Administration Critics Chafe at State Dept. Shuffle

[Rose Siding]

Merger Has Brought Appointees Into Conflict With Longtime Workers, Who Say They Are Sidelined

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 21, 2006; Page A04

A State Department reorganization of analysts involved in preventing the spread of deadly weapons has spawned internal turmoil, with more than half a dozen career employees alleging in interviews that political appointees sought to punish long-term employees whose views they considered suspect.

Senior State Department officials deny that and say an investigation has found that the proper personnel practices were followed. But three officials involved in the reorganization, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, acknowledge that a merger of two bureaus reduced the influence of employees who were viewed by some political appointees as disloyal to the administration's policies.

"There are a number of disgruntled employees who feel they have been shoved aside for political purposes. That's true," said one of these officials. "But there was rank insubordination on the part of these officers."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022001198.html

[Connie_Corleone]

1. Jesus Christ!! We have 3 more years of this shit...maybe longer!

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. The on-going Bush coup?

Did we ever determine that Cheney had built himself an underground panic room?

I think we should be told.

[rodeodance]

3. longterm career employees pushed aside by cronies. Soon we will

no smart people in these positions, only BushCo loyalist. Real serious.

[rodeodance]

4. looky, it is Rice doing the reorgainizing.

.....The dispute has thrown a spotlight on the tensions that often exist between longtime career employees and the political appointees who come and go with successive administrations. It is also being closely watched within the State Department as another sign that, under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's leadership, the department will no longer be at war with the rest of the administration.

Rice and her top aides have sought to heal the damaging rifts that existed with the Pentagon and other agencies. Some State Department officials privately acknowledge that they used to be thrilled by the department's reputation as a renegade in President Bush's first term, but they say the message has become clear in the past year that such attitudes are no longer acceptable.

Few people would speak about the controversy for the record, either because they fear retaliation or because they must continue to work with State Department officials in their new jobs.

[lapfog_1]

5. "You're either with us or against us"

Rumsfeld and Feith at the Pentagon...
Wolfowitz at the world bank
Goss at the CIA
Gonzales at the DOJ
Chertoff at the DHS
and now Rice at State...

having loyal repukes in charge wasn't enough (even ones like Tom Ridge)...
Bushco has to have loyal Bushbots in place... and each one begins their tenure with a purge of career civil servants in favor of ideologues of the BFEE.

State was too independent under Powell, and careerists are too ready to disagree with bush doctrine, so they have to go. Nothing left but an entire government of "yes" people.