Only 18 percent of the U.S. Foreign Service think Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is doing a good job protecting their profession, according to a recent survey conducted by the service’s union. Forty-four percent rated her performance “poor” or “very poor,” the same percentage of respondents who said that “developments of the last few years” had made it less likely they would complete their careers in the Foreign Service.
According to an informal survey conducted by Baldassar Castiglione at Castello Gandolfo, where they had gathered to escape the plague.ÂÂ
This is a good thing, I think. State needs some turnover and the turning out of the career leftists who think they are a branch of Government unto themselves.
“…more than one-fifth of respondents said they suffered from at least 10 of the 17 generally accepted symptoms of the disorder.”
What disorder? Post-traumatic stress disorder.
They can always get jobs at, um, well, I think a lot of them probably married well so there’s that.
Wow, a toothless union. Bet that’ll hurt her re-election chances for SecOfState.
So in other words, she must be doing something right, right?
Works for me!
If they don’t like their cushy sinecures, well, let them eat cake.
I mean, they seem to do a decent job issuing passports, as well as receiving and sending ambassadors, but where’s the big, positive, DoS story? They’ve been AWOL on Iraq. Actually, wasn’t there a recent story about diplomats *refusing* to go? That’d get a military member a UCMJ Article 90 charge – at the very least – and probably an Article 134 charge – just for good measure. Also, didn’t the geniuses at Foggy Bottom send Bhutto (albeit willingly) to her death?
Sometimes you just want to let indefensible dogs lie.
“Protecting their profession…”
What does that mean?
“developments of the last few years†had made it less likely they would complete their careers in the Foreign Service.
Buh-bye. We need fewer whiners and more people like Consul-at-Arms…
What’s visible here is less a revolt of the diplomats than it is an example of how tone-deaf the Press has become in recent years. The comments at the article are, how you say, not particularly supportive. I would be willing to bet that, as with the “Unwilling FSOs” story a little while ago, there’s a good deal less here than meets the eye.
Real FSOs are hardworking people. They mostly aren’t Retief, but more of them are Mangan than are Feckwhistle. Like anybody working in a long-standing bureaucracy they tend to focus more than is healthy on their own pay, privileges, and perquisites, and need to be reminded of that from time to time.
Regards,
Ric
FSOs are still on my list. It’s like that Endangered Species thingy – once you get on the list you’re gonna be there awhile.
It’s Joe Wilson’s fault a lot really. He’s emblematic of something.
It’s the perception of an apparent view a that a good portion of them think they are some sort of annointed aristocracy, as they
Graduatedhave a certificate of attendance from some Ivy League college with a phoney baloney degree and that their will and wishes should take precedence over doing their job; which is following the orders of the President. I’m thinking that their should be a diplomatic corps Academy, much like the Armed Service Academies, that would weed out the fluff and poseurs. Just making them do Physical Training every morning would probably eliminate most of the leftist tools who aspire to go into the DoS in order to undermine a duly elected President and would restore a committment to the National Interest and the discipline to execute orders with which they disagree.Since we have things like telephones and computers and the internet, why exactly do we need these glorified crybabies abroad on our dime? It’s not like the Secretary of State can’t pick up the phone and talk to her counterpart anywhere. These are the same clowns who came up with the visa express program. Look how that turned out.