Challenges for U.S. Public Diplomacy in the Age of Trump

American diplomats responsible for public diplomacy working in the Middle East have always faced a number of challenges. Most arise from criticisms of U.S. policy; for example, the Arab-Israeli conflict, American intervention in Iraq, or the US posture toward the civil war in Syria. In today’s climate, such substantive criticisms continue, but American diplomats must now also contend with a number of operational constraints that are new, and arise because of the unique characteristics of the Trump administration. What defines this new era of American public diplomacy? First, there is an unwritten code of conduct that American diplomats learn when they first enter the Foreign Service: They must always be truthful. They are not required nor expected to say everything they know, since they must keep the secrets Washington has entrusted them with. But they must not lie. This is not so much a moral obligation, but rather a pragmatic matter, since diplomats must build trust in order to effectively carry out their duties. Edward R. Murrow, who was President Kennedy’s Director of the now defunct U.S. Information Agency, put it this way: "To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that."