R
Raymond
Guest
State Department warns diplomats of compulsory Iraq duty
The State Department anticipates another staffing crisis.
The State Department is hoping it can fill all of next year's Iraq
vacancies with volunteers as it did in 2008.
Sen. McCain says job vacancies will be available for the next one-
hundred years
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats they may
be forced to serve in Iraq next year and says it will soon start
identifying prime candidates for jobs at the Baghdad embassy and
outlying provinces, according to a cable obtained by The Associated
Press.
A similar call-up notice last year caused an uproar among foreign
service officers, some of whom objected to compulsory work in a war
zone, although in the end the State Department found enough volunteers
to fill the jobs.
Now, the State Department anticipates another staffing crisis.
"We face a growing challenge of supply and demand in the 2009 staffing
cycle," the cable said, noting that more than 20 percent of the nearly
12,000 foreign service officers have already worked in the two major
hardship posts -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- and a growing number have done
tours in both countries.
As a result, the unclassified April 8 cable says, "the prime candidate
exercise will be repeated" next year, meaning the State Department
will begin identifying U.S. diplomats qualified to serve in Iraq and
who could be forced to work there if they don't volunteer.
The prime candidate list will be comprised of diplomats who have
special abilities that are needed in Iraq, such as Arabic language
skills, deep Mideast knowledge or training in specific areas of
reconstruction.
"We must assign to Iraq those employees whose skills are most needed,
and those employees should know that they personally are needed,"
Foreign Service Director General Harry Thomas said in the cable sent
to all diplomatic missions.
The cable describes how the department will fill upcoming vacancies at
hardship posts like those Iraq and Afghanistan -- although it doesn't
plan to force any Afghanistan assignments. Diplomats will "bid," or
apply, for positions in the war zones that will be advertised in May.
After that, the department expects to begin identifying prime
candidates for about 300 Iraq jobs that come open next summer, Thomas
wrote.
The cable said more details will be announced next month, but
identification of prime candidates is the first step in implementing
so-called "directed assignments." That means ordering diplomats to
work in certain locations under threat of dismissal unless they have a
compelling reason, such as a health condition, that would prevent them
from going.
Last year, after prime candidates were identified for 48 Iraq jobs
that come open this summer, enough qualified volunteers came forward
to avoid what would have been the largest diplomatic call-up since the
Vietnam War -- but not before the uproar over the prospect of forced
tours made national headlines.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that she had been
personally offended by the critical comments of some diplomats who
questioned the ethics of sending people against their will to a war
zone. One diplomat, during an October session held at the State
Department to explain the policy to employees, called the forced
assignments a "potential death sentence" to loud applause.
"I was deeply offended myself, and deeply sorry that these people who
had self-selected into this town hall went out of their way, to my
view, cast a very bad light on the foreign service," Rice told a House
panel.
Rice said the comments were isolated and prompted a visceral response
by the rest of the diplomatic corps, including those serving in
dangerous posts outside Iraq and Afghanistan. "I will tell you, the
blogs were lit up in the Department of State by people who were
offended ... who were absolutely offended by those comments," she
said.
She added that she had not needed to "direct assign" diplomats to Iraq
last year, but she stressed that she reserved the right to do so in
the future.
The State Department is hoping it can fill all of next year's Iraq
vacancies with volunteers as it did in 2008.
"We hope to accomplish the same in 2009," the cable says. "A willing,
qualified volunteer is always preferable to an employee sent
involuntarily."
The union that represents U.S. diplomats shares that view.
"Unless there is some huge upward change in the number of positions, I
think it's quite possible to staff the Baghdad embassy with
volunteers," said John Naland, president of the American Foreign
Service Association. "The foreign service has done it for the past
five years and I believe the foreign service will do it again."
Yet, there are serious concerns that the pool of those willing to go
is dwindling.
Some diplomats have privately expressed unease about volunteering for
Iraq duty amid deep uncertainty over how the administration following
President Bush will deal with Iraq, and how that might affect security
or change Washington's focus on the country.
While presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain has
vowed to stay the course, both Democratic hopefuls, Sens. Hillary
Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, have made clear they oppose the war
and have pledged to reduce the number of American troops there.
Such a move could have an impact on State Department operations and
security, some diplomats fear.
Naland said he was not aware of such concerns. He added that security
worries could be allayed by the fact that the State Department on
Monday finally took possession of the new, heavily fortified U.S.
Embassy in Baghdad after months of delay caused by constructions
problems.
Diplomats are expected to begin moving into the facility at the end of
next month after enduring several spates of major insurgent rocket
attacks in their less-well-protected offices and living quarters in
the Green Zone. Four Americans -- two soldiers and two civilians -- have
been killed by such fire in recent weeks.
At least three foreign service personnel -- two diplomatic security
agents and one political officer -- have been killed in Iraq since the
war began in March 2003.
___
Associated Press writer Anne Flaherty contributed to this report
The State Department anticipates another staffing crisis.
The State Department is hoping it can fill all of next year's Iraq
vacancies with volunteers as it did in 2008.
Sen. McCain says job vacancies will be available for the next one-
hundred years
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats they may
be forced to serve in Iraq next year and says it will soon start
identifying prime candidates for jobs at the Baghdad embassy and
outlying provinces, according to a cable obtained by The Associated
Press.
A similar call-up notice last year caused an uproar among foreign
service officers, some of whom objected to compulsory work in a war
zone, although in the end the State Department found enough volunteers
to fill the jobs.
Now, the State Department anticipates another staffing crisis.
"We face a growing challenge of supply and demand in the 2009 staffing
cycle," the cable said, noting that more than 20 percent of the nearly
12,000 foreign service officers have already worked in the two major
hardship posts -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- and a growing number have done
tours in both countries.
As a result, the unclassified April 8 cable says, "the prime candidate
exercise will be repeated" next year, meaning the State Department
will begin identifying U.S. diplomats qualified to serve in Iraq and
who could be forced to work there if they don't volunteer.
The prime candidate list will be comprised of diplomats who have
special abilities that are needed in Iraq, such as Arabic language
skills, deep Mideast knowledge or training in specific areas of
reconstruction.
"We must assign to Iraq those employees whose skills are most needed,
and those employees should know that they personally are needed,"
Foreign Service Director General Harry Thomas said in the cable sent
to all diplomatic missions.
The cable describes how the department will fill upcoming vacancies at
hardship posts like those Iraq and Afghanistan -- although it doesn't
plan to force any Afghanistan assignments. Diplomats will "bid," or
apply, for positions in the war zones that will be advertised in May.
After that, the department expects to begin identifying prime
candidates for about 300 Iraq jobs that come open next summer, Thomas
wrote.
The cable said more details will be announced next month, but
identification of prime candidates is the first step in implementing
so-called "directed assignments." That means ordering diplomats to
work in certain locations under threat of dismissal unless they have a
compelling reason, such as a health condition, that would prevent them
from going.
Last year, after prime candidates were identified for 48 Iraq jobs
that come open this summer, enough qualified volunteers came forward
to avoid what would have been the largest diplomatic call-up since the
Vietnam War -- but not before the uproar over the prospect of forced
tours made national headlines.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that she had been
personally offended by the critical comments of some diplomats who
questioned the ethics of sending people against their will to a war
zone. One diplomat, during an October session held at the State
Department to explain the policy to employees, called the forced
assignments a "potential death sentence" to loud applause.
"I was deeply offended myself, and deeply sorry that these people who
had self-selected into this town hall went out of their way, to my
view, cast a very bad light on the foreign service," Rice told a House
panel.
Rice said the comments were isolated and prompted a visceral response
by the rest of the diplomatic corps, including those serving in
dangerous posts outside Iraq and Afghanistan. "I will tell you, the
blogs were lit up in the Department of State by people who were
offended ... who were absolutely offended by those comments," she
said.
She added that she had not needed to "direct assign" diplomats to Iraq
last year, but she stressed that she reserved the right to do so in
the future.
The State Department is hoping it can fill all of next year's Iraq
vacancies with volunteers as it did in 2008.
"We hope to accomplish the same in 2009," the cable says. "A willing,
qualified volunteer is always preferable to an employee sent
involuntarily."
The union that represents U.S. diplomats shares that view.
"Unless there is some huge upward change in the number of positions, I
think it's quite possible to staff the Baghdad embassy with
volunteers," said John Naland, president of the American Foreign
Service Association. "The foreign service has done it for the past
five years and I believe the foreign service will do it again."
Yet, there are serious concerns that the pool of those willing to go
is dwindling.
Some diplomats have privately expressed unease about volunteering for
Iraq duty amid deep uncertainty over how the administration following
President Bush will deal with Iraq, and how that might affect security
or change Washington's focus on the country.
While presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain has
vowed to stay the course, both Democratic hopefuls, Sens. Hillary
Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, have made clear they oppose the war
and have pledged to reduce the number of American troops there.
Such a move could have an impact on State Department operations and
security, some diplomats fear.
Naland said he was not aware of such concerns. He added that security
worries could be allayed by the fact that the State Department on
Monday finally took possession of the new, heavily fortified U.S.
Embassy in Baghdad after months of delay caused by constructions
problems.
Diplomats are expected to begin moving into the facility at the end of
next month after enduring several spates of major insurgent rocket
attacks in their less-well-protected offices and living quarters in
the Green Zone. Four Americans -- two soldiers and two civilians -- have
been killed by such fire in recent weeks.
At least three foreign service personnel -- two diplomatic security
agents and one political officer -- have been killed in Iraq since the
war began in March 2003.
___
Associated Press writer Anne Flaherty contributed to this report
