Tag Archives: efficiency of the service

What was the cause for “universal revulsion and anger” at one post?

May 27, 2021 By in Foreign Service, FSOs, Grievance, Realities of the FS, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , ,
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Via FSGB Case No. 2020-009 | Interim Decision | February 4, 2021
Held –The Department of State (“Department) met its burden of proving that grievant committed one specification of Improper Personal Conduct, and one charge of Notoriously Disgraceful Conduct. The Department also established that the conduct showed poor judgment and lack of discretion, and that such misconduct had an impact upon the efficiency of the Service. The Department did not meet its burden of proving the charge of Inappropriate Comments and one specification of Improper Personal Conduct. The case was remanded to the Department to re- determine an appropriate consequence in light of the Board’s findings.
Case Summary – Grievant, a married Senior Foreign Service officer, while serving as Management Counselor at the U.S. Embassy REDACTED, was accused of sexual harassment based on inappropriate statements he reportedly made to female colleagues and conduct considered professionally improper. Grievant also appeared in a video published on a local website showing grievant and a local national woman seated together in the driver’s seat of a vehicle on a public road. The website article identified grievant as a foreign diplomat and commented on foreign diplomats and young host country women. Grievant later admitted to having an extramarital affair with the woman in the video, who was employed as a nanny by one of grievant’s subordinates. Grievant requested a voluntary curtailment because of the negative response by members of the embassy community concerning the video and to attend to a family illness.
The Department’s Office of Civil Rights (S/OCR) investigated the sexual harassment allegations and forwarded its report to the Bureau of Human Resources (HR). Based on the findings of the S/OCR and after consideration of a description of the video showing grievant with the foreign national woman in the car, the Department proposed to suspend grievant for eight days without pay as discipline for Inappropriate Comments (three specifications), Improper Personal Conduct (two specifications), and Notoriously Disgraceful Conduct.
Grievant challenged the suspension proposal, however, it was sustained by the Department. After a grievance was denied, grievant appealed to the Foreign Service Grievance Board that found that the Department met its burden of proving that grievant committed one of two acts of Improper Personal Conduct and he engaged in Notoriously Disgraceful Conduct. The Board remanded the case to the Department for reconsideration of the proposed discipline in light of the Board’s decision.

Charge 3: Notoriously Disgraceful Conduct

The Department contends that grievant’s conduct, captured in the video which showed a young woman sitting in front of grievant in the driver’s seat while driving a car, had a negative impact upon mission morale. The Department noted that this video appeared on a popular local website and the existence of the video and its content were widely known within the mission. Grievant also admitted that he was having an extramarital affair with the woman who appeared with him in the video who was employed as a nanny for the family of one of grievant’s subordinates in the mission. The Department cites a statement by the CLO that both grievant’s family and the post family that employed the woman who appeared in the video were deeply affected. Grievant claims that his wife was aware of the relationship and argues that the video did not explicitly show his involvement in a sexual relationship. Nonetheless, the Department concluded that the video exposed the close relationship grievant was engaged in with the nanny of his subordinate, thereby embarrassing his colleagues, his family, and the mission.
[…]
With respect to the Charge of Notoriously Disgraceful Conduct, the Department notes that grievant admitted to having an extramarital affair with the woman in the video and the S/OCR report specifically corroborated that the video was publicized in the media in the host country. The Department argues that the physical closeness exhibited between grievant and the woman in the video, the nanny of one of his subordinates, and grievant’s admission that he was engaged in an affair with the woman, demonstrated his failure to maintain the high standard of conduct required of Foreign Service employees representing the U.S. abroad. The Department also points out that all new Foreign Service employees are briefed about their role representing the U.S. government abroad and the expectation that each maintain the highest standard of conduct demonstrating integrity, reliability and prudence whether at work or during their non- work hours. Further, the publication of the video resulted in embarrassment to others in the mission and disrupted grievant’s effectiveness as Management Counselor because his colleagues and supervisees refused to work with him. In fact, the Department points out that the publication of the video partially motivated grievant to request voluntary curtailment from post, thereby detrimentally affecting management operations at post.
[…]
Grievant maintains that the disciplinary action against him is unwarranted and that the statements upon which the charges and specifications are based are factually inaccurate and mischaracterized. He argues that the Department cannot meet its burden to establish that he engaged in Notoriously Disgraceful Conduct (Charge 3). Moreover, grievant argues that the proposed discipline is excessive for the alleged offenses, that the DO did not give adequate weight to several mitigating factors in his case, and that the penalty, therefore, is unreasonable.
[…]
Grievant maintains that the Department cannot meet its burden of proving that he engaged in Notoriously Disgraceful Conduct, as defined in the regulation. Grievant acknowledges that he did have an extramarital affair but maintains that it was discreet, not conducted publicly, not disgraceful but, instead, it was a meaningful relationship.
[…]
The FAM definition of notoriously disgraceful conduct is normative; that is, it is defined by the reaction to the conduct. In the instant matter, grievant is charged with engaging in an extra-marital affair with a local national woman, which was publicized by inference in a video on local media. Thus, grievant’s conduct is notoriously disgraceful because, were it widely known, it would embarrass or discredit him, the embassy, and the United States, or would subject them to censure or opprobrium. Grievant’s argument that the video was posted to a non- mainstream sensationalist website is unavailing, as the Department does not need to prove that grievant’s extramarital affair was in fact widely known or published by a widely-accessed medium, only that, if known, it would cause the concerns described in the regulation. In fact, though, the Department describes the internet website where the video was posted as popular and the record shows that it was sufficiently well-known that the embassy community quickly saw it, identified grievant and the nanny, and reacted negatively. Judging from the strong negative reaction, described by the Deputy Chief of Mission as “universal revulsion and anger,” we are satisfied that if evidence of the affair and the circumstances were widely known in the host country, a socially conservative country, the embassy and the United States would have been embarrassed and likely censured.
[…]
According to the S/OCR investigator, interviews with the Management staff revealed that the disclosure of the video made grievant’s “relationship with his subordinates irreparably bad [and] … brought forth a torrent of further negative reporting from across the mission about [grievant’s] behavior and his interpersonal skills.” Agency-Level Grievance Decision at 15. In the aftermath of the release of the video, grievant agreed to work from home and discontinued any contact with his subordinates or others at the embassy. Grievant also admitted that he ultimately voluntarily curtailed from post in part due to release of the video, even though the official rationale was listed as his mother’s health situation. The embassy had the unanticipated absence of a key senior official who supervised a large staff and provided administrative services to 15 U.S. government agencies. It is clear to the Board that the evidence supports the Department’s conclusion that grievant’s appearance in the video and his extramarital affair with a subordinate’s nanny led to his discredit as a senior embassy official within the mission and possibly in the wider community; adversely affected the embassy’s ability to carry out its responsibilities when grievant could no longer perform his job.

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FSGB Case: Why You Should Not/Not Take Your Hard Drive With You When Departing Post

March 30, 2021 By in Foreign Service, FSOs, Grievance, Huh? News, Realities of the FS, Security, Spectacular, State Department, U.S. Missions Tags: , , ,
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The FSGB Annual Report for 2021 mentions a disciplinary case where  the Board affirmed the agency’s decision in a case concerning an information security violation (FSGB Case No. 2018-030). So we went and looked up the case which includes Charge 1 for failure to follow proper security procedures:

12 FAM 625.2-2 Removal of Microcomputers, Media and Software
Personnel are prohibited from removing U.S. Government microcomputers or media from Department premises without the prior written approval of the [Information Systems Security Officer] ISSO and additionally, if abroad, the RSO or [Post Security Officer] PSO.

And Charge 2 for failure to safeguard government property:

12 FAM 622.1-7 Protection of Media and Output
… (b)(2) Abroad: Media shipped between posts must be sent at a minimum by controlled shipment.
( c) The data center manager and the system manager must label removable media either UNCLASSIFIED or SBU.

Overview via ROP:
Held – The Department of State (Department, agency) has established via preponderant evidence that grievant violated Department regulation both in removing a Sensitive But Unclassified hard drive from his computer and taking it with him to his next post, and in failing to comply with the requirement to use a controlled shipment in returning it to post. On review, the Board finds that the proposed penalty is reasonable.
Case Summary – Grievant, a removed the Sensitive But Unclassified hard drive from his computer when leaving post in and took it on to his next post without reporting his action or seeking permission from the Information Systems Security Officer or the Regional Security Officer at post. When the RSO in asked him to return the hard drive, grievant mailed it back to post via an uncontrolled shipment, but it never arrived. The Department charged him with Failing to Follow Proper Security Procedures for removing the hard drive without permission, and Failure to Safeguard Government Property, for failing to return the hard drive in conformity with regulatory requirements for a controlled shipment.
Grievant appealed to this Board on the grounds that the Department had failed to prove by preponderant evidence that his stated method of shipment of the hard drive was not, as he contended, compliant with the rules for a controlled shipment; that the Department had failed to take into account the mitigating circumstances of a toxic atmosphere and widespread wrongdoing at post; that the Department had misapplied the appropriate penalty considerations (Douglas factors) and chosen inapposite comparator cases; and that the penalty was disproportionate, as the hard drive was only SBU, in contrast with classified documents involved in the comparator cases.
The Board determined that the Department met its burden of proving the charges of Failure to Follow Proper Security Procedures and Failure to Safeguard Government Property, that the penalty imposed was not inconsistent with comparator cases, and that the Douglas factors were properly applied.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Background via ROP:

Grievant is an FO-02 REDACTED who began his Foreign Service career as an REDACTED in 2001. At the time of the initial event giving rise to this grievance, he was serving as head of the management section in REDACTED a position he held from October 2012 until his voluntary curtailment in September 2013.

During the course of his assignment to REDACTED by his own account, a number of conflicts developed between grievant and the Chargé d’Affaires (Chargé), the General Services Officer (GSO), who reported to grievant, the Regional Security Officer (RSO) and other individuals at post. Grievant became frustrated that officials in Washington were not investigating or otherwise responding adequately, in his view, to his allegations of malfeasance, mismanagement and child abuse against various individuals serving in REDACTED Grievant decided to volunteer for an assignment at REDACTED , that required immediate voluntary curtailment from REDACTED.

Just before his departure from post in September 2013, grievant became concerned that a colleague or colleagues would attempt to retaliate against him for his claimed knowledge of irregularities in post management and individual malfeasance, or that a subordinate would file a grievance based on a negative EER written by grievant. He stated that he wished, in his own defense and to expose mismanagement, to bring with him numerous documents and emails proving his allegations, but was unable to “download” or print them, as they were too big. (The documents he stated he would need for this purpose included a .pst file of all emails he had sent or received in his time at post, as well as a number of other unspecified documents.) He therefore decided, under pressure of time, to remove the SBU hard drive from his computer and take it with him.1

Grievant states that he received oral permission to take the hard drive from a local employee in the IT section, whose name he did not know or remember. He chose not to inform or request permission from the Regional Security Officer (RSO) and the Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO) in REDACTED as required by the FAM, because the ISSO was away from post and grievant thought the RSO would refuse him permission because the documents grievant wanted to preserve implicated the RSO in wrongdoing. He stated that he needed to physically take the hard drive in order to “preserve the data” to potentially present to investigating authorities in Washington, and “my thought was to take everything I could should something come up.”2 He then took the hard drive with him upon departing post. After removing the hard drive and leaving post, grievant took no further action to report to any investigating body the alleged irregularities and malfeasance in REDACTED. He explained to the Deputy Assistant Secretary reviewing the proposed penalty that “since no one seemed to care, I didn’t.”3

A local employee subsequently reported his removal of the hard drive to the RSO. At some unspecified point after grievant’s arrival in REDACTED , the Regional Security Officer in REDACTED contacted him to request return of the hard drive.4 However, despite grievant’s assertions that he attempted to return it, the hard drive never arrived back in REDACTED. At some later point, the RSO reported the incident to Diplomatic Security (DS); in a subsequent DS interview on July 15, 2016, grievant stated that he had “attempted to return the drive via packaging sent back to the [REDACTED Embassy [diplomatic] pouch office on board a post support flight [a supply flight between REDACTED and REDACTED operated by a U.S. contracting company], ….”5 He had no further information during that interview about exactly how or when he had done so, or the current whereabouts of the hard drive.

In its decision, the FSGB concluded:

We therefore find that the Department’s choice of penalty, in a case involving both unauthorized removal of a sensitive item of media, and subsequent failure to return it, as required, via a controlled shipment, resulting in loss of the item and potential compromise of personally identifiable information pertaining to the U.S. diplomats serving abroad, is reasonable.64 The Department has a legitimate interest in ensuring the safeguarding and preservation of sensitive agency materials. As such, there is a clear nexus between the proven charges and the efficiency of the Service.

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