Aika laidasta laitaan jenkkimediassa huolta ulkoministeriön tilasta ja kehityksestä. Korostuu juuri nyt kun Pohjois-Korea uhittelee, että muutakin ylemmän portaan henkilökuntaa puuttuu kuin Etelä-Korean suurlähettiläs.
Ilmeisesti ihan tarkoituksella pienennetään ulkoministeriötä. Saattaa siihen olla aihettakin jos se pääsi paisumaan tehottomaksi juggernautiksi, mutta nyt ollaan lähellä toista ääripäätä missä se ei pysty täyttämään tehtäviään kunnolla. Ei puolustusministeriö pysty kuitenkaan samoja hommia hoitamaan.
Tämä heijastuu varmasti jo nyt Eurooppaankin. Ei hyvä jos Yhdysvallat ei diplomatiassa ole enää Venäjän vastapainona täällä kulmilla, kun Kreml kuitenkin pelaa ihan eri säännöillä ja työkaluilla kuin Bryssel. (No onneksi tämä ei Suomelle mikään uusi ja ihmeellinen tilanne ole että ensisijaisesti omin voimin ja toimin pitää pärjätä. Salen kaltainen tolkun ihminen saa olla seuraavakin ulkopolitikan hahmottelija... No nyt hyppii jo asiasta kukkaruukkuun
)
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http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...cuts-incompetent-leadership-threaten-american
he U.S. Department of State is one of the world’s great governmental institutions. Founded near the inception of this nation, it boasts a long and storied history: It has guided America’s evolution from a colonial backwater to a world superpower, and in the years following the end of the Second World War, it played a prime role in constructing the global order that still holds to this day.
It turns out that he is neither. Under Tillerson’s watch, and indeed under his direct purview, the State Department’s core is being gutted. He is running Foggy Bottom the way a corporate raider might take over a company: firing half of its workforce, repurposing its original mission, scaling back its operations across the globe. Offices are being shuttered, while ambassadorial, assistant secretary, and undersecretary posts remain unfilled. Even as North Korea tests intercontinental ballistic missiles, there is no undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, no permanent assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs or International Security and Nonproliferation, no ambassador to South Korea. Browsing through the department’s webpage is a depressing affair: Blank spaces appear where headshots should be and the word “vacant” shows up more often than the names of current employees."
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-north-korea-state-department_us_598af4f2e4b0d793738b8773
"But adding to Tillerson’s challenge in this case is that, more than six months into Trump’s presidency, top State Department posts relevant to dealing with North Korea remain filled by officials serving on a temporary basis or are vacant.
The U.S. currently has no permanent ambassador to South Korea,
according to the State Department’s website. The U.S. embassy’s top career official,
Marc Knapper, heads the diplomatic staff in the country on an acting capacity until Trump nominates an envoy.
The assistant secretaries of
East Asian and Pacific Affairs and
nuclear nonproliferation are similarly in acting positions. And the role of
undersecretary for arms control and international security is vacant."
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http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...he-state-department-into-a-ghost-ship-w492142
"Perhaps, then, Tillerson would find smart people to help him along? Well, no. Six months after taking office, Tillerson's State Department is populated by ghosts, with office after office empty, top positions unfilled, key ambassadorships unnamed. Under Tillerson's uncertain leadership, America's diplomatic expertise – its ability to bring experience to bear on knotty international problems, its facility for reconciling warring parties and conflicts from the Middle East to Asia – has been decimated. And that has given the upper hand to the Pentagon. Whereas Trump and Tillerson have announced plans to cut the budget of the State Department by one-third, the White House is seeking a bump of $54 billion for the Department of Defense."
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http://www.politico.com/magazine/st...-tillerson-destroying-state-department-215319
"When Rex Tillerson was announced as secretary of state, there was a general feeling of excitement and relief in the department. After eight years of high-profile, jet-setting secretaries, the building was genuinely looking forward to having someone experienced in corporate management. Like all large, sprawling organizations, the State Department’s structure is in perpetual need of an organizational rethink. That was what was hoped for, but that is not what is happening. Tillerson is not reorganizing, he’s downsizing.
While the lack of senior political appointees has gotten a lot of attention, less attention has been paid to the hollowing out of the career workforce, who actually run the department day to day. Tillerson has canceled the incoming class of foreign service officers. This as if the Navy told all of its incoming Naval Academy officers they weren’t needed. Senior officers have been unceremoniously pushed out. Many saw the writing on the wall and just retired, and many others are now awaiting buyout offers. He has dismissed State’s equivalent of an officer reserve—retired FSOs, who are often called upon to fill State’s many short-term staffing gaps, have been sent home despite no one to replace them. Office managers are now told three people must depart before they can make one hire. And now
Bloomberg reports that Tillerson is blocking all lateral transfers within the department, preventing staffers from moving to another office even if it has an opening. Managers can’t fill openings; employees feel trapped.
Despite all this, career foreign and civil service officers are all still working incredibly hard representing the United States internationally. They’re still doing us proud. But how do you manage multimillion-dollar programs with no people? Who do you send to international meetings and summits? Maybe, my former colleagues are discovering, you just can’t implement that program or show up to that meeting. Tillerson’s actions amount to a geostrategic own-goal, weakening America by preventing America from showing up."
