Joel Mowbray: Will Condi reform the State Department?

TownHall.com ^ | November 24, 2004 | Joel Mowbray

[Tolik]

Troubling !

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[nina0113]

I sure hope so - I used to slug into DC (see http://www.slug-lines.com/) and I'd get rides with assorted State Dept. people who would spend the entire drive criticizing the President and his policies in the most contemptuous language. I don't understand how someone can have so little integrity as to continue to work for a leader he despises.

[Cicero]

For the past 60 years, nobody has been able to reform Foggy Bottom. Not Eisenhower, not Nixon, not Reagan.

I'll be very pleased if Condi makes a start. But she'll need some good, trusty deputies, because cleaning house is a full time job, and she'll have other concerns to occupy her time.

[Tolik]

"little integrity" - that's the point

[Tolik]

Yes, send in Newt and Zell!

[McGavin999]

I think you call a meeting of all foreign service workers and tell them we are at war. If they don't support this president and the US war effort, there is a nice job waiting for them in the worst hellhole on the planet, and we will not be at all adverse to transferring them immediately.

[Carry_Okie]

But the State Department’s rabid distaste for bold new ideas long precedes Colin Powell, as does its worshipping at the altar of “stability,” the doctrine that the world is safest when left unchanged.

"Stability" is what global investors think is good for them, regardless if "stability" hinges upon "tyranny." When tyranny brings instability, they whine to the taxpayers to protect "American interests." Never mind that those interests are founded upon exported taxpayers' jobs while depending upon taxpayers to fund security.

I can't stand these people.

[princess leah]

PINK SLIPS - CONDI SHOULD ISSUES THOUSANDS OF PINK SLIPS FIRST OFF TO EVERY CLINTON HIREE. Then, run a litmus test (yep I said LITMUS TEST!) and see who wants a) America's safety first b) willing to think outside the box and c)respects the President whether or not they voted for him...

[Carry_Okie]

PINK SLIPS - CONDI SHOULD ISSUES THOUSANDS OF PINK SLIPS FIRST OFF TO EVERY CLINTON HIREE.

Can't do that under the Civil Service Code. One can make their lives miserable until they leave. We need to open LARGE foreign service offices in Chad, Burundi, Malawi, Turkmenistan, Georgia, The Falkland Islands, Estonia, Belorussia, Mongolia, the Orkney Islands, Lesotho, Ivory Coast, and Rwanda.

Of course, with our military stretched so thin, they'll have to provide their own protection.

[Carry_Okie]

Of course, with our military stretched so thin, they'll have to provide their own protection.

Oh, and because they've got diplomatic immunity, they won't need vaccinations!

[Travis McGee]

Can't happen. All transfers and postings are strictly doled out by panels of career DOS officials. The political side can't penetrate that system. Punishment and reward within the DOS is 100% controlled by DOS career officers.

[Travis McGee]

LOL!

Yes, let's start sending them to mandatory Outward Bound type "leadership and teamwork seminars" in Alaska.

Surplus Army tents, ponchos, a box of matches, old army blankets. Each food cache is a day's hike through the forest and mountains.

"You wanna be in the State Department???"

Lots of combat veteran junior and field grade officers would enjoy making the transition to State.

[wildbill]

"All hiring, firing, transferring, and promoting is handled not by the Secretary, but by panels comprised of members of the Foreign Service. The Secretary of State isn’t even able to fire a convicted felon..."

If this is true, is this caused by an act of Congress or custom. If an act of Congress, this is an intrusion into the Executive branch which is probably against the Constitution. If a custom, then it needs to be changed.

[Tolik]

I hear about all these entrenched rules, how even the Secretary can't fire a State employee. Its totally amazing and I can't believe that nothing can be done.

What, The President can't fire a federal employee?
Don't they have some hundreds of lawyers in the Justice?

Can't he use an executive order, after all, to change things around?

[wildbill]

Firing civil service workers for political purposes is against the law. Most of the state department employees are career civil service employees and therefore immune to being fired.

What a Sec. of State should be able to do to recalcitrant employees who refuse to support the foreign policy of ANY administration is to reassign them. Moving a bureaucrat from a cushy Washington post or a glamor Ambassadorship to a post in Faroutahereistan should serve pour encourager les autres.

[Carry_Okie]

Can't he use an executive order, after all, to change things around?

The Congress violated the Separation of Powers principle when they usurped executive authority to hire and fire with the Civil Service Code.

[Carry_Okie]

Yes, let's start sending them to mandatory Outward Bound type "leadership and teamwork seminars" in Alaska.

I like it. Heck, there are people who PAY for that kind of treatment (usually liberals, conservatives just go do it), so I'm certain our DOS patriots would be more than glad to participate without pay!

[Travis McGee]

Tell them that military field grade and junior officers will also be invited, and their continued careers at State will depend on their performance.

[Valin]

The problem with the State Dept. is they value "stability" above all.