Diplomatic posts at the State Department and U.S. embassies worldwide will be cut by 10 percent next year because of heavy staffing demands in Iraq and Afghanistan, Director General Harry Thomas informed the foreign service yesterday.
The decision to eliminate the positions reflects the reality that State does not have enough people to fill them. Nearly one-quarter of all diplomatic posts are vacant after hundreds of foreign service officers were sent to embassies in Baghdad and Kabul, and Congress has not provided funding for new hires. Many of the unfilled jobs will no longer be listed as vacancies.
Citing "severe staffing shortfalls," Thomas asked each assistant secretary of state to prioritize jobs in his or her bureau and identify the least critical 10 percent by next Monday. "If we cannot realistically fill all of the positions currently vacant," he wrote in a cable sent throughout the department, "good management dictates that we . . . focus on the most essential."
The cuts come as the Bush administration has stepped up diplomatic efforts in hot spots such as the Middle East and North Korea. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for an expanded U.S. diplomatic presence in "critical emerging areas," including Africa and South Asia.
Pressure to fill about 250 foreign service jobs in Iraq led to a highly publicized dispute within the foreign service last month as Rice warned that she would mandate Iraq assignments if enough volunteers did not step forward. Those positions and nearly 100 "high priority" jobs in Afghanistan have now been filled for next year -- making them virtually the only U.S. embassies in the world at close to 100 percent of authorized staffing levels -- but Rice left open the possibility of "directed assignments" to other hardship posts if necessary.
Read More ...Heavy staffing demands in Iraq and Afghanistan? Really.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
