Career State Department Bureaucrats Triggered By Audacity of Trump and Tillerson Executing Foreign Policy…

by sundance

 

The U.S. State Department consists of the most entrenched group of life-long professional political bureaucrats in any sector of the government.  The scope of the mindset really comes to the surface within leaks from inside the Deep State machine that became the basis for a Politico article today.   You really have to read it to fathom the scope of elitism.
The article, and the sentiment carried from within the bureaucracy which frames the construct, highlights the level of indignation within the agency toward President Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as they carry out foreign policy objectives. The article contains a State Dept. quote which thoroughly encapsulates the mindset therein:

“We are implementers of policy decided by Tillerson and his team,” one veteran State Department official concluded.

Oh, the horror.  The career officials within the State Department are reduced to being “implementers” of foreign policy instead of being able to construct the policy on their own.

Yes, in essence, they are complaining about having bosses.

[Via Politico] A leaked State Department document is alarming diplomats and others who say it shows the accumulation of power among a small and unaccountable group of senior aides to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
The chart, obtained by POLITICO, illustrates the growing influence of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, which traditionally has served as an in-house think tank but which Tillerson heavily relies upon for day-to-day decision making. Critics already complain that the office — led by Brian Hook, a powerful Tillerson aide not subject to Senate confirmation — accepts too little input from career diplomats, and the chart, which lays out a method to craft foreign policy, shows no explicit role for them.

 More than half a dozen current and former U.S. officials who have seen the document said it reveals an unusual level of control and oversight by the Policy Planning Staff, which is known in diplomatic circles as S/P.

In recent weeks, Hook has been meeting with various divisions at the State Department to explain the eight-step process. A source familiar with the issue said Hook is not seeking feedback but merely informing employees of a process Tillerson has already approved. The chart shows that policymaking begins with a “whiteboard session” between Hook and Tillerson.

Other State Department sources said Hook is simply explaining an approach that, at least in its first few steps, has slowly taken hold since Tillerson, a former ExxonMobil CEO used to corporate management structure, took over as secretary in February.