Show Notes
Jeffrey Sizemore spent over two decades serving the United States, first as a U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer and later as a civil servant at the State Department. As the Senior Advisor on Atrocity Prevention and Deputy Director in the Office of Security and Human Rights, Jeff helped operationalize the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. He built comprehensive curriculums and traveled globally to train foreign service officers on how to mitigate the risks of mass violence, identify warning signs, and understand what post-conflict justice looks like.
When the second Trump administration began in 2025, Jeff watched as assistance for human rights programs was frozen and Reductions-in-Force (RIFs) gutted critical conflict, stabilization, and global criminal justice bureaus. Though Jeff was spared from the RIFs, his office was eliminated, and he was pushed toward a role focused on wielding human rights sanctions against judges and the International Criminal Court. Unwilling to compromise his moral standing or act counter to the very international accountability he had championed, Jeff made the difficult decision to resign in September 2025.
Now in his third act, Jeff has taken his expertise to Brisbane, Australia, serving as the Mary Wing-Ming Lee Senior Human Rights Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect at the University of Queensland. He is also a regular host on the YouTube channel Former Feds & Friends, using pop culture and movies like Zootopia 2 to make sense of today’s global challenges. He continues his lifelong mission by educating the next generation of diplomats who will eventually be needed to rebuild these critical global initiatives.
Highlights & Topics: Two Decades of Service: Jeff's journey from a 20-year career in the U.S. Navy—deploying to the Middle East and Pacific—to finding his calling at the State Department Operationalizing Prevention: How Jeff built an interagency curriculum to train foreign service officers on justice, human rights, and atrocity prevention under the Elie Wiesel Act Tearing it Down to the Studs: A firsthand account of the 2025 RIFs that eliminated entire bureaus dedicated to conflict stabilization, global criminal justice, and security Crossing the Moral Line: Why Jeff chose to resign rather than weaponize human rights sanctions against the international community The Third Act: Jeff's pivot to educating the next generation of diplomats in Australia and his advice for former feds looking to continue their mission at the state, local, or international NGO level
Additional Resources: Former Feds & Friends: Watch Jeff and former guest Madeline Vellturo discuss democracy, stability, and atrocity prevention through the lens of pop culture Civic Match / Work for America: A resource for former federal employees looking to transition their specialized skills and expertise to state and local governments
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