SPOKANE, WA — Congressman Michael Baumgartner (WA-05) and Spokane native Ambassador Ryan Crocker today published a joint op-ed calling for a reinvigorated American diplomatic corps capable of operating effectively in difficult environments and responding rapidly to emerging crises.

“To practice diplomacy, you need diplomats,” Baumgartner and Crocker write. “While America’s ability to surge military power remains unmatched, our ability to surge diplomatic capability and political understanding must keep pace.”

“Ambassador Crocker is one of the most distinguished diplomats our country has ever produced, and Eastern Washington should be proud that his remarkable career began here in Spokane,” said Congressman Baumgartner. “I saw firsthand during the Iraq Surge that military power must be matched by experienced diplomats who can operate in hard places, understand the political terrain, and build the relationships needed to advance American interests. The State Department needs an expeditionary capability and a deep bench of diplomats prepared to serve when the stakes are highest.”

The op-ed highlights proposals under consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to strengthen expeditionary diplomacy and establish a pilot Diplomatic Reserve Corps based on bipartisan legislation that Congressman Baumgartner is co-leading. A reserve capability would give the State Department greater flexibility to surge trained personnel and specialized expertise into foreign-affairs contingencies without creating a new permanent bureaucracy.

Read the Op-Ed here.

Read more about bi-partisan legislation on expeditionary diplomacy here and diplomatic reserve corps here. 

More about the authors: 

• Ambassador Crocker served as the United States Ambassador to six countries: Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was sent to Kabul in 2002 to reopen the U.S. Embassy following the fall of the Taliban and was later recalled from retirement to serve another tour as Ambassador to Afghanistan. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 2009.

• Congressman Baumgartner represents Washington’s 5th Congressional District and serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Before entering elected office, he served as a State Department officer at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad during the Iraq Surge, where he worked with Ambassador Crocker as part of the broader U.S. civilian and military effort to stabilize Iraq. Baumgartner later served as a counternarcotics adviser in Afghanistan.