New US ambassador to NATO brings relief and pledges of continued support

Ian Bond, foreign policy director at the Centre for European Reform, takes a more critical view of Trump's overall staffing policy when it comes to diplomacy. While acknowledging he doesn't know Hutchison's record in depth, he says the most important point is that the job is being filled at all and by someone with a long record in public policy....Bond takes issue with the fact that Trump has not filled other ambassadorial and State Department positions that are arguably more critical at present than NATO.  He mentions South Korea in particular, a key diplomatic hub in the current tensions with Pyongyang. "It's damaging in a variety of ways," Bond told DW. "It sends a message that basically says, I'm not really interested. Even with the best will in the world, if you are operating with a chargé d'affaires you don't get the sort of constant high-level access that you would expect if you were talking with the American ambassador."

With so many global crises at the moment, Bond suggested, "it makes a huge difference having, particularly in the important posts, somebody who at least theoretically can pick up the phone to people in the White House and say that something serious is happening."