Inside the Trump administration’s scramble to support its own war

One State Department official said too few people were read in on war plans.

Top left: A plume of smoke caused by an Iranian strike is seen in the background as Emirates planes are parked at Dubai International Airport, March 1. Top right: The flight board at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on March 1. Thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled in the biggest disruption to global air transport since the Covid pandemic as airlines suspend services to the Middle East following the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. Bottom right: Damage is seen after a kamikaze drone struck several buildings during Iran’s retaliatory attack following U.S. and Israeli strikes, in Manama, Bahrain, March 1. Bottom left: A road sign shows the way towards the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on April 19, 2024. The U.S. embassy in Israel on April 19 told its employees and their families to restrict their movements after reports that Israel conducted strike inside Iran.  | Altaf Qadri/AP; Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images; Anadolu/Getty Images; Ronaldo Schemid/AFP via Getty Images

The State Department is adding resources to evacuate stranded Americans in the Middle East, and the Pentagon is scrambling to increase the number of U.S. troops gathering intelligence for operations — the latest indications that the Trump administration was not fully prepared for the broader war it is now facing.

Amid criticism that the administration has been too slow to alert U.S. citizens that they should leave or help those then caught in the maelstrom, the State Department is sending extra staff to Athens to aid U.S. citizens, according to a current and former department official familiar with consular issues.

A State Department official familiar with the process said Wednesday morning that the top leaders in the department had taken charge of the evacuation operation, much of which would typically be handled by consular and bureau officials.

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