BTW..there was an article the other day ( I think Politico?) that career FS types are getting really upset at Obama's "selling" ambassadorships to his biggest donors..for career types...an ambassador is what they all strive for..on ther merits, and it seems that most of the good ones have become political plums..State is a very incestuous place..many may not like having "Upper Volta" as the high point of their career path..so you might start to see some interesting "leaks"
I would sure hope so.
The state department is very problematic IMO. I get people that disagree with me on that, but I see the State Department as an organization that thinks everything can be handled diplomatically.
Unfortunately, that means we allow things to fester to a place where we have to take military action, and at times in much worse circumstances than we would have had to had we simply faced reality to begin with.
I don’t think the Cold War would ever have ended if the State Department had controlled everything.