Follow-Up: Rubio Defends Replacing Foreign Flags at State Department: 'We're Not the United Nations'
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on November 13 defended replacing about 190 foreign flags in the State Department's main lobby with American flags, during a question-and-answer session after his Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society's National Lawyers Convention in Washington. 'I said, no, we're not the United Nations,' Rubio said. 'Take the flag; the United Nations can have all those flags. It's the State Department of the United States.'
The department's main atrium, known as the Hall of Flags, had displayed the flags of the roughly 190 countries with which the United States maintains diplomatic relations since the building opened in 1961. For the America 250 celebrations this year, every foreign flag was replaced with an American flag; the new display was unveiled on June 29 by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and was left in place after the anniversary, drawing criticism that the United States was abandoning the world. Rubio said he had not set out on a crusade to remove the flags, that the old display had stayed for a year and a half, and that the change was made for the 250th anniversary and then kept.
The move follows the 'One Flag' policy Rubio adopted days after taking office in January 2025, under which only the United States flag is authorized at U.S. facilities at home and abroad, with exceptions for the POW/MIA flag and the Wrongful Detainees flag, ending the practice of flying Pride and other flags at embassies.
(Source: U.S. Department of State)
Source: U.S. Department of State
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国务院哈里·杜鲁门大楼外观资料图。照片：美国国务院，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: File photo of the Harry S. Truman Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of State. Photo by the U.S. Department of State, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
