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In 2021, George Hovey wrote  “Why Some of America’s Diplomats Want to Quit” in which he argued that the State Department’s hierarchy and culture are driving foreign service officers out of the service. Three years later in the wake of a wave of resignations from the State Department driven by the U.S. government’s response to the Israel-Hamas conflict, we asked him to take a look back on his article. Read more below.Photo: State Department (Photo by Ron Przysucha)In your article “Why Some of America’s Diplomats Want to Quit,” written in 2021, you argued that the State Department’s rigid hierarchy, which disincentives dissent and diversity of thought, is driving foreign service officers to seek employment elsewhere. Over the past three years, has the State Department adopted changes to mitigate those issues to stem the outward flow of experienced diplomats? I left the State Department in October 2020, so my current assessment is based on my current work with the agency, gleaned from discussions I have with colleagues and friends presently at State, and State Department–focused publications and forums.In short, State seems to have a growing awareness of the problems that stem from retention issues but is blind to the problems that cause them.There are signs that Secretary Antony Blinken is taking its attrition issues seriously, especially amongst minority groups. For instance, he rolled out a “retention unit” to understand and address why employees are leaving State. The secretary’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, established in June 2021, rolled out a fantastic demographic baseline report that breaks down diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility statistics throughout State. Although a welcomed step, the summaries presented are not granular enough to pinpoint causal explanations as to where diverse candidates struggle. Third parties have stepped in to pick up some of the analytical slack, but only State can access the data necessary to pinpoint