"We are better than this ban," one leaked version of the memo said, arguing that it would backfire, making the US less safe from terrorism. The executive order, freezing entry for nationals of a list of seven majority Muslim countries, "stands in opposition to the core American and constitutional values that we, as federal employees, took an oath to uphold", the memo said.
The memo is being sent through the state department’s "dissent channel", set up at the time of the Vietnam war to allow alternative points of view to be aired inside the institution. Under its foreign affairs manual, dissenters are strictly protected from reprisals, but the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, warned the signers they should resign if they did not like the policy.
"I think that they should either get with the programme or they can go. This is about the safety of America," Spicer said during his daily briefing at the White House.