State Department cut jobs with deep expertise in Middle East as...

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : According to estimates by the American Foreign Service Association, the labor union that represents foreign service officers, senior foreign service ranks were disproportionately represented in the layoffs compared to their share of the overall workforce.
47% : In the escalating war in Iran, the State Department´s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs would ordinarily be at the center of the geopolitical fray. Typically led by a veteran diplomat, the bureau´s role would be to coordinate U.S. foreign policy across an 18-country region, much of which has become a chaotic battlefield scarred by drone and missile strikes as the U.S. and Israel remain locked in conflict with Iran.
42% : When the U.S. made the decision to strike Iran, Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee offered embassy staff in Jerusalem the opportunity to evacuate - a sign that he knew strikes were coming.

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