Usually one FSO (or at most a handful) sign a dissent cable. 51 is an unprecedented number of government line officers signing a dissident document which--Obama Administration denials to the contrary--could put their careers at risk.
The Dissent 51 FSOs demonstrate that America still has federal employees who will risk their careers to express profound professional disagreement with what they believe are major policy errors which damage U.S. interests, in this case long term U.S. security interests in the Middle East and Europe.
This is good news.
The Dissent 51 cable, however, also exposes a severe and now embedded morale problem within the State Department. One solo signee per dissent cable seems to be the usual case, with a rare duo or trio. 51 shows that senior State Department officials and the White House have vehemently ignored their own staff experts. Now the experts are exasperated. The exasperation may have begun as personal exasperation but it is now institutional exasperation--which is why I describe the morale problem as embedded.