US Diplomat Quits Publicly And Warns Of Exodus

[babylonsister]

https://www.nationalmemo.com/us-diplomat-quits-publicly-and-warns-of-exodus/

US Diplomat Quits Publicly And Warns Of Exodus
Alex Henderson August 26, 2019

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Bethany Milton spent 11 years working for the U.S. federal government as a consular officer in the Foreign Service. But in an op-ed for the New York Times, Milton explains that this summer, she finally decided to leave the State Department — and the straw that broke the camel’s back was hearing supporters of President Donald Trump chanting, “Send her back, send her back” in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar during a recent rally.

“When President Trump’s supporters chanted, ‘Send her back!’ I took that as a charge for me as well,” Milton asserts. “I asked the Trump Administration to send me back from my overseas posting, shipping home the family, foreign language textbooks and various tchotchkes from ‘shithole countries’ that I’ve collected in my years as a United States diplomat. I am joining a growing list of Foreign Service officers who refuse to serve this administration any longer.”

Milton, in her op-ed, explains that she has a long resumé with the federal government. From 2014-2016, for example, she “oversaw immigrant visa processing at the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai, India” — and she “oversaw immigrant visa operations in Kigali, Rwanda, from 2018 to 2019.”

Milton recalls that when she joined the U.S. State Department in 2008, she sat through some presentations as part of her orientation. And in one of them, she was told, “The day you can no longer publicly support your administration’s policies is the day you need to resign.” And for Milton, she writes in her op-ed, that day came when she found the “Send her back, send her back” chants intolerable.

She also noted that there is a “growing exodus” from the executive branch under Trump.

“As a Foreign Service officer, your job is to support the administration,” Milton explains. “Without exception. Despite my personal views, I spent more than two years working to carry out the Administration’s immigration and foreign policy priorities. I continued to do so until the very minute I handed in my badge and headed to the airport.”

Milton wraps up her op-ed by noting that having left the State Department, she now has a new priority — and it involves doing her part to prevent Trump from being reelected in 2020.

“On Friday,” Milton writes, “I cleared immigration and officially returned to life as a private citizen. And today, I have a new challenge: putting my time and energy into helping elect new leadership that serves the true interests of all Americans, regardless of where they were born.”

[nycbos]

1. The fact that there could be such a huge exodus says a lot.

FSO's are people who serve this country diplomatically regardless of who is president. They help carry out polices they disagree with all the time.


The current occupant takes it to a level where people who served there country honorably feel they can serve no longer.

[2naSalit]

2. And that is by design.

I was set to join SES when the great misfortune of the selection of W happened just before I graduated. It trashed my life... I couldn't bring myself to support that administration. I could never even consider trying to support this one. I am glad I was kind of forced to retire from federal civil service before this gang of thieves took over.

[padah513]

3. I understand them needing to leave during this administration

I just hope that they come back once Trump is gone. There is so much that needs to be rebuilt like the state department, and he got rid of so many career people, the ones who actually make the place run. My God, I hope us democrats wake up. Every single election matters, and we can't afford to put ourselves, our country, or our world through this crap ever again.

[Recursion]

4. I know her. Damn good officer.

[proActivist]

13. Give her some love for us (nt)

[kozar]

5. I seldom read

op-eds fully, this one I did. And found it a powerful statement. Like earlier replies said,, when you leave a a American serving career because of personal feelings, something seriously stinks at top. And to add, I also agree, to the replier and the op-ed authoress,, we will need people like you in Jan. '21 to fix this mess.

Koz

[onetexan]

6. the mass exodus comment coming from a diplomat is both damning to the admin and frightening at the

same time. Frightening in that we have a defunct state dept. controlled by treasonous Americans under the thumb of foreign adversaries. God help us, we need to get this horrid lunatic and his band of traitors out of office before we're all done in.

[rzemanfl]

7. K&R n/t

[bronxiteforever]

8. Kick and recommend.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Offer them all good jobs like they had, when the Democrat 2020 takes office. Need experience. . . nt

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Energy unleashed

and she is one smart lady. It's going to take everything we've got.

[McKim]

11. Really Sad: We Must Rebuild!!!

This makes me very sad that valuable FS Officers are leaving our State Dept. This is a huge loss fo us. How can we rebuild after the deluge of fakery and criminality and lawlessness?

[SergeStorms]

12. Right out of Steve Bannon's playbook.

Bannon's view of an authoritarian United States depended on dismantling the present governmental structure. That meant installing an easily led nincompoop as president (achieved), and the complete removal of various governmental institutions including State, EPA, Education, Immigration etc. (well on their way). Just because Bannon is no longer in the White House doesn't mean his influence as a fascist, authoritarian architect of the dreamed GOP controlled United States (and world, for that matter), has diminished.

Whoever is elected as president (and it had better be a democrat!) faces a herculean task of rebuilding our government. In less than three years the forces of darkness and fascism have made great strides in dismantling the government of the United States. Whoever we elect had better be up to the job. Think about that before you throw your resources into a candidate's campaign. Are they physically and mentally tough enough to undo everything the fascists have done? The 2020 presidential race is no ordinary election.

[Grins]

15. He called it the "deconstruction of the administrative state"

The evisceration of decades of rules and regulations that make us a civilized nation.

At CPAC, 23 Feb 2017, about 1-month after the vile demagogue was inaugurated.

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Trump is dissolving the government week by week

He's the anti-FDR President

We must build a new government if we can ever get rid of this one

[handmade34]

16. ...

“The day you can no longer publicly support your administration’s policies is the day you need to resign.”

Analysts have lamented the loss of senior State Department officials, many of whom were pushed out the door in the first few months of the administration. But no one seems to be paying much attention to the growing exodus of entry-level and midlevel officers, who take with us ground-level expertise that is difficult to replace.