The State Department spokesman said, “We hold all employees to the highest standards.” Her top boss also said, “all employees of this department are held to the highest standards, now and always.” Of course, they are held to the highest standards. They are all public servants representing the United States overseas, we hold them to the highest expectation. But what we want to hear from the Secretary of State is what is he going to do if these allegations of manipulation and interference of DSS investigations are proven true?
Since we haven’t heard anything about that, we’re just going to borrow this guy talking about standing up for others, morale moral courage and legacy.
This is the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison, AO, to the Australian Army following the announcement on Thursday, 13 June 2013 of civilian police and Defence investigations into allegations of unacceptable behaviour by Army members.
“If we are a great national institution – if we care about the legacy left to us by those who have served before us, if we care about the legacy we leave to those who, in turn, will protect and secure Australia – then it is up to us to make a difference.
Here is a video that’s making the rounds asking “What kind of Asian are you?” If you’re married to a foreign born spouse, some of these may sound familiar. If you are in the FS posted in a host country where Americans are still stereotyped as cast members from Baywatch, you may get this in reverse.
The video shows a white man who asks an Asian woman out on a jog where she’s from. “Your English is perfect.”
The woman deadpans, “San Diego, we speak English there.” Then the man wants to know where her “people” are really from. She says her grandmother is from South Korea.
Later, the woman turns the tables. She asks the man where he’s from.
“I’m just American,” he says.
“So you’re Native American,” she responds.
“No, just regular American,” he answers, but added that his grandparents are from England.
The woman then jumps into her best British accent.
“Beware Jack the Ripper! ………….. Bloody hell!” she yells.
She calms down to compliment him, “I think your people’s fish and chips are amazing,”
The man says she is weird, the woman answers, “Must be a Korean thing.”
Madeleine Albrightwho was Secretary of State from January 23, 1997 – January 20, 2001 under Bill Clinton was in a verbal altercation with a group of pro-Serbian activists at a book signing in Prague. And of course, they had their camera rolling and it made the news and YouTube:
Condi Rice who was SoS from January 26, 2005 – January 20, 2009 under George W. Bush was on Fox News about the Benghazi attack. She told Greta Van Susteren that “The Accountability Review Board… will indeed take a look at whether or not the preparations were adequate, given what was known about the intelligence picture. I myself have received reports from Accountability Review Boards.” And folks turned off their teevee.
Colin Powell who was SecState from January 20, 2001 - January 26, 2005 under George W. Bush endorsed President Obama for the second term made a smaller splash than his 2008 endorsement. But Mr. Sununu (of the Air Sununu fame) suggested that Secretary Powell endorsed President O because both men are African American, and the endorsement became bigger news. But … but Mr. Sununu and Mr. Romney are both … does that mean …. ? Mr. Sununu went soft and all and said in statement from the campaign that — “Colin Powell is a friend, and I respect the endorsement decision he made, and I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the President’s policies.” I don’t think these guy are getting together for Thanksgiving this year.
“The 2012 Fang Meh Khong dance festival will take place October 23-24 in Vientiane, featuring hip-hop, modern, and traditional dancers from Laos, Singapore, and France. The U.S. Embassy is one of the sponsors of this event, so Mr. Ole, the director, decided to stop by the Embassy to teach some dance moves to Ambassador Stewart. She raps, she breakdances, it’s official: Than Thoot Karen is the coolest Ambassador ever!”
Why breakdancing? Ambassador Stewart explains in her blog:
Since coming to Laos, I have definitely tried a lot of things I never thought I never thought I would try. From eating bugs, to detonating a huge pile of unexploded ordnance, to rapping in Lao to a crowd of teenagers, I’ve had some amazing experiences.
Last week I got to cross another experience off my list: Break-dancing! To show my support for the upcoming Fang Mae Khong dance festival (which the U.S. Embassy is helping to sponsor), I got a lesson in B-Boy dancing from Ole, the young director of the dance festival.
Ole and his team showed me a few simple moves (well, simple for them, anyway). At the end, we performed a little dance routine together. You can watch the results here.
Well, of course I am no real dancer, but it was a lot of fun! It’s always good to get out there and try to do something when part of you thinks you can’t do it.
Read her full post here. She also blogged about detonating the “bombies” here.
Billy Collins was the U.S. poet laureate at the time of the 9/11 attacks. He wrote “The Names” in honor of the victims. He read the poem before a special joint session of Congress held in New York City in 2002, and in a PBS program last year, see clip below.
Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,
And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,
I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,
Then Baxter and Calabro,
Davis and Eberling, names falling into place
As droplets fell through the dark.
Names printed on the ceiling of the night.
Names slipping around a watery bend.
Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream.
In the morning, I walked out barefoot
Among thousands of flowers
Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears,
And each had a name –
Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal
Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins.
Names written in the air
And stitched into the cloth of the day.
A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox.
Monogram on a torn shirt,
I see you spelled out on storefront windows
And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city.
I say the syllables as I turn a corner –
Kelly and Lee,
Medina, Nardella, and O’Connor.
When I peer into the woods,
I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden
As in a puzzle concocted for children.
Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,
Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton,
Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple.
Names written in the pale sky.
Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.
Names silent in stone
Or cried out behind a door.
Names blown over the earth and out to sea.
In the evening — weakening light, the last swallows.
A boy on a lake lifts his oars.
A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,
And the names are outlined on the rose clouds –
Vanacore and Wallace,
(let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)
Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z.
Names etched on the head of a pin.
One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.
A blue name needled into the skin.
Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,
The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.
Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.
On June 21, Secretary Clinton sworn in Mike Hammer, the new Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the Ben Franklin Room at the State Department.
The State Department only released one photo, and no video of the swearing-in. Full text of her remarks is here. Read it just to see the Who’s Who in Mike Hammer’s career. Secretary Clinton certainly looks like she’s having fun, and quite ready for her next endeavors outside The Building.
The GAO video below describes the threat posed by the smuggling of IED materials from Pakistan into Afghanistan. It also shows some of the key challenges to preventing such illicit commerce, both at the two official border crossing points, as well as along the rugged terrain between those border crossings.
The video is 1:27 minute short; does that say something about the short attention span of its target audience? Below is a brief GAO summary of the accompanying 27-page report:
According to U.S. officials, U.S. agencies have encountered ongoing challenges to their efforts to assist Pakistan, such as delays in obtaining visas and in the delivery of equipment. U.S. officials have also identified broader challenges to Pakistan’s ability to counter IEDs, including the extreme difficulty of interdicting smugglers along its porous border with Afghanistan. In addition, though Pakistan developed a National Counter-IED Strategy in June 2011, it has yet to finalize an implementation plan for carrying out the strategy.
The U.S. fiscal year 2013 Mission Strategic and Resource Plan (MSRP) for Pakistan includes a new performance indicator to track some of Pakistan’s efforts to counter IEDs, but the indicator and targets used to measure progress do not cover the full range of U.S. assisted efforts. The performance indicator focuses on cross-border activities, specifically on Pakistan’s efforts to prevent illicit commerce in sensitive materials, including chemical precursors used to manufacture IEDs in Afghanistan. As such, progress of U.S. counter-IED assistance efforts not specifically linked to cross-border smuggling are not covered, such as counter-IED training and/or equipment, a counter-IED public awareness campaign, and legal assistance for laws and regulations to counter-IEDs and IED precursors. Consequently, effects of key U.S. assisted counter-IED efforts are not tracked under the existing performance indicator and related targets. The absence of comprehensive performance measures that reflect the broad range of U.S. assisted counter-IED efforts limits State’s ability to track overall progress in Pakistan to counter IEDs and to determine the extent to which these counter-IED efforts are helping to achieve the U.S. goals.
In the past, we have seen a smattering of ambassador video greetings usually posted on embassy websites, urging host country nationals to visit the website and check out embassy services. Like this welcome message by then U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro Roderick W. Moore, which is noisy and and could stand some improvement.
In December 2010, then U.S. Ambassador-designate to Thailand Kristie Kenney sent a video message greeting the people of Thailand, while she was still in Washington, D.C.. The video is in English with Thai subtitle; approximately 16,000 views.
On Dec 9, 2011, Ambassador Adrienne O’Neal also sent a video message to the people of Cape Verde prior to her arrival in the country, in Portuguese; some 385 views.
According to a recent OIG report, before the Ambassador’s arrival in Hanoi, he recorded “a video of his preliminary thoughts and goals for his tenure in Hanoi, some of it in Vietnamese, for a television interview. An estimated 20 million viewers watched the interview. Another 6 million people viewed it after it was posted on the Internet.” We have not been able to find a video of that interview. In August 2011, Ambassador David Shear did have a video greeting for the people of Vietnam (some Vietnamese, English with subtitle) posted in the mission’s YouTube channel; it has 8,310 views.
OnJan 12, 2012, US Embassy Moscow posted Ambassador Michael McFaul’s introduction video, in English with Russian subtitle; some 76,500 views.
On April 3, 2012, the US Embassy Bridgetown and the Eastern Caribbean posted an video message from Ambassador Larry Palmer, who was confirmed by the Senate on March 30. Video in English, approximately 200 views.
On April 16, 2012, the US Embassy in New Delhi followed with a video greeting from DC by Nancy Powell, Ambassador-Designate to India, also done prior to her arrival at post; 4,301 views.
Last week, it was US Embassy Cambodia’s turn with a video on YouTube of Ambassador-Designate William Todd introducing himself to the Cambodian people; some 3200 views.
This appears to be a video trend in the Foreign Service, no doubt created in Foggy Bottom. You can tell from looking at these videos that they have become more sophisticated. The sounds are better, the graphics are more snazzy, the editing more professionally done, etc. New shop at Foggy Bottom busy with these videos, huh?
We do wonder what kind of views would be considered a satisfactory return of investment for the production of these videos? We’re not saying these intro videos are bad, we are simply pointing out that it cost staff hours (also known as manhours in govspeak) and money to produce and edit these videos. At what point are they considered successful – at 200 views, 500 views, a couple thousand views?
Is this something that the Evaluation & Measurement Unit (EMU) under Office of Policy, Planning and Resources for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (R/PPR) even looks at? We know not. But this is the unit that “advances the culture of measurement in U.S. public diplomacy.”
On April 19, WaPo reported that the State Department ceremony for the US ambassador to Malta was a ‘rocking’ affair:
The typical swearing-in of an ambassador is usually a somewhat dry affair. Not so with the ceremony Wednesday to formally install Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley as the United States’ woman in Malta.
We hear the ornate Benjamin Franklin Room on the State Department’s eighth floor was, and we quote an attendee, “rocking.” The event featured unusual entertainment: the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Men and Women of the Gospel choir performed traditional gospel tunes that had even a few of the most buttoned-up guests tapping their toes.
Not much to read, but go here if you’re interested. We knew that this affair occurred at 4:15 p.m. on April 18 with Deputy Secretary Burns officiating the swearing-in ceremony. No photo of the ceremony had been released by the State Department.
So we were looking for photos of this ‘rocking affair’ when we stumbled on a video showing the terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah on December 2004. This is old but we have not seen this video before although its been online since it was aired by ABC News on December 2005.
Notable mention in the video – Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, formerl Consul General at USCG Jeddah and newly sworn-in US Ambassador to Malta. Also, Joseph Adam Ereli, then Deputy Spokesman of the State Department (from 2003-2006) and currently Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
If you did not watch the video, the ABC News investigation has this item:
The secret State Department review concluded that no one breached his or her duty, but noted, “leadership problems in Jeddah,” and found that the officials in charge of security “received little support” from the consul general.
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the consul general, is no longer posted in Saudi Arabia and declined to comment on the incident in an appearance in Cleveland last week.
The secret review found “a widespread negative perception among the consulate staff of the consul general’s degree for security,” which did not surprise Diebler, a former State Department security officer.
Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley is the recipient of Senior Performance Pay, Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, including “For acts of courage during an attack on the U.S. Consulate General, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 6, 2004 by al-Qa’ida terrorists.”
Her US Embassy Malta bioappears to have missed that.
Anyway, if you watch the video, you will see the Saudi guards running away, although they did take their weapons with them. During the on-the-record briefing following the attack, here is part of what then Ambassador James C. Oberwetter said:
“There are many other stories of heroism about the events of yesterday. Heroism by our locally employed staff. Heroism by the marines, and by other American citizens, and heroism by the Saudis who were guarding our gates and took casualties in doing so. Our investigation is now under way. As President Bush said in comments yesterday, “The war on terrorism goes on. It will take time but the efforts are succeeding. It will take time.”
On the question: What are the benefits that will be provided to the families of those killed in this attack? then Consul General Abercrombie –Winstanley responded:
“There are very specific benefits that are available to any employee of the U.S. Government. I am happy to say that I am not extremely familiar with all of them, because, I hope never to have this happen to anyone that works for me again. But the staff is working very hard right now to figure everything out. We’ve obviously done condolence calls to all the next of kin of all those who have passed, and we will be doing visits to those who are injured. So as I said, there’s a very specific set of benefits, but I cannot get into details right now.”
The five Foreign Service National employees who died during the terrorist attack were Ali Yaslem Bin Talib, Imad e-Deen Musa Ali, Romeo de la Rosa, Mohammed Baheer Uddin and Jaufar Sadik. The casualties whose embassy service range from 18 months to 26 years came from Yemen, Sudan, Philippines, India and Sri Lanka. Click here to read Survivors Detail Attack on U.S. Consulate Dec. 8, 2004.
There were two reports related to the Jeddah attack: an OIG report, “Review of the Management of Compound Physical Security Upgrades,” Report Number AUD/PPA-04-37, August 2004 and the Accountability Review Board report, “Jeddah Terrorist Attack, December 6, 2004.“ In State/OIG’s convoluted archiving system, it’s hard going hunting for old reports. We have emailed the OIG but have not heard any response. The eight-year old ARB report does not appear to be available anywhere online.
Why bother looking them up now? We were named the most curious student in school and we haven’t gotten over that — plus there was that rocking affair that started this off.
Also on March 4, 2012, AP says that Saudi Arabia’s official news agency reported that it has begun trials of 55 suspected Al Qaeda members, some charged in a deadly attack on a U.S. Consulate in 2004. Apparently, six men came before the court on March 4, and the trial of another three began a day earlier. “The report did not say when the rest of the 55 would be tried, or how many of them were accused in connection with the consulate attack.”
Last week, the US Embassy in Manila launched a new video mini-series on YouTube, called Kwentuhan Tayo, Pinoy-Style! (roughly means let’s tell stories or something like that). The introduction video features six American diplomats speaking about their lives in the Philippines in Filipino. This is reportedly the first Filipino-language video series to be offered by the Embassy.
The embassy presser quotes Public Affairs Officer Robin Diallo:
“Speaking the local language allows our diplomats to communicate with Filipinos at a much deeper level [...] While most Filipinos do speak English, the U.S. Embassy understands the importance of making the effort to learn a Filipino language.”
We should note that Ethnologue lists 175 individual languages in the Philippines, 171 of which are living languages while 4 no longer have any known speakers. According to the country’s 2010 census, it has a total population of over 92 million of which some 22 million or 24% are Filipino speakers. More than three quarters or 76% of the country speaks a language other than Filipino.
The embassy press release says that the first video offers a glimpse into some of the upcoming episodes in the mini-series, which will explore the lives of these American diplomats living in Manila:
Dustin, who spends his weekends volunteering with local communities in Pasay
Chris, whose grandfather was an American clergyman who came to the Philippines in the 1920s
David, who loves to try new Filipino foods in his Malate neighborhood
Kevin, a consular officer who was himself an immigrant to the United States
Steve, who has traveled extensively in the Philippines
Dina, a staff aide to the U.S. Ambassador who learned Filipino from her grandmother as a young child.
The most courageous of this crew is probably David, shown above eating balut (in the haute cuisine category cooked adobo style? with cutlery). He joins the likes of Anthony Bourdain in a culinary adventure known as eating balut with a spoon or hot vit lon in Vietnam and shown here in Bourdain’s show Cook’s Tour.
What, you don’t know what balut is? It’s the Egg of Darkness! A brief explanation below excerpted from Deep End Dining:
“There is a delicacy infamous in Filipino culture that can put a crippling chill in the spine of grown men almost as quickly as talk of aswang. That delicacy is the notorious balut. Balut is a popular Filipino street snack and is essentially a duck egg with a fetus inside, typically between seventeen to twenty days in gestation. In the Philippines balut is so popular that it is equivalent to what the hot dog is in the U.S. There are balut vendors who push around carts full of fetal treats and bark their wares in a sing-song chant of “baluuuut, baluuuut!” Balut is also a popular aphrodisiac for men. But even with the good vibes and positive spin surrounding balut, the stigma attached to eating it overshadows all the warm and fuzzy aspects of this very Deep End Dining dish.”
Fetal treats, indeed! If that’s not enough to make you cringe, we need to inform you that balut is numero uno in Cracked.com’s 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World. The ever optimistic website claims that if marketed properly, these eggs could be a “damn good motivator.” Their rationale? “When you’ve looked death in the face at breakfast time, what the hell else can the day throw at you?” Which actually makes sense when you come to think of it, right? No, not the part about having it for breakfast.
Anyway, to paraphrase Cracked.com’s especially made motivation poster, we’d suggest the following line for David’s EER, because why not, it’s April when most EERs are due and he’s too cute eating balut:
“He is an officer who lives without fear and has demonstrated his commitment to the embassy team. During this rating cycle, he has eaten two goddamned duck fetus called balut for an online episode and maintained his diplomatic demeanor without making a mess or skipping a beat.”
Oh — and please add “he should be promoted at the first opportunity.” Um…. because EERs always say that.
We do hope this glimpse does not mean that David will be stuck doing webisodes sampling Philippine culinary fare. Why? We’re afraid they might ask him to eat dinuguan next, which according to Wikipedia is “a Filipinosavorystew of meat and/or offal (typically lungs, kidneys, intestines, ears, heart and snout) simmered in a rich, spicy dark gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili (most often siling mahaba), and vinegar.”
Except for the garlic, that sounds like vampire food. But write and let us know if you try it, please?
|06/02/13| "An ambassador's spouse cannot work in the same country without special permission. Yet when a married ambassador carries on an affair with the top representative of another country everybody looks the other way."
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