Trump Administration Incompetence Strands Americans Abroad

I have heard from constituents who are in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, the U.A.E., and Qatar or have family there and are frantically trying to get to safety. The State Department is instructing the approximately one million Americans in the Middle East to evacuate, but flights across the region are cancelled, airspaces are closed, and airports and consulates are shuttered or under attack. Americans stranded abroad are being told their embassies cannot help them.

This Administration’s clumsiness and incompetence is putting American lives at risk. The President chose when to start a war with Iran, and has been deploying military assets there for over a month. Four days into this war of choice, the Administration is scrambling to help people caught in a situation they’ve long known was coming. The Administration had ample time to encourage people to leave the region, to reduce the presence of non-essential personnel at our consulates and diplomatic posts, and secure our embassies.

Today it is clear that this Administration failed to adequately protect Americans abroad. The White House says they are ‘working on plans’ that the President himself admits they did not make in advance. We are told this as the Secretary of State claims on Capitol Hill that the war was necessary to protect American personnel overseas, something he and the President manifestly failed to do.

The Trump Administration’s failure to plan ahead – itself reminiscent of when this Administration stranded fired USAID workers and contractors overseas after abruptly firing them – is also being made worse by the mass purges at the State Department and the Administration’s vacancies in key ambassadorial positions. The Administration must immediately do everything possible to get our people home, and Congress must investigate this shocking failure of leadership that needlessly put American lives in danger.