"I resigned from the U.S. Department of State yesterday. This article explains why"
U.S. Diplomat’s Resignation Signals Wider Exodus From State Departmenthttp://foreignpolicy.com/2017/12/09/u-s-diplomat-resigns-warning-of-state-departments-diminished-role-diplomacy-national-security-tillerson-africa-somalia-south-sudan/
One diplomat's stinging resignation letter offers a glimpse into declining morale at the State Department under Trump.
Elizabeth Shackelford, who most recently served as a political officer based in Nairobi for the U.S. mission to Somalia, wrote to Tillerson that she reluctantly had decided to quit because the administration had abandoned human rights as a priority and shown disdain for the State Department’s diplomatic work, according to her letter, obtained by Foreign Policy.
“I have deep respect for the career Foreign and Civil Service staff who, despite the stinging disrespect this Administration has shown our profession, continue the struggle to keep our foreign policy on the positive trajectory necessary to avert global disaster in increasingly dangerous times,” Shackelford wrote in her Nov. 7 letter, which is published below. One phrase was redacted on Shackelford’s request.
“With each passing day, however, this task grows more futile, driving the Department’s experienced and talented staff away in ever greater numbers,” she wrote. . . .
“She’s emblematic of what we’re losing across the board,” said one of Shackelford’s former State Department colleagues. “She is the best among us. We should not be losing the best among us. And that should concern people that we are,” the former colleague said.
_ _ _ _ _
Link to tweet
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm not a big fan of country western music, but that song has been ringing in my ears lately.
When well-trained, educated career diplomats who do an amazing and difficult job can't take it any more, what hope is there for the rest of us? Elizabeth Shackelford is not grandstanding, nor is she angling for a higher salary, she's just HAD IT UP TO HERE. There's something seriously wrong at the State Department and Rex Tillerson is the problem, not the solution.
Last January a number of excellent long-standing career diplomats were laid off and treated like extra shift workers at the Seven-11, while the remaining employees at the State Dept. have been trying to cover conscientiously. Because that's the kind of people they are, but it can only continue for so long. Congress needs to look into this, they need to hold hearings and make Tillerson provide some answers.
