Daily Archives: January 5, 2018

With Trump Assist, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury Book Becomes Overnight Sensation (Updated w/ Preview)

January 5, 2018 By in Book Notes, Politics, Trump Tags: , , ,

Posted: 4:18  am ET

 

President Trump’s law firm issued a cease-and-desist letter over the publication of Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.  In response, the publisher, Henry Holt moved the sale of the book by four days. The book was listed available for sale (originally January 9) starting today, January 5 at 9 am EST on Amazon but as of this writing the book is already marked “Temporarily Out of Stock.”  The Kindle edition may not be available until next week, but we’ll be in the lookout in case it pops up earlier. The book is available again and the Kindle edition is also available. See below for preview.

At Kramer Books in DC where they started selling at midnight, the book was sold out in 20 minutes! EW reports that the book moved 48,448 positions up on Amazon’s best-seller list to reach the no. 1 spot in just one day. Wow! That’s gotta be a record.

Michael Wolff should send a fruit basket to the White House. Can we please get Mr. Wolff to visit Foggy Bottom next?

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Preview courtesy of Amazon Kindle:

Trump to Nominate Marie Royce to be Asst Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs #HFAC

January 5, 2018 By in Nominations, Officially In, Political Appointees, State Department, Trump, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

Posted: 3:16  am ET

 

On January 3, the WH announced the nomination of Marie Royce to be the next Assistant Secretary of State (Educational and Cultural Affairs). Ms. Royce is the wife of Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  HFAC has oversight of the State Department. The WH released the following brief bio:

Marie Royce of California, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Educational and Cultural Affairs). Ms. Royce, a businesswoman and former professor, has been the CEO and Principal of Marie Royce, LLC in Fullerton, California since 2016.  She has more than 30 years of experience in the private sector with Fortune 500 companies and as a small business owner, creating and launching start-ups and new initiatives and serving as a key business liaison to 80 countries.  As a former educator and full-time university professor, Ms. Royce led an international grant program between two universities.  She is a private sector appointee on the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP) at the Department of State and has served on two U.S. Cultural Exchange Boards.  She served as an American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) delegate to Hungary & Poland.

Ms. Royce earned a B.S. and B.A. at California State Polytechnic University and an M.B.A. at Georgetown University.  She speaks Spanish.

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USUN Ambassador Haley Hosts Reception For “Friends” With US Against UN Jerusalem Resolution

January 5, 2018 By in Ambassadors, Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Assistance, Foreign Policy, international organizations, Politics, Social Media, State Department, Trends, Trump, U.S. Missions, UN Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted: 3:11  am ET

 

The eight countries who voted with the United States include Guatemala and Honduras, countries with significant interest in migration policies and have large number of nationals on DACA status. Guatemala has already announced that it will follow the United States in moving its embassy to Jerusalem. We’re watching how soon Honduras will follow this move. Last November, DHS extended the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Honduras until July 5, 2018. We’ll have to see what happens next; state actions are in the country’s national interest, intentional, and never coincidental.

USUN Ambassador Niki Haley’s shit list includes the top recipients of American foreign aid for years like Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and a host of other countries. How this will end? (see Snapshot: @StateDept Aid Allocation by Region and Top Recipients, FY2016 Request; Snapshot: Top 10 Recipients of US Foreign Aid in FY2012 and FY2013 Request; Snapshot: Top 10 Recipients of US Foreign Aid in FY2010, FY 2011 RQ; Snapshot: Top 10 Recipients of US Foreign Aid).

On January 4, the United States announced that it is suspending at least $900 million in security assistance to Pakistan according to Reuters “until it takes action against the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network militant groups.”

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Burn Bag: Does @StateDept Really Care About Leadership Training?

January 5, 2018 By in Foreign Service, Functional Bureaus, Leadership and Management, Professional Development, Realities of the FS, State Department, Training Tags: , ,

Via Burn Bag:

FSI runs Intermediate Leadership Training all year, with a new section starting more or less every other week. That means there are slots for about 350-400 participants a year. There are currently 3,400 FS-02 FSOs alone – and significantly more civil service officers eligible for the course. This makes it nearly impossible to get into training. Despite the fact that promoted officers cannot be paid at their new rate of pay until they have completed mandatory leadership training, it is difficult to convince supervisors to provide time off and travel budget resources to complete leadership training during an overseas tour, and most FSOs are left to fight for the training during a PCS. Concerns about delaying the training are often met with eye rolls and tossed-off platitudes about how promotions are slowing and it will be “so long” before the officer is actually up for promotion that there’s no need to expend resources. But the transition season sections are the first to fill. Right now, every scheduled Intermediate Leadership section is full, and, according to the FSI registrar, every section has a long waitlist. At this point, it would take more than 10 years to get every 02 officer through training the Department mandates.

Those of us trying to find a way to get required training in time to avoid losing salary money wonder if anyone in the Department is even cognizant of the problem — let alone seeking a solution. If the Department is unable to provide mandatory training, HR should either suspend the requirement or take steps to expand training availability.

Via reactiongifs.com

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Ex-FSO Michael Sestak Released From Prison on January 4, 2018

January 5, 2018 By in Consular Work, Corruption, Follow the Money, Foreign Service, FSOs, Hall of Shame, Realities of the FS, Scams, Security, Spectacular, State Department, U.S. Missions, Visas Tags: , , , , ,

Posted: 2:33  am ET

 

In August 2015, former U.S. Foreign Service Officer, Michael T. Sestak, 44, was sentenced to 64 months in prison on federal charges in a scheme where he accepted more than $3 million in bribes to process visas for non-immigrants seeking entry to the United States. The Federal Bureau of Prisons locator indicates that he was scheduled to be released from prison on January 4, 2018. The 2015 USDOJ announcement notes that following his prison term, Sestak will be placed on three years of supervised release.

See this piece on the Sestak case. See below our posts on this case with some unanswered questions.

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