Under Biden, State Department needs to be rebuilt. But better.

Over recent years, “build back better” has become the mantra of reconstruction teams looking to rebuild communities devastated by natural disasters, from earthquakes to hurricanes, but in smarter, more sustainable ways.

Now the transition team for President-elect Joe Biden is applying the guiding slogan of disaster recovery, which he employed during his campaign in reference to the entire United States economy, to the rebuilding of federal government agencies and departments.

And, say U.S. diplomats, former ambassadors, and foreign policy experts, perhaps in no case is the “rebuild, but better” concept more pertinent and urgent than with the State Department.

Hollowed out, demoralized, sidelined, politicized, even mortally damaged – all are among the descriptions that have been used to sound the alarm over the foundering and deteriorating conditions of the nation’s diplomatic infrastructure.

“Not just a reset”An inviting career pathA signal on diversity