CONDI SHAKING UP STATE

WASHPOST:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that she will shift hundreds of Foreign Service positions from Europe and Washington to difficult assignments in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere as part of a broad restructuring of the diplomatic corps that she has dubbed "transformational diplomacy." ... As part of the change in priorities, Rice announced that diplomats will not be promoted into the senior ranks unless they accept assignments in dangerous posts, gain expertise in at least two regions and are fluent in two foreign languages, citing Chinese, Urdu and Arabic as a few preferred examples.

Rice noted that the United States has nearly as many State Department personnel in Germany -- which has 82 million people -- as in India, with 1 billion people. As a first step, 100 jobs in Europe and Washington will be immediately shifted to expanded embassies in countries such as India, China and Lebanon. Many of these diplomats had been scheduled to rotate into coveted posts in European capitals this summer, and the sudden change in assignment has caused some distress, State Department officials said.

What Condi is REALLY doing is shakingh up (and soon OUT!) the INSTITUTIONAL INSIDERS who have dominated the DoS since WW2 the “Alger Hissites” and more recently the "status quoists" like Scowcroft and Larry Wilkerson - the folks who have seen themselves for decades as the proper formulators of policy (and NOT the elected leaders) and who have on many MANY occassions been a virtual Fifth Column. They will now be separated from their insulated and cushy jobs - where they routinely undermine the policies of our ELECTED decision makers - anfd they will be sent to outposts on the boundaries between "the West and the rest." Many may quit as a result. Good riddance.