共和国总统乔·拜登将交付他的第一个重大外交政策演讲周四在访问美国国务院期间，他将在办公室谈论“重塑美国在世界上的角色”还原值据白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基说，这是美国外交政策的核心。
一名高级政府官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，拜登的讲话将与国务卿安东尼·布林肯(Antony Blinken)一起概述他的外交政策愿景，以及他将如何将外交置于其中心。这一点是由国务院将是他作为总统访问的第一个联邦机构这一事实所推动的。这位官员说，预计他还将在那里采取一系列行政措施。
Psaki周二补充说，总统计划“感谢国家安全工作人员为国家做出的贡献”。
但在经历了前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)提出的预算削减、对“深度国务院”的嘲讽以及对职业外交官的政治报复四年后，该机构仍受到士气低落的困扰。
虽然拜登和布林肯的许多初步步骤和信息受到了欢迎，但一些职业官员表示，他们担心职业外交官在本届政府任期内将再次靠边站。
据这位高级官员说，为此，拜登预计将讨论政府将如何支持国务院雇员的工作，并根据国务院现任和前任官员的说法，任命职业外交官担任高级职务。
将特朗普的“美国第一”变成多边主义
特朗普对世界的民族主义态度——他称之为“美国第一”——已经成为拜登在白宫短暂任期的标志。
他让美国回到了他的前任留下的国际协议和组织中，包括巴黎气候协议和世界卫生组织，并支持从COVID-19大流行到中国和伊朗等问题的多边方法。
“我们可以让美国再次成为世界上的主导力量，”他在他的就职演说。
据政府官员称，总统还将宣布国务院的几项行政措施，旨在强调美国外交政策中的美国价值观。这位官员不愿提供更多细节，尽管人们可能会反映出顺序拜登签署了他上任的第一天，强调科学对联邦政府决策的重要性。
与此同时，拜登政府明确表示，它认为解决一系列国内危机冠状病毒流行病、经济危机和呼吁种族公正应该优先考虑。
拜登的国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文说:“外交政策是国内政策，国内政策是外交政策。上周说过。“归根结底，现在，美国面临的最深刻的国家安全挑战是整顿我们自己的家庭，即国内重建。”
国务院正在审查美国的多项政策，特别是特朗普和他的高级外交官实施的政策。迈克·蓬佩奥，2020年大选之后。布林肯说，最“紧迫”的是他们对也门胡塞叛军的指认作为一个恐怖组织这危及对这个饱受战争蹂躏、濒临饥荒的国家的粮食援助和其他援助。
政府还在审查特朗普对中国的关税和对伊朗的制裁。美国军队人数在阿富汗，与沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国的关系，以及将古巴指定为支持恐怖主义的国家。
拜登在对被任命者的担忧中提升职业外交官
据白宫称，总统原本计划周一访问国务院，但由于华盛顿遭遇暴风雪，他的讲话被推迟到本周晚些时候。
但当拜登向职业外交官发表讲话时，他的任期将比他的两位前任早得多。特朗普上任一年后，只是在解雇了他的第一任秘书雷克斯·蒂勒森后，才访问了该机构，而巴拉克·奥巴马总统的第一次讲话是在2011年，即他第一个任期的第三年。
对许多人来说，这是一个受欢迎的信号，就像布林肯对他的欢迎言论一样上任第一天，告诉该部门在世界各地的70，000名员工，“我会支持你。”
“它始于重建士气和信任。布林肯(Blinken月27日表示:“这对我来说是一个优先事项，因为我们需要一个强大的部门来让美国在世界上变得强大。”他补充说，政府将“大力投资建设一个多样化和包容性的国务院。”
到目前为止，政府已经给了两名男性和五名女性高级职位，其中三人是有色人种，比如拜登的琳达·托马斯·格林菲尔德被提名为大使给联合国。
但在这些职位以及更低层次的职位上，他们迄今只任命政治任命者，而不是职业官员。与他的民主党竞选对手伊丽莎白·沃伦不同，拜登没有承诺结束美国独有的给予富裕捐助者大使职位的做法。
迈克尔·麦金利(Michael McKinley)曾担任美国驻巴西、阿富汗、哥伦比亚和秘鲁大使，他说:“追溯到卡特时代，我很难找到一个对该部门同样熟悉并在该部门有着如此悠久历史的新团队，包括他们带来的一些政治副助理秘书。”辞去蓬佩奥的高级顾问。
“是的，他们是政治性的，但他们在国务院有很长的发展轨迹，他们，在所有人当中，会理解支持外交事业的重要性。他告诉美国广播公司新闻，“外交服务专业人员的重要角色将得到重大回归。”。
其中一些高级官员是外交官员，他们要么辞职，要么被特朗普政府赶下台，许多同事欢迎他们回来——但其他人担心的是，如果他们想获得高级职位，他们最好离开无党派的外交部门，带着政治任命回来。
“这肯定不是没有被注意到，”一名美国外交官说，他要求匿名，因为他们没有被授权与媒体交谈。“这告诉我们，你应该为奥尔布赖特-斯顿布奇工作，而不是在雾底的某个地方辛苦工作”——指的是由前国务卿马德琳·奥尔布赖特主持的咨询公司，几位前美国外交官曾在该公司工作，包括托马斯·格林菲尔德和拜登选择的副国务卿温迪·谢尔曼。
一名国务院高级官员反驳了这些担忧，称国务院的“最大资源”是“我们的人民”，布林肯将很快将职业官员提升到高级职位。
美国外交服务协会(外交官联盟)主席埃里克·鲁宾大使称赞布林肯和其他拜登官员已经伸出援手。
鲁宾告诉美国广播公司新闻，“他们非常积极主动，非常容易接近”。“我们期待着看到即将发布的公告，职业高级外交官员将被选为该部门的高级职位。”
国务院发言人内德·普莱斯(Ned Price)在周二的第一次简报中告诉记者，他也暗示了这一点，“你会看到一些受人尊敬的职业官员在这座大楼里担任一些最高级的职位。这是毫无疑问的。”
Biden to rally US diplomats with 1st major foreign policy speech
President Joe Biden will deliver his first major foreign policy speech in office Thursday during a visit to the State Department, where he is expected to talk about "reclaiming America's role in the world" and restoring valuesto the center of U.S. foreign policy, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
Biden's speech, alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken, will outline his foreign policy vision and how he will put diplomacy at the center of it, a senior administration official told ABC News -- a point driven home by the fact that the State Department will be the first federal agency he visits as president. He is also expected to take a series of executive actions while there, the official said.
The president plans to "thank the men and women of the national security workforce for their service to our country," Psaki added Tuesday.
But after four years of former President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts, taunts against the "deep state" department and political retaliation against career diplomats, the agency remains beset by low morale.
While many of Biden and Blinken's initial steps and messages have been welcomed, some career officials have expressed concern that career diplomats will be sidelined again under this administration.
To that end, Biden is expected to talk about how the administration will support State Department employees' work, according to the senior official, and name career diplomats to senior positions, according to current and former State Department officials.
Turning Trump's 'America First' into multilateralism
Rolling back Trump's nationalist approach to the world -- which he termed "America First" -- has already become a hallmark of Biden's short time at the White House.
He has returned the United States to international agreements and organizations his predecessor left -- including the Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization -- and has endorsed a multilateral approach to issues ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to China and Iran.
"We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world," he declared in his inaugural address.
The president will also announce several executive actions at the State Department that are aimed at emphasizing American values in the country's foreign policy, according to the administration official. The official would not provide more details, although one may mirror an orderBiden signed his first day in office that emphasized the importance of science to the federal government's decision-making.
At the same time, the Biden administration has made clear it believes addressing a series of domestic crises -- the coronavirus pandemic, the economic crisis and calls for racial justice -- should take precedence.
"Foreign policy is domestic policy, and domestic policy is foreign policy," Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said last week. "And at the end of the day, right now, the most profound national security challenge facing the United States is getting our own house in order, is domestic renewal."
Multiple U.S. policies are under review by the State Department, especially those implemented by Trump and his top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, after the 2020 election. Blinken has said the most "urgent" is their designation of the Houthi rebels in Yemen as a terrorist group, which imperils food aid and other assistance to the war-torn country on the brink of famine.
The administration is also reviewing Trump's tariffs on China and sanctions on Iran, U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Biden to elevate career diplomats amid concerns over appointees
The president had originally planned to visit the State Department Monday, but his remarks were pushed back to later in the week because of a snowstorm that hit Washington, according to the White House.
But when he does address career diplomats, Biden will have done so far earlier in his term than his two immediate predecessors. Trump visited the agency after one year in office and only after firing his first secretary Rex Tillerson, while President Barack Obama's first speech there was in 2011, three years into his first term in office.
That's a welcome sign to many, as were Blinken's welcome remarks on his first full day in office, telling the department's 70,000 employees worldwide, "I will have your back."
"It starts with rebuilding morale and trust. This is a priority for me because we need a strong department for the United States to be strong in the world," Blinken said on Jan. 27 -- adding the administration will be investing "significantly in building a diverse and inclusive State Department."
So far, the administration has given senior roles to two men and five women, three of them women of color like Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden's nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations.
But in those positions and down through lower levels, they have so far only named political appointees rather than career officials, and unlike his Democratic campaign opponent Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Biden did not pledge to end the practice, unique to the U.S., of giving wealthy donors ambassadorships.
"I'd be hard pressed going back to the Carter years to point to an incoming team that is as well-versed on the department and has such a strong history at the department, including some of the political deputy assistant secretaries they're bringing in," said Michael McKinley, who served as U.S. ambassador to Brazil, Afghanistan, Colombia, and Peru and resigned as Pompeo's senior adviser.
"Yes, they're political, but they have a long trajectory in the State Department, and they, of all people, will understand the importance of supporting the career Foreign Service. There will be a significant return to an important role for Foreign Service professionals," he told ABC News.
Some of those senior officials are Foreign Service officers who either resigned or were pushed out by the Trump administration, with many colleagues welcoming them back -- but others concerned the message is if they want to obtain senior positions, they're better off leaving the nonpartisan Foreign Service to come back with a political appointment.
"That's definitely not gone unnoticed," said one U.S. diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. "It tells us you should've been working for Albright-Stonebridge rather than toiling away somewhere in Foggy Bottom" -- a reference to the consulting firm chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright where several former U.S. diplomats have worked, including Thomas-Greenfield and Biden's pick for deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman.
A senior State Department official pushed back on those concerns, saying that the department's "greatest resource" is "our people" and that Blinken will elevate career officials to senior positions soon.
Ambassador Eric Rubin, the president of the American Foreign Service Association, diplomats' union, applauded Blinken and other Biden officials for reaching out already.
"They are being very proactive in reaching out and very accessible," Rubin told ABC News. "We look forward to seeing upcoming announcements about career senior Foreign Service officer being selected for senior positions at the department."
State Department spokesperson Ned Price hinted at the same, telling reporters in his first briefing Tuesday, "You will see a number of respected career officials assume some of the most senior positions in this building. There's no doubt about that."
