Ten Democratic senators on the Foreign Relations Committee have written to President Donald Trump expressing their "urgent concern" over his decision to recall 30 diplomats from their ambassador posts.
The senators noted this means there are more than 100 vacant ambassadorial posts around the world.
"This vacuum in U.S. leadership poses a significant threat to our national security and unnecessarily risks the safety of U.S. citizens and businesses overseas," the senators wrote.
"We ask you to reconsider this decision before it damages America's credibility and the ability to advance U.S. interests abroad," the senators continued.
The senators called the decision "hasty," saying Congress was not consulted on the decision and there was no plan to replace them.
"As the over 100 U.S. embassies lacking senior leadership await a new U.S. ambassador, China, Russia and others will maintain regular communications with the foreign leaders that we will have effectively abandoned, allowing our adversaries to expand their reach and influence to limit, and even harm, U.S. interests," the senators wrote.
Last week, the Trump administration moved to recall the diplomats as part of its efforts to reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of Trump's America First priorities.
The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January.
All of them had taken up their posts in the Biden administration and survived an initial purge in the early months of Trump's second term that targeted mainly political appointees.
Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda.
Second is Asia, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Four countries in Europe (Armenia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia) are affected, as are two each in the Middle East (Algeria and Egypt), South and Central Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka), and the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname).
The letter was signed by Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., along with fellow Democratric Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, and and Jacky Rosen of Nevada.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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