Tag: State Department
Stevenson’s army, October 19
This from Dahlia Scheindlin and Yezid Sayigh is well worth listening to, even if 4 days old.
– Border crossing still closed.
– US denies Israeli reports that Biden promised to join fight against Hezbollah.
– But US may be pressuring Israel on ground war.
– US forces already facing drone attacks
– WaPo says Hamas may have surprise weapons.
– FT says Israel may follow lessons learned from earlier Gaza fighting
-Disputes over Gaza hospital deaths
– FP on Israel’s intelligence failure
– Possible outcomes of House speaker drama
– Biden chooses Kurt Campbell as Deputy SecState
– HuffPost warns of “mutiny” and dissent cable at State
– US & EU can’t resolve steel tariff fight
-I used to say the Ag committees, like the appropriators and armed services panels, could overcome politics to get bills done. Not this year, apparently.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Share this, I'll really appreciate it:
Stevenson’s army, July 10
– NATO summit in Vilnius. Biden says Ukraine isn’t ready for membership.
– Jake Sullivan explains more.
– Max Boot says his heart is for admission but his head says no.
-Congress is back in town with only 12 days to get things done before August recess.
-Kremlin says Putin met with Prigozhin after mutiny attempt.
-Guardian says Sudan is on brink of civil war.
– Gzero saays South Korea is moving away from China, toward US
– Trump critic says his officials worried about nuclear war.
– Gordon Adams says Afghan withdrawal report shows State’s weaknesses.
– Former CAPE official responds to critics.
Axios says Biden has bad temper, but only in private.
My story: When I joined his Senate staff, Ted Kaufman told me, “Joe has a temper.” Having just spent 6 years working for John Culver, who was called “Big Vesuvius” for his outbursts in the HFAC, I said I could handle that. “But he really gets mad at times,” Ted replied. I said, “I know the difference between kilotons and megatons. I can handle Biden.” [And I did.]
Charlie added later:
I’ve long told my classes, “If you know how the system works, you’ll know how to work the system.” And the way Washington really works is through connections and conversations and perseverance.
The New Yorker has an excellent example this week, an article by historian Kai Bird about the effort to nullify a denial of a security clearance for the leader of the Manhattan Project that built the atom bomb, Robert Oppenheimer.
Bird and Martin Sherwin, who had co-authored a book about Oppenheimer, tried to get a DC law firm to take up the case, only to be blocked by a partner whose father had chaired the panel that punished Oppenheimer. Later they used Hill connections from long ago to try to get the Obama Administration to reconsider the matter. A legendarily effective Senate staffer, Tim Rieser, got his boss and other Senators to sign a letter to the Secretary of Energy, who has jurisdiction over the weapons labs and thus their security procedures. Unsuccessful at that time, they renewed their effort in the Biden administration, got additional letters from former officials, and finally favorable action by Secretary Granholm.
People mattered, both for and against Oppenheimer’s case. Organizations mattered: DOE officials were reluctant to revisit the issue or make legal rulings. The process mattered: connecting the advocates with people empowered to act. What a neat story, especially with a happy ending. —
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Share this, I'll really appreciate it:
Stevenson’s army, January 5
– It can happen! Ohio and Pennsylvania have just elected speakers in their state legislatures with bipartisan candidates.-
– David Ignatius interviews Jake Sullivan.
– Analysts propose a “Better Biden Doctrine.“
– Politico’s NatSecDaily reports on efforts to make State Dept less risk averse:
THE RISKY BUSINESS OF U.S. DIPLOMACY:Many State Department employees are unsure how much risk they can take and whether they can fail without undermining their careers, according to recent survey results.
The findings were laid out in a Dec. 20 email to State Department staffers from BRIAN McKEON, who recently ended his tenure as deputy secretary of State for management and resources. The survey was conducted as part of Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN’s effort to modernize the department.
McKeon’s note, obtained by our own NAHAL TOOSI, framed the results this way: “Nearly 75 percent of respondents said they did not receive clear communication from their leadership on risk tolerance; over 50 percent said they rarely or never participated in formal risk assessment activities; and over one-third did not feel empowered or equipped to manage risk. Moreover, a significant number of respondents associated risk with threat and related concepts like risk aversion, fear of failure, career, and security.”
“The bottom line is clear,” McKeon wrote. “If we are to succeed in advancing U.S. priorities, the department’s perception of risk must evolve. We need to be risk aware, not risk averse. We must accept the possibility of failure when taking risks, and risks must be viewed as opportunities for mission success, not just as threats.”
McKeon hinted at upcoming initiatives to “foster a culture of ‘failing well.’” Already, he pointed out, the department is trying to make it easier to open diplomatic facilities, which is never simple given security concerns.
A State Department spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal matter, said in a statement that Blinken wants to “shift the culture of the department to lead in the face of, rather than avoid, risk.” The spokesperson added: “The department defines risk as anything that has the potential to negatively (threats) or positively (opportunities) impact the Department’s capability to achieve its objectives.”
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Share this, I'll really appreciate it:
Stevenson’s army, December 7
– You can read the 4,408 page NDAA, an agreed package to be voted on later this week. What’s in and what’s out? The loss leader was a Democratic concession on the vaccine mandate.
– TPM discusses the deals McCarthy may make to become speaker.
-WSJ says Blinken favors Ukraine return to pre-invasion borders,
– Jeff Shogol has more on US limits on equipment sent to Ukraine.
– Hungary has blocked EU economic aid to Ukraine.
– Diplomats want a State Dept authorization bill.
– Michael Walzer in FP discusses moral obligations of soldiers in Ukraine war.
Fred Kaplan assesses the impact of the drone strikes inside Russia.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Share this, I'll really appreciate it:
Stevenson’s army, October 16
– NYT says many veterans now running for Congress aren’t centrists, but are pro-Trump anti-interventionists.
– Atlantic has an excerpt from another new book about January 6 with great detail about how the congressional leadership acted that day.
– Lawfare analyzes new executive order on signals intelligence.-
– Dan Drezner analyzes Putin’s decisions.
– NYT says Erdogan threatens Greece.
Charlie offered this yesterday:
– Carl Hulse wonder why so many Senators are leaving.
– GOP tries to block State’s “China House.”
– GOP wants to investigate think tanks.
– Scott Sagan has wise ideas for preventing a nuclear war.WSJ says Xi prepares for conflict with US
– Belarus under pressure to help Russia more.
– SAIS prof Paula Thornhill says civilians will decide Marine Corps future.
– State wants help from Silicon Valley.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here, with occasional videos of my choice. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Share this, I'll really appreciate it:
Stevenson’s army, August 23
– Retiring Sen. Pat Leahy [D-VT] laments changes in politics and the Senate. A GOP friend of mine chatted with him in Nov., 2020 and reported he said, “We don’t talk to each other any more.”
-A new NBC poll has a lot of surprises; one is that “threats to democracy” is now the “most important issue facing the country,” ahead of jobs and the cost of living. [Scroll to the end]
– FP says most of Indo-Pacific sides with Beijing.
– FP says Poland and Hungary have a falling out.
– NYT says Ukraine is siphoning humanitarian aid from other countries.
– Politico has more details on classified materials at Mar-a-Lago.
– Politico also reports WH is at odds with intelligence community over reducing classifications.
– WaPo has a friendly profile of SecState Blinken.
– A California prof says VP Pence had no authority to summon troops to protect Capitol.
– Fearing attacks in civilian areas, US warns Americans to leave Ukraine.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
RSS - Posts
