I would be inclined to defer to your experience on the firing lines and include girding loins for budget battles to be a plausible explanation. The most plausible explanation I put forth is that Hillary wants to convene this group to review US foreign policy objectives similar to what DOD does with it Quadriennal review. In addition, there will be an assessment of the damage Wikileaks has done to bilateral relations. And Hillary will issue some oral directives that she would rather not put in writing to avoid another UN debacle.
I can imagine that the turmoil in the Middle East captures the attention of Obama but I would be quite surprised if he stays awake nights contriving to fund the Department of State and opposition to those pesky Republicans.
Phony strawman. Hillary is the one organizing and directing this meeting. Obama delegates a lot. The NSC really runs our foreign policy.
The State Department has been a rogue institution relative to Republican administrations and there might be a real fear that even the Democrats can lose control.
So much nonsense and misinformation. You obviously don't have a clue how our foreign policy is formulated and implemented. The idea that the State Department is a rogue institution is patent nonsense.
More likely they are strategizing over something that you and I will not like. If it is only a previously scheduled quadrennial review, it will nonetheless mark a sharp left turn.
With a meeting this large and encompassing, there is no way anything will be kept secret. Two thirds or so of the ambassadors are career officers and virtually all of the consulates heads are. There is nothing nefarious or conspiratorial about this meeting, which I believe is totally unnecessary. It is more political theater. Maybe the WH and Hillary will have a group picture to show that Obama is deeply involved in foreign policy. I smell David Plouffe and his propaganda machine involvement. This meeting was set up long before the Egyptian crisis. It may be part of the review below, i.e., to implement the recommendations.
December 15, 2010: Today Secretary Clinton released the State Department's first-ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review
The First Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR): Leading Through Civilian Power
So much nonsense and misinformation. You obviously don't have a clue how our foreign policy is formulated and implemented. The idea that the State Department is a rogue institution is patent nonsense. I am willing to defer to you on many issues with respect to the Department of State because of your career there but I am not willing to abandon common sense and say that the Department of State has not been undermining Republican presidents for at least a generation and probably going back to Eisenhower. Do you disagree with that? That is my definition of a rogue agency.
The Department of State has been far worse than the CIA and elements within the CIA recently has leaked flagrantly to undermine the Iraqi war and engineered the entire Valerie Plane matter to undermine George Bush. That is my definition of a rogue agency.
How many times did Ronald Reagan have to rewrite the phrase, "tear down that wall" in the teeth of opposition from the State Department?
