Daily Archives: August 13, 2021

@StateDept Spox on Afghanistan: “This is not a full evacuation. This is not — “

August 13, 2021 By in Evacuations, Hotspots, Real Post of the Month, Realities of the FS, Spectacular, State Department, U.S. Missions, US Embassy Kabul Tags: , , , , ,

 

 

Via State Department Briefing/August 12, 2021:
The State Department spox made the following points about the US Embassy in Kabul:

— Our embassy in Kabul has been on ordered departure since April 27th, and we’ve been evaluating the security situation every day to determine how best to keep those serving at our embassy safe. This is what we do for every diplomatic post in a challenging security environment.

— … we are further reducing our civilian footprint in Kabul in light of the evolving security situation. We expect to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan in the coming weeks. In order to facilitate this reduction, the Department of Defense will temporarily deploy additional personnel to Hamid Karzai International Airport.

— The embassy remains open and we plan to continue our diplomatic work in Afghanistan. The United States will continue to support consular services, and that includes the processing and operations of the Special Immigrant Visa program, and will continue to engage in diplomacy with the Afghan Government and the Afghan people. Additionally, we will continue our focus on counterterrorism.

— To date, Operation Allies Refuge has brought more – has brought to the United States more than 1,200 Afghans who worked side by side with Americans in Afghanistan. That includes interpreters and translators, along with their families. Additional flights will begin landing daily, and you’re going to see the total number grow very quickly in the coming days and the coming weeks.

QUESTION: Can you move to the second part of the question? Will it remain open at its location or is it going to the airport?

MR PRICE: We are always evaluating the situation on the ground. We are planning for all contingencies. This was a contingency, in fact, that we had planned for. So I’m not going to entertain hypotheticals. I’m not going to go into what additional contingencies may arise, but it’s very important to say that our embassy remains open and our diplomatic mission will endure.
[…]

QUESTION: Ned, it’s not a hypothetical. Is the embassy staying at its current location or is it moving locations to the airport?

QUESTION: Or anywhere else.

MR PRICE: Christina – Christina.

QUESTION: Or anywhere else?

MR PRICE: The embassy remains open in its current location.
[…]

QUESTION: Ned, my last one and I’ll let everyone else go because I know – yeah. But my last one is: The people who are being drawn down, the staffers who are leaving, are they flying out commercially or is it that that’s what the military is going in to do?

MR PRICE: Well —

QUESTION: To take – to take them out.

MR PRICE: The military will be there to help effect an orderly and a safe reduction in our personnel. I do expect that the military will help with these relocation operations. But as we know, Hamid Karzai International Airport does remain open. Commercial flights continue to take off and land at the airport. So the military is not the only way in or out of Afghanistan.
[..]

QUESTION: Can I – so you said that today is a continuation of what has been happening, but it appears very clearly to be a preparation for a full evacuation of all U.S. diplomats from Afghanistan. So what is your response to that?

MR PRICE: My response to that is that’s not true. This is not a full evacuation. This is not —
[…]

QUESTION: Ned, I’ll give you points for the old college – giving it the old college try on this. But when you talk about the message that this sends as enduring partnership, in what language does turning your tail and sending 3,000 troops in to – and you say it’s not an evacuation, but you lost that point when you said that the military, the 3,000 troops are going to be flying these drawn-down staffers out. It’s —

MR PRICE: I did not say that there would be 3,000 troops.

QUESTION: Okay. Sorry. You didn’t. Others have said that that’s the number that’s going in. But that the military, the U.S. military, is going to be – is going to be taking these people out, that is an evacuation. And I’m very cognizant of the difference between a drawdown where people leave commercially or if they drive out on their own. That’s not what this is. So I don’t understand the message of “enduring partnership” when you’re basically leaving.

 

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Nominations Caught in Cancún Cruz’s Senate Confirmation Blockage

August 13, 2021 By in Nominations, Politics, Senate Hold, Senators, State Department, Top Ranks, Trends, U.S. Senate Tags: , , , ,

 

The U.S. Senate is now adjourned until Monday, September 13th. Before the adjournment, it managed to confirm one (1), that’s right, one ambassador’s nomination out of over twenty State Department nominees pending on the Executive Calendar.
Below are the nominees caught in Ted Cruz’s blockage of State Department nominees. Yes, that’s the same a senator who will forever be remembered as one of the twisted tool of the January 6 insurrection. Also as Cancún Cruz, that one who fled to Mexico while his state froze.
It is unfortunate that the nominees are used as pawns when senators do not get their way. This isn’t going to change anytime soon. This has been the way of the Senate for years now. Some suggestions. We should fix the Senate by electing reasonable people who are not multiuseless. Or we should reduced the number of people requiring Senate confirmation to minimized the chaos brought about by the actions of people of multiple uselessness in the “world’s greatest deliberative body”. Oh, let’s throw in term limits, why don’t we?
DEPARTMENT OF STATE -14

Brett M. Holmgren, of Minnesota, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Intelligence and Research), vice Ellen E. McCarthy.

Michele Jeanne Sison, of Maryland, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Ambassador, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (International Organization Affairs), vice Kevin Edward Moley, resigned.

Todd D. Robinson, of New Jersey, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Minister, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs), vice Kirsten Dawn Madison

Daniel J. Kritenbrink, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (East Asian and Pacific Affairs), vice David Stilwell.

Christopher P. Lu, of Virginia, to be Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador.

Christopher P. Lu, of Virginia, to be an Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, during his tenure of service as Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform.

Rufus Gifford, of Massachusetts, to be Chief of Protocol, and to have the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service, vice Sean P. Lawler, resigned.

Brian A. Nichols, of Rhode Island, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Minister, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Western Hemisphere Affairs), vice Kimberly Breier, resigned

Monica P. Medina, of Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, vice Kerri-Ann Jones, resigned.

Anne A. Witkowsky, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Conflict and Stabilization Operations), vice Denise Natali.

Anne A. Witkowsky, of Maryland, to be Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, vice David Malcolm Robinson.

Mary Catherine Phee, of Illinois, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (African Affairs), vice Tibor Peter Nagy, Jr

Lee Satterfield, of South Carolina, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Educational and Cultural Affairs), vice Marie Royce.

Karen Erika Donfried, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (European Affairs and Eurasian Affairs), vice A. Wess Mitchell, resigned.

Jessica Lewis, of Ohio, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Political-Military Affairs), vice R. Clarke Cooper.

Donald Lu, of California, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of MinisterCounselor, to be Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, vice Nisha Desai Biswal.

AMBASSADORS – 7

Somalia – Larry Edward Andre, Jr., of Texas, 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 Federal Republic of Somalia

Algeria – Elizabeth Moore Aubin, 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 People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria.

Lesotho – Maria E. Brewer, 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 Kingdom of Lesotho.

Cameroon – Christopher John Lamora, of Rhode Island, 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 Cameroon.

Angola/Sao Tome and Principe – Tulinabo S. Mushingi, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Angola, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe.

Congo – Eugene S. Young, of New York, 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 the Congo.

Vietnam- Marc Evans Knapper, of California, 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 Socialist Republic of Vietnam

USAID – 3

Marcela Escobari, of Massachusetts, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, vice John Barsa.

Paloma Adams-Allen, of the District of Columbia, to be a Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, vice Bonnie Glick.

Isobel Coleman, of New York, to be a Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, vice Jenny A. McGee

 

Click to access xcalv.pdf

 

 

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Biden Taps Confidant Mark Gitenstein to be Ambassador to the European Union

August 13, 2021 By in Biden, Nominations, Officially In, Political Appointees, U.S. Missions Tags: , ,

 

President Biden announced his intent to nominate his former Senate aide and confidant Mark Gitenstein to be the next Ambassador to the European Union. The WH released the following brief bio:

Mark Gitenstein, Nominee for Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Mark Gitenstein is Senior Counsel at Mayer Brown LLP, and a former U.S. Ambassador to Romania. He has spent most of the last decade working on projects in Central and Eastern Europe.  As Ambassador, he focused on fighting corruption and preserving democratic institutions, issues he continued to focus on through his work as a lawyer and with NGOs. Since his term as ambassador ended in 2012, he has returned to the region over two dozen times since then.

Earlier in his career, Gitenstein worked for 17 years in the U.S. Senate as Chief Counsel or Minority Chief Counsel of the Judiciary Committee, Chief Counsel of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, and Counsel for the Intelligence Committee.  In 2008 he co-chaired then Senator Biden’s transition to the vice presidency. In 2021 he served as a senior advisor to and member of the advisory committee to the Biden presidential transition.

Gitenstein earned an A.B. at Duke University and a J.D. at Georgetown University Law School.  He was awarded the Star of Romania, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by the President of Romania in 2012.

Ambassador Gitenstein previously served as chief of mission at the US Embassy in Bucharest. Unlike most political ambassadors, his post was inspected by the Inspector General in 2012, the last year of his tenure in Romania. The report indicated a well-run embassy and had very good things to say about the chief of mission: “The Ambassador has led the mission to notable political, political-military, public outreach, and economic-commercial successes.” Also that “the Ambassador thinks strategically and has a clear set of goals.”
If confirmed, Ambassador Gitenstein would succeed Trump Impeachment I witness Gordon Sonland who served as Ambassador to the European Union from 2018 until he was fired by Trump on February 7, 2020, two days after the conclusion of Trump’s impeachment trial.

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Senate Confirms Ex-Senator Ken Salazar as Ambassador to Mexico, Then Left Town

August 13, 2021 By in Ambassadors, Realities of the FS, Senators, State Department, Trends, U.S. Missions, U.S. Senate, WHA|Western Hemisphere Tags: , , , ,

 

 

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