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Finland and Norway Trip Report
A few weeks back, I was asked by the U.S. embassies in Helsinki and Oslo to visit each city to lead a series of informal roundtable discussions and particpate in formal think tank events on a variety of issues touching on both the anniversary of the September 11th attacks and the lessons learned -- or not learned -- over the past decade. As I wrote earlier, I jumped at the chance to visit each city because I think interacting with our allies is really important, and I am honored to help out the State Department with their public engagement activities abroad.
To begin, I was really impressed with the foreign service officers and other diplomatic staff working for the United States abroad. Without fail, our foreign service officers are smart, funny, and great ambassadors to the rest of the world. Second, I was just as impressed by the many scholars, journalists and other people with whom I interacted. The purpose of this post is to highlight some of the really smart people I met with and the work they are doing.
31 August 2011
What better way to begin a visit to Helsinki than with a drink with Finnish journalist Jari Lindholm? Jari has done some great reporting from Afghanistan to Libya and introduced me to the fine folks expertly mixing drinks at the American Bar in the Hotel Torni. I read about as much Finnish as I read Mandarin Chinese, but Jari gave me a copy of his most recent reporting from Misurata for Suomen Kuvalehti, and his pictures alone -- including one two-page color photograph of Tripoli Street during a lull in the fighting -- were stunning.
1 September 2011
I led a series of informal roundtable discussions on Thursday with the Finnish Min. of Defense among others but started out the day the Finnish Institute for International Affairs leading a conversation about post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization in Libya with Timo Behr. Timo and I used to live in the exact same building in Washington, DC but had never met until five minutes before the event began. I began my presentation talking about the challenges the United States has had in responding to post-conflict stablization operations and shared some lessons we have learned in Iraq and Afghanistan. I then, echoing both Mona el-Ghobashy and especially Lisa Anderson, talked about how the challenges of Libya will be harder and different than the challenges facing Egypt and Tunisia. The question and answer session that followed was a good one, with question ranging from the Saudi-Syrian relationship to issues relating to R2P.
2 September 2011
I led another series of informal roundtables on Friday, including one at the Min. of Foreign Affairs with their very experienced and knowledgable team working on Afghanistan. I ended the day with a more formal presentation to the Atlantic Council of Finland. I spoke about the ways in which the conflicts in both Afghanistan and Libya has revealed strengths and weaknesses in the trans-Atlantic alliance and in NATO. I then spoke about the economic pressures that will lead to cuts in the U.S. defense budget and what that means for the alliance. The question and answer session included some really good questions, including several from Leif Blomqvist, the former Finnish ambassador to NATO.
3 September 2011
I arrived in a rainy Oslo on Saturday and started off with a tour of the city by famed Norwegian tour guide and sometime scholar of jihadist movements Thomas Hegghammer. (But seriously, you all need to read the man's book.) I visited the Viking ship museum and also the Arctic exploration museum and then dined Chez Hegghammer, which is a gastronomically satisfying but intellectually humbling experience considering Thomas isn't even the smartest scholar in his own house.
5 September 2011
After spending Sunday going to church and drinking lots of coffee in Oslo's many and excellent coffee shops, I paid a visit to the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, where Hans-Inge Langø introduced me to some of the great scholars working there. We had an informal roundtable discussion on, primarily, the Arab Spring and security sector reform. I ended the evening with beers with some scholars working on Afghanistan. (Allow me to recommend the Havrestout from Nøgne Ø.)
6 September 2011
The embassy in Oslo scheduled two formal events for me on Tuesday. The first event was a talk at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment on issues related to the transition in Afghanistan. This event was particularly fun for me because it allowed me to pick the brains of people like Thomas and Anne Stenersen, possibly the world's leading expert in the relations between al-Qaeda and the insurgent groups active in Afghanistan. A formal presentation evolved into a broader conversation that began at nine in the morning and lasted through lunch. I then visited the Norwegian Defense Command and Staff College, where I delivered a formal lecture to the students there on the development of U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine and operations. I began with an exploration of theories of military transformation and then talked about the ways in which the U.S. military has learned -- or, again, has not learned -- in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I concluded with a few remarks about the future of both insurgencies and counterinsurgency and then opened things up to the students, many of whom had spent time in Afghanistan and wanted to talk about the transition.
Overall, I had a great visit to both Helsinki and Oslo and am grateful to the State Department for both inviting me to visit and coordinating the logistics upon my arrival. Now ...
Coffee and Food
The best place to get an espresso in Helsinki is, hands down, Kaffecentralen. The best meal I had, meanwhile -- and I think Finnish food is underrated and quite excellent -- was the Helsinki Menu at Grotesk. Oslo, for its part, has some of the best espresso bars in the world. Try Fuglen while you're there, and I myself also had a good cappucino at Stockfleths. The best espresso, though, is to be found at Tim Wendelboe. I was myself seriously impressed. I saved up my per diem in Oslo, finally, for a really good meal on my last night. And I'm here to tell you that the 10-course menu at Maaemo was pretty much the most incredible dining experience of my life. Just stunning, stunning food.
Excuse me, I seem to have
Excuse me, I seem to have dropped this name.
(I kid. Nice trip.)
I hope "Grotesk" sounds
I hope "Grotesk" sounds different in Finnish than it reads in English.
So, what part of this
So, what part of this information transfer could not have been done on Skype?
The coffee report?
Even the Navy is doing interviews on Skype, the cost of flying people around is getting into their budget.
This is exactly why America has a $14T deficit (that is just the defict, it is not what we owe). Now you are part of it.
One thing most people don't
One thing most people don't understand about the Foreign Service is that to complete the A100 class, every budding FSO is required to meticulously shave his or her balls - and keep them shaved. OIG checks this rigorously.
But why? Si monumentum requires, scroll up. The answer is that a lot of gums will meet up with those there plums. If all the FSO's contacts domestic and foreign have to carry around a little roll of Glide for all the curlies in their teeth, America's global prestige and world leadership may suffer. It's a small token sacrifice for one's country.
In any case, it's a mistake to visit Scandinavia in the summer without getting your Cultural Marxist stamp. It's like hiking the Scottish lochs without a salmon rod. In the long summer nights, the Cultural Marxist spawns in great herds and can be taken at discretion and leisure with only a small personal weapon, such as a knuckleduster. Come back in the winter, and this pale and wary creature can only with great difficulty be spotted through the thick glacial fogs. Bring your sniper
rifle and don't forget the pressure garment - but be prepared to show up back at the Blackwater compound empty-handed. Note also that Norwegian law prohibits the taking of immigrants or polar bears in all months of the year.
What?
What?
Mencius Moldbug on September
Mencius Moldbug on September 9, 2011 - 10:32pm
First thing that I have heard for a while that makes sense.
Personally I think the FSOs come that way for all the political favors it takes to get the post. Not sure why there is a test unless it is about addresses for donations.
The per-Diem for Helsinki and
The per-Diem for Helsinki and Oslo is 410 and 420 per-day, respectively. That must have been one hell of a dinner!
that's 410 and 420 US
that's 410 and 420 US DOLLARS! ..which is something like 5 US Dollars to the 1 Euro now...thanks to the mess we are in! THANKS CONGRESS AND OUR FEARLESS LEADERS!
You should have gone fishing with your food!
that's 410 and 420 US
that's 410 and 420 US DOLLARS! ..which is something like 5 US Dollars to the 1 Euro now...thanks to the mess we are in! THANKS CONGRESS AND OUR FEARLESS LEADERS!
You should have gone fishing with your food!
The CNAS server is blocking
The CNAS server is blocking IP / Router addresses for some reason or is just very..very...very slow. Having problems posting? Use: http://hidemyass.com/
It should work. :-)
Visitor on September 10, 2011
Visitor on September 10, 2011 - 12:25am
It is not blocking, it is just file management. People posting also ties up the server. Nothing is a secret if puts out a signal. Personally, I would like to see the US Postal Service come out with secure Email. Small charge that could be paid in person at a local PO. A certified Email service would be handy to. They could use 128 bit encryption. Once received, it is deleted except the sender and receiver would have copies. Even the FSO could use it. Make it secure enough that Wikileaks could not get in to it (not sure that is 100% possible). It would be a salable product and it would generate revenue. Bring the US Postal Service on line and into the 21 century (of course, keep the snail mail the service is available when we go back to horse and pony).
People have no idea how much Twitter makes by marketing your personal information, it is not theirs to sell.
Anyway.
$400 US per Diem? Government employees generally use the top ranked places and that eats up a lot of the allowance. Europe operates differently. Our entertainment costs in Europe were about 3-5 times that in the States. I was with a group of guys from Germany that went truly first class. I was sipping on glass of water at the airport and these German guys were charging up a storm buying some of the most expense things on the menu. All their company cars were Mercedes-Benz. Flew from Geneva to Munich one day and the German guy went on and on about his company Benz. Explained how he had it all warmed up for us. He sure did, the car had a heater on a timer and the snow was melting on the windows as we walked out of the Munich airport. Did not change too much in Belgium, our office was across the road from NATO headquarters, you know the place, all the flags lined up off the main road. I was just baggage along for the ride, had a seven course lunch. Plates and silver ware flew off the table. All I could think about was I wanted to be the dishwasher at the place, job security. Your US tax dollars paid for it all.
About two jet loads of US Government Employees went to the Global Warming Discussion in Oslo right after Obama got into office. Nothing got done. Obama got snubbed by the Chinese.
Think of the cost of that trip ! It only got more expensive after that.
How many black kids in America could you feed and for how long off a trip like that ?
Aren't these guys about social equality?
To say the only disadvantaged
To say the only disadvantaged children in USA are of a specific ethnicity or race is closed minded and racist. Having lived a portion of this life eating SPAM for weeks on end, going to thrift shops, wearing second hand clothes and living in a trailer, I take slight offense to that posting. Maybe someone should sign you up for an EEO or Cultural Sensitivity Course? That, or perhaps we should just get a group of disadvantaged black children to kick your butt and steal your milk money, "again"?
You also must be feverish Visitor on September 10, 2011 - 7:22am! If we made all Official US Mail electronic and encrypted, you would thereby allow all Federal and Local Law Enforcement to read your thoughts, your personal communications and know everything about you. Nothing, but nothing (even in the United States) is protected by law on the Internet by Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies. The US Mail is still the only protected means of communication. Cops go to prison for opening your mail without a warrant, email they can read all day without a warrant. Feel free to read the Patriot Act or Title 18 and the US Code and US Regulations that apply to access received by those who work for the US Government to the Internet. You'll get a big surprise about how many rights you think you may have and don't. Warrants are only required only for official records, which will later be used for prosecution, if a crime has been committed.
Currently police only need probable cause or less for email and anything on the Internet. Many times they just patrol the internet, called Network Surveillance. It goes on 24/7 and I'm sure every person (who is of any importance) has a little or perhaps big file of themselves at the black box building in Maryland. You know what I'm talking about, right?
FYI- immediately across the street from NATO HQ is a Holiday Inn Hotel. Did they leave you any chocolate's on your pillow? Good stuff no?
Last time we visited, they were charging almost $50 dollars for breakfast and it wasn't much. US Dollar is circling the toilet bowl and the current administration is bankrupting our country. I only fear, it will get much worse, before it gets better.
@Mencius Moldbug: You throw
@Mencius Moldbug:
You throw around those terms like "A100" as if you know anything about them. Would you be one of those people who tried to get into the Foreign Service (but couldn't pass the examinations necessary to get hired)? That kind of pent-up frustration tends to express itself badly later in life.
@Visitor who said: "Personally I think the FSOs come that way for all the political favors it takes to get the post. Not sure why there is a test unless it is about addresses for donations."
Only the top State Dept. jobs (just like every other department) are open to political appointees. Overseas, that's limited to ambassadors and, IIRC, consul general in Bermuda. Everybody else is pretty much a career officer.
Career FSOs come from a variety of professional and educational backgrounds. They're no longer "pale, male, and Yale" with triple-barreled names (Thurston Howell III), trust funds, Ivy League diplomas, and limp handshakes. And they haven't been since at least WW2. Roughly 10 percent of FSOs have prior military service, outnumbering the former Peace Corps volunteers by several percent.
Someone posted to a place like Olso or Helsinki has done a couple things. First, they've had to become "professionally fluent" in Norwegian or Finnish; that's easier for some than for others. Second, in order to get a Western European posting they've more than likely had to "pay their dues" either as the second-half of a "linked assignment" involving Kabul, Baghdad, or Pakisan or having served at some other Third World "hardship post."
http://consul-at-arms2.blogspot.com/
"Only the top jobs are open
"Only the top jobs are open to political appointees."
I'm pretty sure that's false. AID is slowly becoming part of BIG-in's and AID Director's are now becoming Ambassadors, the two services will soon become one in the same. Repetition in services will then call for reductions in staff. I'm pretty sure the next President will be asking for these reductions from all agencies and departments.
How long do you think it be before you are selling Democracy and Governance and/or providing AID assistance in Chad? Probably not very long. :-)
I'm sure people like you are complaining that AID employees are becoming Ambo's, without being an actual employee of the agency or haven't taken this prestigious test.. Are you upset about that? Does that make you mad? Feeling cheated?
Those elite's are slowly becoming mutts, many are not from the Georgetown Mafia, as they use to be, but many are still from Ivy Schools. That's probably the best thing going on right now and hopefully it will continue to improve.
Hey, if you have an insatiable desire to talk about yourself for hours on end, enjoy showing off all the places you've traveled, you've got a fragile ego, you enjoy talking about the people you think you've helped around the world and want to take two months (ever year) writing your own work evaluation, then you know where to apply for a job!
Also, assistant's and staffer's to those top people, like that woman who was married to the Congressman (that exposed himself) I would think she is a direct hire and appointee, isn't she? Saw her at the NYSE the other day and I hope she's single now.
But, I digress, let's not forget contracted employees and WAE, who probably are more than 50% of all employees in critical locations.
Not familiar with Without Actual Employment? It's a fancy name for those who have retired, who come back after retirement, to the same organization and double dip, (collect retirement and a new paycheck) with no penalties. Should be the first place the WH looks when they start trimming the fat to save money.
Best thing the USG could do right now is stop hiring new employees and reduce the size of offices and officers it has in it's ranks. Just like it use to be back in the 80's and 90's, before the War on Terror....which is pretty much over now.
What do you think Moldbug? Will a repetition in services call for reductions in staff soon? Hiring freezes coming soon?
What was church like there?
What was church like there? Did you worship at a state church or a free church?
>Second, in order to get a
>Second, in order to get a Western European posting they've more than likely had to "pay their dues" either as the second-half of a "linked assignment" involving Kabul, Baghdad, or Pakisan or having served at some other Third World "hardship post."
Gosh, that's a heck of a sacrifice to ask someone to make. I was in Kabul on my way back from R&R the other week-the sight of those FSOs heroically drinking seven dollar Tuborgs and hitting on fat NGO broads for their country at Kusamak Restaurant made me tear up a little. Imagine a year of that, or drinking Green Bean coffee in the Green Zone-gruelling. And learning Weejun at DLI East for a year-I hope they give out hardship pay for that.
>They're no longer "pale, male, and Yale" with triple-barreled names (Thurston Howell III), trust funds, Ivy League diplomas, and limp handshakes. And they haven't been since at least WW2. Roughly 10 percent of FSOs have prior military service, outnumbering the former Peace Corps volunteers by several percent
Heh. One of those former military service state department guys (a retired colonel) pointed out to me last month that all the chicks from State are hot, and all the guys are gay. Of course, coming from a former paratrooper, "hot" might mean "under a deuce"...
@B: Would you rather that
@B:
Would you rather that FSOs _didn't_ serve in Afghanistan/Iraq/Pakistan before getting a Western Europe assignment? Not every FSO job is plush and hanging out at the "Duck and Cover" club in Kabul. Ever heard of PRTs and ePRTs?
As for "DLI East," I believe that's a DoD operation; FSOs get language training through the Foreign Service Institute. And there's no hardship pay for it, it's regular DC area salary (unless you're getting a language as part of initial training and are a "local hire;" they get neither Per Diem nor Locality Pay).
As a married FSO, I will forbear comment as to which agency has the hottest "chicks," although I suspect it's actually DIA. Lastly, being gay is not actually a job requirement at DOS although it's well within the institutional norms of DOS corporate culture.
http://consul-at-arms2.blogspot.com/2011/09/911-memory.html
@ "Moldbug may have something
@ "Moldbug may have something here Mr. Consul-At-Arms"
"AID is slowly becoming part of BIG-in's and AID Director's are now becoming Ambassadors, the two services will soon become one in the same. Repetition in services will then call for reductions in staff. I'm pretty sure the next President will be asking for these reductions from all agencies and departments."
USAID is still, technically, an independent agency. Over the past two decades, it's been steadily de-funded and down-sized. There is definitely a trend or movement to consolidate it with State Dept., but I have questions about its wisdom..
"How long do you think it be before you are selling Democracy and Governance and/or providing AID assistance in Chad? Probably not very long. :-)"
Chad? Perhaps, although my own language skills (or lack thereof) don't really support that. Selling Democracy and good governance? Heck, have done that already in 2-3 other countries, if only by force of personal example.
"I'm sure people like you are complaining that AID employees are becoming Ambo's, without being an actual employee of the agency or haven't taken this prestigious test.. Are you upset about that? Does that make you mad? Feeling cheated?"
Complaining? Mad? Cheated? Not really. You obviously have me confused with some sort of high-flying, fast-burning, political type. Not exactly. I'm just a working-level diplomat and consular officer. I don't take seriously suggestions that I'm worried about competition for ambassadorial level jobs. Those go to Senior Foreign Service (SFS) officers and political appointees at a roughly 2:1 ratio. SFS are the Foreign Service equivalent of civil service SES or general/flag officers in the uniformed services and just about as narrow a percentage of FSOs get that high in rank as second lieutenants make it to major general.
The FSOT (formerly FSWE) is indeed a prestigious test, if only among those who know what it is. Any adult American can take it, there's no diploma or credential required, but only about the top 20 percent advance to the next phase of the hiring process. Out of tens of thousands of people who start that hiring process by taking the FSOT, only a few hundred will be hired each year, so it _is_ pretty selective. But Ivy League diplomas, elite connections, &tc., don't figure into it only insofar as they may have prepared an individual candidate to successfully answer questions and write essays. I can safely attest this as someone who attended public schools, had a middle class upbringing, and went to a state university.
"Those elite's are slowly becoming mutts, many are not from the Georgetown Mafia, as they use to be, but many are still from Ivy Schools. That's probably the best thing going on right now and hopefully it will continue to improve. "
Relatively few Georgetown Foreign Service School folks actually enter the foreign service. I'm not sure where they end up. Instead, lots more folks seem to have gone to George Washington U. as either an undergraduate or masters student. The GWU campus is about a block away and shares the same subway stop (Foggy Bottom) so the proximity may simply lead to more knowledgability and awareness about DOS jobs among GWU students.
"Hey, if you have an insatiable desire to talk about yourself for hours on end, enjoy showing off all the places you've traveled, you've got a fragile ego, you enjoy talking about the people you think you've helped around the world and want to take two months (ever year) writing your own work evaluation, then you know where to apply for a job!"
Ouch. Man, that's just mean. Once I unwind from the fetal position and stop sobbing I'll tell you about the _Americans_ I've helped overseas, since that's a core mission of consular work. Helping foreigners is nice and all, but it's not why I got into this line of work.
(Actually, I _won't_ tell you, since the Privacy Act of 1974 applies.)
"Also, assistant's and staffer's to those top people, like that woman who was married to the Congressman (that exposed himself) I would think she is a direct hire and appointee, isn't she? Saw her at the NYSE the other day and I hope she's single now."
Right. Top jobs. Which are still just a handful. For most of us, working overseas, the only political appointees we'll ever meet are ambassadors. I've worked under four political appointee ambassadors, from both political parties, on two continents. They're a mixed bag, some good, some not so good, and some very good indeed.
"But, I digress, let's not forget contracted employees and WAE, who probably are more than 50% of all employees in critical locations.
Not familiar with Without Actual Employment? It's a fancy name for those who have retired, who come back after retirement, to the same organization and double dip, (collect retirement and a new paycheck) with no penalties. Should be the first place the WH looks when they start trimming the fat to save money. "
I've worked with several WAE consular retirees; they're quite helpful when you've got a staffing gap to fill during the reassignments season. They're also limited as to how many months they can work each year (and thus "double dip") and bring decades of experience to the job. I wish we had more of them.
http://consul-at-arms2.blogspot.com/2011/09/911-memory.html
Every PRT I've ever been to
Every PRT I've ever been to has been pretty sweet-hot showers, hot chow, wireless internet, hundreds of soldiers and contractors running around...some real combat shit right there, paying dues, like Generation Kill or something. Some real Restrepo shit right there.
Yeah, I get it, once in a while they convoy out with like a company of Joes for security and spend an hour bullshitting local bigwigs through a terp about capacity building, democracy, rule of law etc. The locals pretend to buy it, cash gets handed out and everybody's happy.
I'm sure there's a handful of State guys actually outside the wire on the regular-I've just never seen one, or met anyone who has. I mean, what the hell would they even be doing out there? Other people implement their projects for them.
As to what I'd RATHER, I'd rather State get disbanded and its former employees find gainful employment. The rest of us will just have to muddle through.
Oh, and WAE doesn't mean
Oh, and WAE doesn't mean "Without Actual Employment."
It's "When Actually Employed."
Hell, you already know the
Hell, you already know the deal:
"During the course of a diplomatic career, it's not that unusual to find yourself, our your side, treating with very unpleasant and sometimes quite evil folk, as you're about your country's business of state and in the pursuit of peace. That sort of thing goes with the territory, I'm afraid. Examples including treating with Yasser Arafat even though we knew he was personally responsible for the murder of (at least) one of our ambassador."
Well, I'm glad that those brave men and women of the State Department sacrificed their scruples in the pursuit of peace and their country's interests. If not for their brave liaisons with Arafat, we would have never brought him back to launch the second intifada. But at least it got us the love and gratitude of the Muslim world, right? Wait, no? Well, I'm sure it's an aberration. No? What's that? Since before Dean Acheson gave China away to Mao and tried to make Formosa part of the package, State has consistently thrown our allies under the bus and deep throated our enemies? Even where there was zero percentage in it for the American people? Next you'll be saying that State is the reason every tin-pot dictator in the world today is in power, from Mugabe* to Ahmadinejad**? No way!
Seriously, you work for an organization whose job it has always been to suck up to various flavors of scumbags while pissing on the rest of humanity and telling them it's raining, and to spend ludicrous amounts of other people's money doing it. If I worked for an entity which had been buddies with Arafat, Mao, Mugabe and Ahmadinedjad and played a key role in their ascents to power, I would just claim I was the mop boy at a peep show, or something. And yet you seem like a decent guy, personally speaking. How does that work out in your grape?
*"In a pointed rebuff, Vance did not even bother to escort Smith from the State Department building as he customarily does with visiting dignitaries." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946099,00.html
** http://www.jstor.org/pss/4329972 Sorry I couldn't find a free copy. It gets good after Precht has his shower epiphany and realizes that he should find a way to get the US to backstab the Shah while making it seem like we support him.
@B: Thanks. Personally, if
@B:
Thanks. Personally, if it were up to me I'd much rather someone had had Mr. Arafat in their sight picture and exercised all of their Steady Hold Factors than negotiate with him, but those decisions are made by our elected leaders, not working diplomats.
Ever hear the one about a diplomat being defined as an honorable man sent abroad to lie for his country? There are those abroad to whom it is an absolute _pleasure_ to lie.
Come on, dude, you know the
Come on, dude, you know the elected officials make a minority of policy decisions. What does your average President or Congressman know about Zimbabwe, Serbia, Mongolia or Nicaragua? Even if he does know something, you think he has time to formulate a policy between moving into office, campaigning for re-election, wrangling for various interest groups, lobbies and constituencies, etc., etc.? You know unelected subject matter experts, staffers, lobbyists and senior civil servants write whatever it is he signs, and you're lucky if he actually reads the damn thing first. It's not even fair-on one hand, you have dozens of guys whose only job is to manipulate an elected official, and on the other hand, you have a guy whose job it is to get in office and stay there.
I don't know how the lies we told our allies in Israel, China, Africa and Iran served our country or anybody else's. Are we really better off with a Zimbabwe run by Mugabe than we were with a Rhodesia run by Ian Smith? I'm sure it was fun to lie to Arafat, but given the amount of top cover and bucks we hooked him up with, I'm sure he didn't mind. A better definition would be "an honorable man sent abroad to implement dishonorable policies."
LOL @ B Some people up on
LOL @ B
Some people up on Capitol Hill would be very upset if they were disbanded, those are lots of votes!
There is a much larger thought process that's going on here and why they exist. These people are not in the military, although, many think they are and that's how they justify making $160,000 or more, (after taxes), from a one year tour in Afghanistan, Iraq or Pakistan. They should stop faking the funk, right? Many would concur.
Words like: positive image for the country, visa mills (big money and funds itself), overt collection, providing cover and safe-haven for citizens and even Fulbright scholarships (recruitment of the world's best and brightest students - so they can become U.S. citizen's). These are some of the reasons why they exist and will most likely never go away. In a perfect world, right, but this is what drives our economy. It's all about money.
On the darker side, how do you think people like Wernher Magnus Maximilian - Freiherr von Braun and Oleg Danilovich Kalugin became U.S. Citizens? DOD and others don't have the power to make the above mentioned people U.S. Citizens, they need assistance. There are a lot of sprockets in the machine.
You have to realize, these people are merely used car salesmen and women. Many are from Middle Class America who aspire to be much more. They are very normal and good hearted people, a few with egos, but many with hopes and dreams just like you and me.
Unfortunately, with the War on Terror, far too many were employed. The numbers of employees should probably cut in half. The idea of America of who we were, what we stand for and our hero image post WW2 is the type of thinking that goes on in many head's.
Some would say, we need to get back to the basics and reduce our footprint around the world or just not getting in people's faces about how great we are. Have we soiled far to many neighbor's carpets?
I'll second that - DIA has the hottest women by far. Smartest too, yes, but a few are questionable. Last one I met had an (AD) in the GZ, after playing with 626 for a few hours. Dropped her Sig in the sand. I had the privilege of consoling her afterward and I'm sill fantasizing about the experience.
Hey B! Sounds like Paratrooper's have figured it all out, "Fat bottomed girls make the rockin' world go round!"
Trailer Park Commando on
Trailer Park Commando on September 10, 2011 - 10:11am
Does it really matter what you call them? Black kids are a subset of the group you say.
All Visitors are visitors, but not all visitors are the same people. You can call me anything you would like, it really does not matter. You can call me the other visitor, it would be the same because I am a visitor. Think that sums up splitting hairs on black kids, I have seen a lot of poor ones.
Point is still the same. If people are going to have a political platform for "put your own description here" they really should believe in their own BS.
By actions given, this President does not.
How much Carbon Dioxide has Obama put in the air just by his travels? It takes about 20-40,000/hr to keep AF1 in the air, that is just fuel costs, that is a lot of jet A and carbon. That does not include the cargo planes that follow Obama around. If a President believes that global warming is due to Carbon Dioxide, why would "put your gender description here" do that? Modern life has other ways to communicate. This President has flown the wings off of AF1. Green Energy is this President's platform. Walk the talk.
If "put your own description here (I call them black kids)" are going hungry at night. Why would Obama have such a fantastic State Dinner on the WH lawn in the middle of the worse recession of all time? I mean we have a White House, why the lawn it increases the cost. The menu is even published so all the "put your description here(I call them black kids)" know what is not on their plate at night. Didn't the parents of those "put your description here(I call them black kids)" send in what they could afford to get Obama elected? How's black unemployment these days? Would you dilute that message by just calling it unemployment? Either way, look at the unemployment in the US. Why would a President spend the first two years on Health Care when his Presidency is defined by American Unemployment? Walk the talk.
For a President that got the Nobel Peace Prize, he increase the level of the conflict in Afghanistan and turned around opened another front in the war. If anything, this President has fanned the flames on the social unrest in the Middle East. How is Egypt looking these days? Walk the talk.
For a Secretary of State to spend her life limiting the trade of arms in the world. Supporting an arms limitation treaty in the UN. Banning Second Amendment rights to Americans. Pledging limits to a world leader on arms leaving the United States going into Mexico. Why would this administration argue to support people in Libya on humanitarian rights which in turn would release a country's entire inventory of explosives and surface-to-air missiles to the the black market in an area full of the (just for you) religiously challenged folks that America has spend over $4 Trillion dollars over the past ten years fighting? What would all the war dead say about the release of those weapons to the people that killed them? Walk the talk.
Obama told the nation during his Jobs speech "it" (put your definition of "it" here) was about America. Truthfully, I do not think for him it was ever about America. It is about his party and him, period. This President is self-centered and has an ego, it has been proven and validated in the press. Walk the talk.
For a President that ran in 2008 to repair America's world position through Foreign Policy changes. How are we doing? Is Israel any closer to peace? No, it is getting worse. Does Pakistan like the US any more? No, UBL.
This President talks of reducing the National Debt. How is that going?
Walk the talk.
Do I need to continue? This President as behaved like a Community Organizer. An Organizer delegates responsibility. How many office posts has this President created in his tenure? Community Organizers do not lead, they organize. It is like having a Mayor and City Manager. When the stuff hits the fan, they point at each other.
A leader takes the blame, have you ever seen this President take the blame? He shifts it.
That is the difference between a Community Organizer and a leader. Leaders lead from the front.
SO. Are the disadvantaged children in USA eating better tonight?
PS. I really do not care, it is semantics. Develop your coping skills.
WAE - With? Yeah right,
WAE - With? Yeah right, that's why these peep's are only allowed to be employed 72 hours in a two week pay period? It should be called "Without". ...and don't forget, no overtime allowed!
Buddy, people retire from that organization because they have worked 20+ years or past the age of 50 (as it is with your organization). We need to stop hand holding these elderly individual's who should be returning to jobs back in the United States or the private sector. WAE's are probably the biggest scam going on today, their salaries are over-inflated, they are not properly taxed and the positions should be done away with immediately.
If Obama wants to give unemployed people jobs, he should figure out who is already drawing retirement from the Federal Government and is currently working again for the USG (double dipping) and give them a pink slip.
Hiring qualified individuals with no prior USG experience wouldn't take very long and it would be a win/win situation for everyone. Let the retired folks retire! Bringing these people back to double dip - with no tax penalties, is outrageous and a huge factor as to why our country is having huge financial difficulties. Then again, most WAE's I know live in multimillion dollar homes and their children's college has been paid for by their WAE parent's. How would they be able to support themselves? See where I'm going with this?
Also, having to bring back these WAE's, only shows that those currently employed can't properly do their jobs properly. Are you saying you can't do your job properly? Lastly, the seasonal posting system needs to be done away with. Jobs should be staggered, so there is overlapping and not everyone is leaving an assignment, all at once, in the summer or winter.
The entire system needs to be redone. If you can't see that, then you are blind.
@Visitor: "WAE - With? Yeah
@Visitor:
"WAE - With? Yeah right, that's why these peep's are only allowed to be employed 72 hours in a two week pay period? It should be called "Without". ...and don't forget, no overtime allowed!
Buddy, people retire from that organization because they have worked 20+ years or past the age of 50 (as it is with your organization). We need to stop hand holding these elderly individual's who should be returning to jobs back in the United States or the private sector. WAE's are probably the biggest scam going on today, their salaries are over-inflated, they are not properly taxed and the positions should be done away with immediately. "
Mandatory retirement in the Foreign Service is 65. State Dept. WAEs don't generally have their own positions, except for seasonal ones (such as when a consular system needs _additional_ staffing due to seasonal increases in workload that don't justify a year-round position).
"Also, having to bring back these WAE's, only shows that those currently employed can't properly do their jobs properly. Are you saying you can't do your job properly? Lastly, the seasonal posting system needs to be done away with. Jobs should be staggered, so there is overlapping and not everyone is leaving an assignment, all at once, in the summer or winter. "
Colin Powell, when he was secstate, started the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative (DRI) which was designed to bring FS staffing to a level which would minimize staffing gaps while allowing for a "training float" so necessary training (like language proficiency) could take place without causing jobs to go unfilled at overseas posts. The addition of warzone positions at our diplomatic missions in Afghanistan and Iraq ate up that margin (and then some). So the problem hasn't gone away. Wartime manning requirements have repeatedly outstripped hiring of new officers.
Sec. Powell, coming from a DoD career where the need for a career-long training and development continuum was well understood and long implemented, began the process to bring the Foreign Service into the late-20th cent. but it's a ongoing process interrupted by wartime needs.
"The entire system needs to be redone. If you can't see that, then you are blind."
Okay.
Then why aren't you in
Then why aren't you in Tripoli, right now? Or will you be deploying next week?
@ Visitor on September 11,
@ Visitor on September 11, 2011 - 1:09pm
Don't pay any attention to CA's rhetoric and your propaganda. He's a Kool-Aid drinker! His Arachis Hypogaea are smooth and hairless according to the Afghan people.
Is anyone getting hot and thirsty?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYS7aQY1iZI
"Does it really matter what
"Does it really matter what you call them?"
Are you attempting to rationalize why you made an overt derogatory statement towards African-American children?
No need to explain yourself, we already know what you are.
Thank you for the response
Thank you for the response Consul.
You said - "Sec. Powell, coming from a DoD career where the need for a career-long training and development continuum was well understood and long implemented, began the process to bring the Foreign Service into the late-20th cent. but it's a ongoing process interrupted by wartime needs."
I just want to clarify, you are not working for the DoD, you are a civilian. You are a consular officer / visa vetting personnel. Do we agree on those two key points Sir? I hope so. Thank you.
Now tell me why you need to be working in a PRT or stamping visa's in a combat zone? What do you do exactly?
"Wartime manning requirements have repeatedly outstripped hiring of new officers."
They should be hiring someone, people are retiring every day, who is replacing the empty slots?
Also, if I recall correctly, previous to the Bush Jr. Administration - All War Zones were never / never staffed by your type of personnel and typically, all non-military or non-essential staff were immediately evacuated from these unstable locations, until "peace" was declared in a "war zone".
Am I correct? So tell me again, why are you there?
Also, I would like to know, does your organization mandate that you take and pass a test to be promoted from FS3 to FS2, showing that you have obtained certain skills, education, know how to correctly mentor subordinates and have a complete understanding of your job?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Schedule
Glancing at your rank structure on-line, FS3 to FS2 would be the GS equivalent from GS13 to GS14. Also, FS3 would be the rank equivalent of Major and FS2 - Lt. Colonel in the US Army. Furthermore, GS organizations in the US Federal Government require testing of those seeking promotion to that rank equivalent of GS14.
Have you taken any tests for your current rank? And I'm not talking about language tests, I'm talking about knowing how to manage people, be supervisor, knowing your job inside and out and how to do budgets..etc..
I would also like to point out that the U.S. Military requires that all Senior Field Grad Officers and Flag Officers considered for promotion, must obtain a Masters in Management, Public Administration, Business Administration, Public Policy, etc...
I'm not talking about Command and Staff or War College. I'm talking about a Regent's Certified and Accredited Institution of higher learning. A Graduate School. State Universities to Ivy League - Georgetown, AU, Princeton, Harvard.
Can you or will your organization pay for one of these degrees (giving you time off), is it mandatory for promotion or a given that you must obtain the degree to make the rank?
If not, WHY?
Gen David Petraeus Ret. resume says he earned his M.P.A. in 1985 from Princeton University. Also, Colin Powell earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the George Washington University in 1971, after his second tour in Vietnam.
The reason I ask all these questions is because I've been informed that your organization requires NO tests for promotion and also doesn't mandate that employees seeking promotion to Supervisory Level Positions obtain a graduate degree in management, public administration etc... ...or anything. Zip. Do you have an explanation for that?
If the brave men / leaders I spoke of before were required to obtain graduate degrees in management / public administration to be promoted to the ranks of Major or Lt. Colonel, what make you so special (as an Commissioned Officer serving the United States of America) to not obtain a graduate degree that will help sustain your organization and be a leader for those below you?
You spoke about people who "pay their dues". Have you paid yours?
When is your organization going to mandate testing and/or Graduate Degrees for those seeking FS2 and higher rank?
Shouldn't this be part of your career-long training and development continuum? Any response is appreciated.
Consul, thank you for your service to our country.
thank you so much because you
thank you so much because you post this information
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