A US state department post recruiting Americans to be its “eyes and ears” abroad – and featuring a picture of London – suggests “unease” in ties, say US and UK diplomats.

In an advertisement for the foreign service over the weekend, the state department invited Americans to “navigate great-power rivalries, defuse global crises, and protect Americans and their interests across the globe”.

That ad, featuring an American flag against a dark, grainy image of Big Ben, “sounds awfully spooky, like they’re recruiting for the CIA and not the state department”, said a former UK diplomat.

A former US senior diplomat said: “There is growing uneasiness in DC about the UK’s independence from the US, so this may be seen as a symbol of an overseas post to watch what other countries are doing and report back.” They added there could be other reasons for featuring Big Ben in the image.

“London still holds a charm for people who want to serve in the foreign service.”

The British diplomat said there could be “innocent considerations” in the choice: “I don’t know whether they chose Big Ben because it’s recognisably foreign. You could have had the Eiffel Tower, you could have had the Kremlin, I suppose. Maybe it’s as simple as that.”

But, he said, in the aftermath of US officials lecturing the UK on freedom of speech, “the implication might be that the US is watching carefully what happens in Britain, and that it’s not a coincidence, perhaps”.

“If you’re sitting and looking at this in King Charles Street, you couldn’t rule out the thought that this is a little bit pointed.”

Last February, the state department froze recruitment for the foreign service – the US’s diplomatic corps – amid massive cuts to the US federal government led by Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency, Doge.

It began to recruit foreign service officers again earlier this month, more than a year later, after overhauling its selection process and its curriculum for new US diplomats. The new selection process, announced in April, has eliminated questions aligned “with the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda”. Meanwhile, the new curriculum will train diplomats on “America First foreign policy”.

In response to this announcement, the American Foreign Service Association said there were “serious concerns” about ideology being introduced into the selection and training of US diplomats.

“This administration is changing the face of the US diplomatic corps by going back to the 60s and 70s when US diplomats were ‘male, pale and from Yale,’” said the former US diplomat.

“The recruitment of new foreign service officers will be based on the ‘correct’ understanding of US history and politics and advancement will be justified on fidelity towards the administration’s policies.”

Another recent advertisement for the foreign service featured a picture of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, and the words: “Today, America needs dedicated patriots to continue the legacy of American diplomacy.”

Orna Blum, a retired US senior diplomat, said the image of London appeared to be “more a creative choice than a diplomatic one”, but that it struck an odd note.

“From a recruiting standpoint, there’s a disconnect. The job is human – earning trust, managing crises, protecting Americans in complex environments. That reality just isn’t coming through here.”

“What’s really odd or striking is that I would never have said that the job of a diplomat is to be the eyes and ears of a country,” said the British diplomat. “They’ve always been seen in the past as interlocutors, people who would go out and speak on behalf of a country, and not just passively receive information.”

Kristofer Harrison, a former state department Russia expert, said: “We need diplomats to be lines of communications to foreign governments, not our eyes and ears. My gut is that this is just Maga incompetence.”

The state department was approached for comment.