State Department has bled out significantly since Trump became president. This year, 16% of senior diplomats ended their service with the State Department. Five out of six of the most experienced US ambassadors have retired or will retire shortly.
This month, over 200 former US ambassadors and senior diplomats addressed a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee expressing concern over the deterioration of the State Department and the declining “influence of American diplomacy.”
President Trump very publically undermined his previous Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and pushed him out to get in Mike Pompeo, a hawk. Trump’s appointment of Pompeo and John Bolton – for National Security Advisor – is further evidence that the administration is sidelining traditional US diplomacy.
Last week, the New York Times Editorial Board wrote, “There are few people more likely than Mr. Bolton is to lead the country into war.” The Times warned that with the appointment of Bolton and Mike Pompeo, Trump has given in to his most dangerous instincts. “Mr. Bolton, in particular, believes the United States can do what it wants without regard to international law, treaties or the political commitments of previous administrations.”
Following Bolton’s appointment by Trump, Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted, “John Bolton was part of the effort to mislead the US into the disastrous Iraq war and has supported military action against North Korea and Iran. He was too extreme to be confirmed as UN ambassador in 2005 and is absolutely the wrong person to be national security advisor now."
Even a former Bush administration official, Richard Painter, took to Twitter to warn of the dangers of Bolton’s appointment.
“John Bolton was by far the most dangerous man we had in the entire eight years of the Bush Administration. Hiring him as the president's top national security advisor is an invitation to war, perhaps nuclear war. This must be stopped at all costs.”
The progressive foreign policy group Win Without War has warned that Trump is assembling a “war cabinet.”
This is a time when strong diplomatic muscle is needed more than ever; however, both Pompeo and Bolton are likely to push for careless policy moves like backing out of the Iran nuclear deal and demanding unreasonably harsh conditions for any deal with North Korea. Neither of these policies bodes well for preventing the US from moving toward a major war.
These new appointments should be seen as especially dangerous given that Trump has already demonstrated a willingness to use US force recklessly.
The Trump administration more than doubled US drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia last year. Trump has also restarted drone strikes in Pakistan after Obama paused them in 2016. Earlier this month, a US drone strike killed 13-year-old Amer Ali al-Saqra Huraidan and severely injured his teenage cousin in Yemen. Amer is one of 8 Yemeni civilians killed in US drone strikes this month.
In Iraq and Syria, the Trump administration is responsible for killing more civilians in US air strikes than Obama killed there throughout his entire presidency. Researchers have also noticed a disturbing new trend under Trump, a rise in the number of incidents where entire families are killed in US air strikes.
The Trump administration has also lifted the few constraints Obama placed on US weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, despite Saudi’s 3-year-long bombing of Yemen, driving it into a major humanitarian crisis. This administration has championed US arms sales as creators of US jobs, even when those sales go to countries with an unsavory human rights record.
“The United States, and indeed the rest of the world, is on a dangerous path,” said Win Without War.
“Trump is sending a clear signal that diplomacy and rule of law have no place in his administration.” The group warns that Trump’s recent appointments of Bolton and Pompeo should be opposed by “anyone who cares about our nation’s security and hopes to stop the President’s march to war.”
Paul Gottinger is a staff reporter at RSN whose work focuses on the Middle East and the arms industry. He can be reached on Twitter @paulgottinger or via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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