Dismissals, early retirements embarrass US State Department

Tillerson delivered speech at Wilson Center, Nov,28. Photo by Gao Shi

Washington (People's Daily) - In his first ten months, US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has made no secret of his belief that the US State Department is a bloated bureaucracy, and a spate of dismissals and early retirements has decimated the State Department’s senior ranks. Tillerson’s focus on reorganizing the department has sparked off-the-record anger. The optimism that greeted Tillerson’s arrival had given way to concern among diplomats about his aloofness and lack of communication.

Data provided by the American Foreign Service Association shows that as of Dec. 1, the number of those with the rank of career ambassador and career minister — equivalent to four- and three-star generals — has been cut by more than half, from 39 to 19. In the meantime, the number of the minister-counselors， equivalent to two-star generals, was cut to 369 from 431. 14 of them have indicated they will leave soon, which would be an 18 percent drop.

With the slump in serving diplomats, the number of those filling the void doesn’t show up proportionally. So far, just 10 of the top 44 political positions in the department have been filled, and for most of the vacancies, Tillerson has not nominated anyone.

Furthermore, Mr. Tillerson has frozen most hiring and recently offered a $25,000 buyout in hopes of pushing nearly 2,000 career diplomats and civil servants to leave by October 2018.

Members of the US Congress have raised questions about the impact of the diplomats’ departure. In a letter to Mr. Tillerson, Democratic members of the US House Foreign Relations Committee claimed more than 100 senior Foreign Service officers from the State Department have left since January. They also expressed concern about what appears to be the intentional hollowing-out of senior diplomatic ranks. Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen sent Tillerson a similar letter, arguing that America’s diplomatic power is being weakened internally as complex global crises are growing.

Even before Tillerson was confirmed, his staff already fired six of the State Department’s top career diplomats, including Patrick Kennedy, who had been appointed to his position by President George W. Bush. Kristie Kenney, the department’s counselor and one of just five career ambassadors, was summarily fired a few weeks later. Buy none were given any reason for their dismissals. Then Tillerson hired two consulting companies to lead the reorganization. Since he decided before arriving at the State Department to slash its budget by 31 percent, many in the department have always seen the reorganization as a smokescreen for drastic cuts.

Tillerson’s small group of aides has fired some diplomats and gotten others to resign by refusing them the assignments they wanted or taking away their duties altogether. Among those fired or sidelined were most of the top African-American and Latino diplomats, as well as many women, difficult losses in a department that has long struggled with diversity.

In his speech at the Wilson Center, Tillerson defended reducing the number of US diplomats, saying he was offended by suggestions that, somehow, the US doesn’t have a State Department that works.