Monthly Archives: May 2019

U.S. Embassy Honduras Cancels Routine Services For June 3-7 After Protesters Torch Access Gate

May 31, 2019 By in Diplomatic Attacks, Diplomatic Security, Foreign Policy, Foreign Service, Hotspots, Protests, Realities of the FS, Security, State Department, U.S. Missions, WHA|Western Hemisphere Tags: , , ,

 

Protesters in Honduras set the access gate to the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa on fire with tires doused with fuel according to Reuters. The report says that “the protesters chanted “American trash, American trash” outside the embassy, which was not being guarded at the time.”

CNN notes that “the fire was extinguished by mid-afternoon, and a State Department spokesperson later said no embassy personnel were injured in the incident.”

The U.S. Embassy was not being guarded at the time of the protest?

As of 1 am EST, we have not been able to find an official statement from Foggy Bottom. US Embassy Honduras CDA Heide Fulton did release a statement (see below) and announced the suspension of routine consular services for next week due to the fire damage.

Secretary Pompeo Swears-In Brian Bulatao as Foggy Bottom’s New “M”

May 28, 2019 By in Appointments, Functional Bureaus, Mike Pompeo, Pompeo, Secretary of State, State Department, Trends Tags: , , , , , , ,

 

U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo swears in Brian Bulatao as the new Under Secretary of State for Management with T. Ulrich Brechbühl, State Department Counselor in attendance at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on May 17, 2019. [State Department photo by Michael Gross/ Public Domain]

Now that the new under secretary for management has been confirmed, it’s a good time to revisit Mr. Bulatao’s testimony before the U.S. Senate (see excerpt below).

The culture of empowerment created greater organizational agility and a workforce that was unleashed to take on problem sets in new ways. I certainly didn’t come up with every idea, instead I empowered our team to consider how we could do it better, fail faster, and take smarter risks. Across the board, we embraced a spirit of innovation in order to boost the speed and precision of a large organization operating in a dangerous and competitive environment.

If confirmed as the Under Secretary for Management, this is the same approach I intend to bring to the U.S. Department of State. The Department’s hard-working, patriotic, and dedicated teams deserve to have an organization that optimally utilizes their talents. And the American people must have confidence that the State Department makes the best use of their resources and provides the best practical support for our diplomatic initiatives that rely on the strength of our alliances, partnerships, and engagement.

If confirmed, I appreciate the broad management responsibility I will have for the Department’s more than 76,000 personnel – Civil Service, Foreign Service, and Locally Employed Staff – and my direct supervision over 12 bureaus and offices. These women and men serve our country in some of the most challenging places around the world, and risk their lives daily, whether serving in war zones, amidst criminal violence and disease outbreaks, and with the threat of terrorist attack. They work long hours, often separated from their families, to advance our nation’s foreign policy and support the work of diplomacy.

There is no question that the safety and security of our personnel and their families must be the highest priority. I know Secretary Pompeo cares deeply about and works hard to protect his people.

I will ensure that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security has the resources, tools, and technology and is fully integrated into Department decision-making, to most effectively perform this critical task.

I will work hard to ensure our people have secure new buildings where required, that are completed on time, on budget, and incorporate cutting-edge IT infrastructure to support the critical missions they execute globally.

If confirmed, I will seek more creative ways to staff the Department to meet today’s mission and be well positioned to meet the challenges of the future. This will include hiring the full range of expertise, from our diplomats and subject-matter experts, to our specialists in the field like medical services and facilities management, to our security personnel. Hiring the best of the best with diverse backgrounds and experiences is critical to our global mission and will be a top priority for me.

I am committed to advocating for a budget that fully funds the Department’s requirements and putting in place the appropriate oversight and metrics to ensure the Department meets its obligation to use taxpayer dollars wisely and effectively. I will support Secretary Pompeo in requesting funding that serves the national interest and will implement the appropriations law as passed by Congress.

Finally, if confirmed, I will help bring Department operations into the 21st century by modernizing its systems and programs. With so many challenges facing the United States around the world, our diplomacy demands every logistical, technological, and informational advantage we can muster. We must be aggressive in protecting our security, generating prosperity, and advancing our values. Having a State Department team that is empowered and equipped with the right tools to achieve the mission is an integral part of making that happen.

The full testimony is available to read in PDF here.

Related posts:

 

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Confirmations: Ambassadors, FS Lists, and @USAID Nominees

May 28, 2019 By in Ambassadors, Confirmations, Foreign Service, FSOs, Political Appointees, State Department, U.S. Missions, USAID Tags: , ,

 

The following State Department and USAID nominees were confirmed by the full Senate on May 23, 2019.

AMBASSADORS

2019-05-23 PN598 MACEDONIA | Kate Marie Byrnes, of Florida, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of North Macedonia.

2019-05-23 PN122 ECUADOR | Michael J. Fitzpatrick, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Ecuador.

2019-05-23 PN520 SLOVAK REPUBLIC | Bridget A. Brink, of Michigan, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Slovak Republic.

2019-05-23 PN521 ACBO VERDE | John Jefferson Daigle, of Louisiana, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Cabo Verde.

2019-05-23 PN522 TURKMENISTAN | Matthew S. Klimow, of New York, a Career Member of the Senior Executive Service, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Turkmenistan.

2019-05-23 PN126 ICELAND | Jeffrey Ross Gunter, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Iceland.

2019-05-23 PN124 OSCE | James S. Gilmore, of Virginia, to be U.S. Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, with the rank of Ambassador.

 

FOREIGN SERVICE LISTS

2019-05-23 PN519 Foreign Service  | Nominations beginning Kenneth H. Merten, and ending Kevin M. Whitaker, which 7 nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record on March 25, 2019.

2019-05-23 PN604 Foreign Service  | Nomination for Lisa Anne Rigoli, which nomination was received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record on April 10, 2019.

2019-05-23 PN607 Foreign Service | Nominations beginning Timothy Ryan Harrison, and ending Rachel Lynne Vanderberg, which 5 nominations were received by the Senate and appeared in the Congressional Record on April 10, 2019.

 

USAID

2019-05-23 PN101  | Richard C. Parker, of North Carolina, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.

2019-05-23 PN105 | John Barsa, of Florida, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.

 

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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Hosts #GameofThrones Party as Chained Dragon

May 28, 2019 By in Ambassadors, Photo of the Day, U.S. Missions Tags: , , ,

 

 

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American Diplomatic Posts Commemorate Memorial Day 2019

May 27, 2019 By in Foreign Service, Holidays and Celebrations, Memorial, Round-Up, U.S. Missions Tags: , ,

 

GRACE- Religious Affinity Group Launches at State Department

May 20, 2019 By in Foreign Affairs, Huh? News, Org Life, State Department, Trends Tags: , ,

 

 

 

Via careers.state.gov:

“GRACE is an affiliation of Civil and Foreign Service professionals working to promote a culture at the State Department that embraces the ability of employees to manifest religious belief generally, and Christianity specifically, in the workplace. GRACE seeks to connect Department employees that share this vision; to advocate for religious freedom and religious expression for everyone within the Department; and to highlight the value added by the perspective of people of faith in general, and Christians in particular, to the Department and its mission. In doing so, GRACE aspires to emulate Jesus’ love and respect for all people, regardless of their background or religion. Accordingly, GRACE’s membership is open to all Department employees and contractors, whether stateside or deployed overseas. For more information, please contact GRACE@state.gov.”

Senate Confirms Brian Bulatao as Under Secretary of State For Management

May 17, 2019 By in Appointments, Confirmations, U.S. Senate Tags: , ,

 

 

 

Related post:

@StateDept Gets Closer to Getting an Under Secretary for Management, Vacant Since January 2017

U.S. Mission Iraq Gets a New Ambassador After Mandatory Evacuation of Non-Emergency Personnel

May 17, 2019 By in Ambassadors, Consular Work, Evacuations, Foreign Service, Hotspots, Realities of the FS, State Department, U.S. Missions, US Embassy Baghdad Tags: , , , ,

 

 

On May 16, the day after the State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. Government employees from Iraq, both at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Ambassador Matthew Tueller as the next Ambassador to Iraq. State  also issued a new Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory for Iraq due to “due to terrorism, kidnapping, and armed conflict.”

We could not recall Mission Iraq  ever going on “ordered departure” (mandatory evacuation).  On June 15, 2014, the State Department went on partial “temporary relocation” of USG personnel from Embassy Baghdad to Basrah, Erbil and Amman, Jordan (see US Mission Iraq: Now on Partial “Temporary Relocation” To Basra, Erbil & Amman (Jordan).  In August 2014, it relocated additional Baghdad/Erbil Staff to Basrah and Amman (Jordan). Note that these “temporary relocations” occurred around the targeted airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists. The State Department went out of its way to avoid the use of the words “authorized departure”, “ordered departure” or for that matter “mandatory evacuation” in describing the movement of its staff that summer.  In September 2018, there was a Mandatory Evacuation For US Consulate General Basrah but limited to Southern Iraq.

As recently as March 31, 2019, in the LEAD IG REPORT TO THE U.S. CONGRESS says:

USCENTCOM reported to the DoD OIG that Iranian activity in Iraq has not changed from last quarter.404 Iranian-backed groups continue to monitor Coalition operations, personnel, and facilities, publish false or misleading stories about Coalition activity in the media, and, through allies within the Iraqi Council of Representatives, support legislation to compel the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.405 CJTF-OIR reported that Iran and Iran-backed groups prefer to try to diminish U.S. and Coalition presence in Iraq through soft power means rather than through direct military confrontation.406

404. USCENTCOM, response to DoD OIG request for information, 3/26/2019.
405. CJTF-OIR, response to DoD OIG request for information, 3/26/2019.
406. USCENTCOM, response to DoD OIG request for information, 3/25/2019

 

U.S. Senate Confirms Matthew Tueller as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq

May 17, 2019 By in Ambassadors, Confirmations, FSOs, State Department, U.S. Missions, U.S. Senate Tags: , , ,

 

 

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U.S. Embassy Vienna Partners With McDonald’s to Assist U.S. Citizens in Need, Cue the McJokes

May 17, 2019 By in Ambassadors, Americans Abroad, Consular Work, Social Media, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment
U.S. Embassy Vienna Partners With McDonald’s to Assist U.S. Citizens in Need, Cue the McJokes

 

 

 

The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna (@usembvienna) announced on FB that the U.S. Ambassador to Austria Trevor D. Traina signed a Memorandum of Agreement with McDonald’s Austria that would allow the Golden Arches to assist Americans in need. McDonald’s staff will reportedly assist Americans in distress if they need consular assistance but have no way to contact the U.S. Embassy.

It looks like this FB post is actually their most popular one with over 200 comments though with varied reactions from the public.

“Come on! It sounds so ridiculous!”

“Great idea!”

“Happy meal for the distressed Americans in Austria 🍔

“One McPassport to go, please”

“Can I get uh….. a… diplomatic assistance meal please?”

“Would you like to supersize your passport? “

“I will have small coffee, egg mcmuffin and a passport, on the side please”

“The land of the fries and the home of Big Mac.”

“Can you help me find the McEmbassy?”

“As a U.S. citizen, I find it odd that this seems to be an endorsement for a specific corporation.”

One commenter asked if “this in lieu of a staffed embassy?” and US Embassy Vienna set that right with “Certainly not. Our Embassy is fully staffed and ready to assist American citizens in need. This partnership is only one extra way for Americans to connect to the Embassy when they are in an emergency situation.”

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