April pain and suffering: Life is so Unfair!

Watch out for more DS ecards from someecards where you go "when you care enough to hit send." 

Warning: Someecards.com is not intended for use by people under 18 years of age. It is as they claim - possibly to probably the best site on the Web for free, funny ecards. I can assure you that you won't find their bitey cards in your grocery aisle or anywhere else.  They have greeting cards for every occasion - from important to utterly pointless. Send greetings for apology, birthday, baby, breakup, congratulations, encouragement, farewell, flirting, friendship, get well, sympathy, thanks, thinking of you, wedding, workplace, and holidays. They suggest you e-mail them to friends, family, coworkers, loved ones, liked ones, and anyone else with fingers.

Be forewarned -- just like the Foreign Service -- it is not for everyone, people!

 

 

MFAN: Prepares to blog the State Department’s QDDR

Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) is a reform coalition composed of international development and foreign policy practitioners, policy advocates and experts, concerned citizens and private sector organizations.

MFAN’s goal is to help build a safer, more prosperous world by strengthening the United States’ ability to alleviate extreme poverty, create opportunities for growth, and secure human dignity in developing countries. Its members are “some of the most well known experts and organizations in the world. They make up the critical link between U.S. international development policy and its practice in the field, providing a unique perspective that informs its recommendations for streamlining and enhancing U.S. investments in the health, stability and economic growth of developing countries.” See more of the leadership here.

The release of initial findings from the State Department’s landmark Quadrennial Diplomacy & Development Review (QDDR) will for the first time provide a strategic blueprint for U.S. development and foreign assistance efforts. MFAN considers this a key moment in the long push for foreign assistance reform, and has launched a blog series to ensure lively debate about the goals and impacts of the QDDR (the preliminary report expected to be released sometime in April with the full report to be released in fall this year). 

The maiden post was by MFAN Co-Chair George Ingram (MFAN QDDR Blog Series: Time for Hard Questions | March 16th, 2010). This was followed by QDDR Blog Series: MFAN Principal Noam Unger on the Relation to the PSD on March 17th, 2010.

Development experts from across the MFAN community will post blogs on the QDDR and the importance of transparency, civil society engagement, gender, ownership, and legislation to making U.S. foreign assistance more effective and accountable. 

Check back here and on www.Twitter.com/ModernizeAid for the group’s updates.

The Cat in a Hat's Tale from Ambassador Godec

Robert F. Godec is currently the Principal Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism in the Department of State. From 2006 to 2009, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia. Ambassador Godec has also served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and was Deputy Coordinator for the Transition in Iraq, charged with organizing the transition of policy and operational elements of the Coalition Provisional Authority and the standup of U.S. Mission Iraq.

During his time as US Ambassador to Tunisia, Ambassador Godec blogged at Tumbler here. One of our favorite posts was one he did about a year ago on “Reading Rocks!” at the American Cooperative School of Tunis.  Below are some kids dressed up as their favorite book characters and two ambassadors playing along. That's UK Ambassador Chris O’Connor in the Union Jack hat and Ambassador Godec as the Cat in the Hat.

Photo from Ambassador Godec's blog

The Cat in the Hat’s Tale (Or… Why reading is magic!)
A poem by Bob Godec (with apologies to Dr. Seuss)
Written for the ACST “Reading Rocks!” Assembly | March 2009

I’ve come here today
With my striped hat and tie
For reading is magic
And I want to say why.

So this I must tell,
For it is just what is true
When you read a good book
You’ll never be blue.

Left all alone?
No one to play?
Read a short story
It’ll take you away!

With books as your friends
You’ll go many places
Some far, far away…
Why you’re off to the races!

There’ll be castles and dragons
And flights to the moon
Oh my,
my,
my,
my,
Don’t you want to go soon?

One day you can run
A race out on Mars
And the next you can sip
Tea with the stars.

You can cross a great desert
On a camel, in the sun
And find a lost kingdom
Now won’t that be fun!

Want to climb a tall mountain?
Meet a wizard or two?
Just open a book
There’ll be wonders for you.

For me a good book
Or a story so right
Is just what it takes
To make life really bright.

So I hope you will read
And give adventure a try
For there’s magic in words
And now you know why.

Well it’s time, I must go
But I’ll leave you with this
Trust the Cat in the Hat
And you just cannot miss.

Turkmenistan Crime and Safety 2010 Report Released

Image via Wikipedia

OSAC released its Crime and Safety Report on Turmeninstan in early March. Quick summary below:

The Government of Turkmenistan publishes no crime statistics, but the overall rate of crime appears to be low.  Foreigners are rarely the targets of violent crime, although women in isolated surroundings face an increased risk of harassment or assault.

Foreigners  are often perceived as wealthy, encouraging occasional crimes of opportunity. Petty thieves tend to operate in crowded markets frequented by tourists, such as the Tolkuchka Bazaar. Maintaining a heightened sense of awareness and careful protection of valuables can greatly reduce the chances of becoming a victim in these locations.  Displaying large quantities of cash is inadvisable.  In the center of Ashgabat, large numbers of police and other security personnel tend to deter petty crime.

There is a relatively high rate of home burglaries, as local citizens tend to keep their cash at home rather than at local banks. Home burglaries are not common for expatriates, but good residential security measures are recommended.

Violent crime does exist in Turkmenistan.  Although not publicized or officially made known to the RSO, crimes such as rape and murder are not uncommon to Turkmenistan.  These crimes affect the local population more than they affect foreigners and expatriates, and they are often linked to the drug trade and/or prostitution.

Terrorist groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, al-Qa’ida, and the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement are active in Central Asia.  However, there have been no reports of these groups operating within Turkmenistan. Terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets.  Due to increased security at official U.S. facilities worldwide, terrorists are seeking softer civilian targets such as residences, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, hotels, schools, events, and resorts.  Travelers to the country should carefully weigh Turkmenistan's proximity to regions of past and current instability.

Read the whole thing here. 

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Colton v. Clinton: Defendant has “memorialized its discriminatory practices" in its SOPs

On December 22, 2009 The Blog of Legal Times reported an update on the Colton v. Clinton case (State Department Seeks to Dismiss Age Discrimination Case). Excerpt below:  

The State Department filed its motion to dismiss a case challenging the U.S. Foreign Service's mandatory retirement policy, arguing the age cutoff was a valid piece of Congressional decision making. Elizabeth Colton, a 64-year-old Foreign Services officer, sued the State Department in September alleging she had been denied an overseas assignment because of her age. […] The government shot back yesterday, arguing that Colton was trying to upend long-settled law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has already found that the retirement policy at issue, which is contained in the Foreign Services Act, was exempt from the ADEA, the government said. It added that the Supreme Court has also ruled that the age cutoff does not violate equal protection.

BLT’s prior coverage of the case, Colton v. Clinton is here. Our latest coverage on this is in Who wants well-aged diplomats well refined?

Last month, Dr. Colton and her lawyers fired back, with an opposition to the State Department’s Motion to Dismiss and moved for discovery. The filing includes the following:

The State Department believes it can discriminate against Foreign Service Officers on the basis of their age without fear of recourse. Defendant’s relies on the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (the “1980 Act”), which requires individuals who participate in the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System to retire by the last day of the month in which they turn 65. Defendant views this mandatory retirement provision as a right to subject older Foreign Service Officers, like Plaintiff, to disparate treatment based on their age years before their retirement is required by law.
[…]
Defendant argues that Plaintiff’s ADEA claims are barred on procedural grounds because she allegedly filed out-of-time and allegedly failed to exhaust her administrative remedies. This is not true. Defendant’s attempt to impose a 90-day statute of limitations defense to Plaintiff’s ADEA claims has been squarely rejected by Supreme Court precedent. Plaintiff  filed her Complaint within two years of the first discriminatory act and her Complaint is therefore timely. Likewise, numerous courts have rejected Defendant’s exhaustion arguments, which in this case is based on the misplaced notion that Plaintiff must repeatedly file notices of intent to sue each time she is subjected to a retaliatory act and each notice must include the word “retaliation” for it to be valid.
[…]
Defendant also argues that Plaintiff failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted because (1) Strawberry v. Albright, 111 F.3d 943 (D.C. Cir. 1997), a limited D.C. Circuit Court decision, held that the 1980 Act’s mandatory retirement provision is an exception to the ADEA; and (2) Vance v. Bradley, 440 U.S. 93 (1979), a 30 year-old Supreme Court decision, held that the mandatory retirement provision of the Foreign Service Act of 1946 (“1946 Act”) is constitutional based on a limited review of different  congressional findings more than 70 years old. Neither of these cases excuse the numerous instances of overt discrimination, retaliation and constitutional inequalities identified in Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint.
[…]
Defendant refused to modify the two-year tour of duty for the Algiers assignment, notwithstanding Defendant modifies tours of duty for assignments for a variety of reasons other than age. This disparate treatment — refusing to modify Plaintiff’s tour and denying her job opportunities because she would turn 65 years old before she completed an assignment — is a discriminatory employment practice that violates the ADEA. It has nothing to do with enforcing mandatory retirement, but has everything to do with discriminatory employment choices that Defendant makes against older employees in favor of younger ones.
[…]
The documents the State Department provided with its motion make it clear that Defendant has memorialized its discriminatory practices in its standard operating procedures. Defendant’s bidding instructions state, for example, that attempting to secure a position that would extend a Foreign Service Officer’s career past the mandatory retirement age would “subject [the officer] to negative consequences.” (Id. at Ex. B, p. 36 ¶ 3.) This policy is strange considering that Foreign Service Officers are statutorily entitled to seek an exception from the mandatory retirement provision and such requests can only be made after an officer bids on a position. (Id. at Ex. B, DeLisi Declaration.) Defendant admits that it “took steps to ensure that plaintiff was not assigned to a position for which she was ineligible [because of her age].” (Id. at 28.) Plaintiff believes that the “negative consequences” and admitted “steps of  assurance” are the impetus behind the retaliation that she endured.
[…]
Like its attempt to extend the Strawberry holding, Defendant’s argument that it is entitled to summary judgment by extending Vance is unavailing. This country is founded on a system of checks and balances that provide the judicial branch with authority to determine the constitutionality of the laws, including the 1980 Act. The system would fail if the checks and balances on one statute (e.g. the 1980 Act) were simply based on decisions involving a different set of facts challenging a different statute (e.g. the 1946 Act) with different congressional findings that occurred more than 70 years ago.

Following the State Department’s logic would mean that cases like Brown v. Board of  Education could have never eradicated the discrimination of its time by overturning Supreme Court decisions like Plessy v. Ferguson, which already addressed the issue of separate but equal treatment. Defendant’s logic makes no sense. Plaintiff is entitled to challenge the constitutionality of the 1980 Act, raising colorable arguments that courts have never decided and discovering evidence in support thereof.

[…]
[T]he Bradley court stated that congressional conviction illustrates that “the country should be at great pains to assure the high quality of those occupying positions critical to the conduct of our foreign relations in the post-war world.” Bradley, 440 U.S. at 101 (citations omitted). Yet, many of the Ambassadors, Special Envoys and even Secretaries of State that we send overseas to conduct our foreign relations are frequently well over 65 years of age. Hypocrisy is never rational.
[…]
Defendant’s own SOPs contemplate that Foreign Service Officers will accept assignments even if they cannot complete a 24-month tour before mandatory retirement. (Id. At Attachment 3, p. 14 (discussing 24-month tours and stating that “prompt separation [will occur] upon reaching age 65 no matter the time remaining in your tour”).) Thus, Dr. Colton was qualified but Defendant discriminated against her on the basis of age.
[…]
Defendant, of course, states that Plaintiff’s belief that her career was curtailed is “a puzzling claim, given that she remains employed as the Public Affairs Officer in Karachi, Pakistan.” (Motion at 20.) In other words, Defendant believes that Plaintiff should be happy that she has a job even if that job is a lesser quality as is the case here.

Plaintiff will prove through discovery that Defendant has a policy of allowing officers over the age of 65 to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, two of the most dangerous countries in the world. Plaintiff will also prove through discovery that Defendant not only re-hires retired Foreign Service Officers under the WAE program, but also has specific policies for hiring government contractors and other federal employees to perform precisely the same or substantially similar job as officers like Dr. Colton. Denying opportunities to Foreign Service Officers like Dr. Colton because of their age, while hiring others to perform the same tasks in the same areas under specific policies, is irrational.

 
I added some active links above. These guys are good ("Hypocrisy is never rational," "memorializing ... in the SOPs?" ). Can you blame us if we want to hear them argue and slug this out in open court?

Besides -- we really do want to know how many FSOs in the regular service and the SFS Senior Foreign Service were subjected to MAR but got waivers from "prompt" removal when they hit the 65 mark.  You'd think something like that would be easily accessible and transparent, State being one of those "best places to work" (admittedly not in AARP's list); but apparently you can't get that info from the state.gov website or pry it from anywhere else.  Would be nice to have that information pried out of the bureaucracy and see how that onion plays out in court. 


Read more below:

Colton v. Clinton | Plaintiff's Opposition 2010-2-22

Insider Quote: No truer words said …

This one from our blog friends, Digger:  "I had a rough first tour, and I went through a period where I was serious about quitting the service. But I ultimately learned that what I was told in A-100, that the Department is your family and will look out for you, was wrong. The Department is a bureaucracy that will meet its own needs, often at your expense. But the people you work with, the ones who show what corridor reputation is all about, they will become your family and they will help you serve your country through good times and bad. I am convinced that there have been times that they are the reason I have stayed, and I am very glad I did."

(excerpted from comments online)

Photo of the Day: President Obama Visits Our Men in Afghanistan

President Barack Obama meets with U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, left, and Gen. Stanley McChrystal at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, March 28, 2010.

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Snapshot: US Consulate General Cd. Juarez

Image by charlie llewellin via Flickr

The shootings involving staff/family members from the US Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez made me dig up the 2009 OIG report on US Mission Mexico. Below is part of what the report said about Ciudad Juarez:  

The consular section in Ciudad Juarez is the largest in the world with 50 consular officers, six EFMs, and 116 LE staff, yet its staffing is still too small for the workload (see the section of this report on IVs for a complete discussion). Despite workload pressures, the consular section is doing a remarkable job under excellent leadership. The consular section chief and IV unit chief work effectively as a team to manage the massive challenges facing the IV unit. However, the other parts of the consular section are also under stress. NIV work increased 31.4 percent to 121,010 cases in FY 2008.

The NIV unit copes with this increase with the help of a steady stream of TDY ELOs from other posts in Mexico.

This NIV workload increase was not surprising because Ciudad Juarez was the first post in Mexico to start issuing an improved version of the BCC on April 1, 1998, and therefore the first post to experience a surge from the 10-year replacement program. The workload rose dramatically in 1999 (to 308,370 cases) and peaked in 2001 (at 411,743 cases). This means Ciudad Juarez is likely to be hit by a huge increase in NIV work in the next three years. In addition, analysis shows that much of the Ciudad Juarez FY 2008 NIV workload increase is, in fact, coming from first time applicants, and this means that NIV levels after the BCC renewal surge ends are likely to remain higher than previously thought, requiring additional permanent resources.

[…]

Immediately following the visit by the OIG team to Ciudad Juarez, the consulate staff moved into a new OBO-built facility. This vast facility -- with 87 visa interview windows -- gives the staff the capability to handle the huge numbers of consular visitors and provides for future growth.

The consulate general in Ciudad Juarez processes all IVs for Mission Mexico, and in FY 2008 it handled 149,014 applications, 19 percent of all IVs worldwide. The workload was greater than that of the next three largest IV operations in Santo Domingo, Manila, and Ho Chi Minh City combined. IV workload has fluctuated greatly in the last 10 years in Ciudad Juarez, but recently increased dramatically. The Department will need to increase significantly officer and LE staffing in Ciudad Juarez to rightsize the operations.

Here is a nugget from the report that you may or may not know:

US Mission Mexico, consisting of an embassy, seven consulates general, two consulates, and 14 consular agencies, is one of the largest U.S. missions in the world. The magnitude of the consular operation is staggering: 20 percent of all arrests of Americans abroad occur in a single consular district in Tijuana. Consulate General Ciudad Juarez processes more IVs than any other post in the world. Embassy Mexico City processes more NIVs than any other post in the world except Embassy Seoul.

Because of the consular workload, 10 percent of all entry-level officers (ELO) in the U.S. Foreign Service are assigned to Mexican posts. With such numbers, Mexican experience will have an important influence on the next generation of Foreign Service officers.

Related Item:
-04/30/09   Embassy Mexico City, Mexico (ISP-I-09-21A) April 09

USAID's Global Pulse 2010 Starts Today

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is sponsoring the Global Pulse 2010, a 3-day, online collaboration event, that will bring together individual socially-engaged participants and organizations from around the world.

Global Pulse 2010 is an online “virtual” event. Registration is free and participants can join from any computer with internet access. The event will be live, over the span of 3 days, and is hosted online using IBM’s award-winning Innovation Jam ^TM solution. “Similar to the collaborative spirit of musical ‘jamming,’ participants gather online to collaborate on ideas around real societal issues, build on each other’s contributions, find shared solutions — or simply connect. The Web 2.0 platform provides for a meaningful brainstorming environment where groups of individuals ranging from a few hundred — to hundreds of thousands — can join in. Based on the concept of crowdsourcing (also knows as “wisdom of crowds”), the Jam platform is especially adept at bringing communities together to discuss social issues.”

Global Pulse 2010 launches today, Monday, March 29^th and concludes on Wednesday, March 31^st.  Sign up here to participate.

  

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China Issues 2009 Human Rights Report of the United States

Seriously. You know this was going to happen sometimes.

The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are submitted annually by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress in compliance with sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), as amended, and section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. On March 11, the State Department published its latest Human Rights Report.

Secretary Clinton says that “[f]or the last 34 years, the United States has produced the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, providing the most comprehensive record available of the condition of human rights around the world."

The online documents here only dates back to 1999.  Prior reports should be available from the U.S. GPO; some are available in PDF format here.

Well, at least one foreign office must have been waiting for the official US report to be released.  On March 12, China's Information Office of the State Council published a report titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009." Its full text is published by english.xinhuanet.com here.

Here is part of its introduction: "As in previous years, the reports are full of accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China, but turn a blind eye to, or dodge and even cover up rampant human rights abuses on its own territory. The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2009 is prepared to help people around the world understand the real situation of human rights in the United States."

On Life, Property and Personal Security section is declares: “Widespread violent crimes in the United States posed threats to the lives, properties and personal security of its people.”

On Civil and Political Rights section it claims that “In the United States, civil and political rights of citizens are severely restricted and violated by the government.”

On Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, it claims that “Poverty, unemployment and the homeless are serious problems in the United States, where workers' economic, social and cultural rights cannot be guaranteed.”

The report also states that “immigrants live in misery.”

I don't understand.  Since the United States is a country of immigrants, does that mean all 305 million of us, except Native Americans -- live in misery?

Video of the Week: Jonathan Zittrain on the Web as random acts of kindness

Feeling like the world is becoming less friendly? Social theorist Jonathan Zittrain begs to difffer. The Internet, he suggests, is made up of millions of disinterested acts of kindness, curiosity and trust.

from ted.com  

The increasing proliferation of "tethered" devices, from iPhones to Xboxes, is only one of countless threats to the freewheeling Internet as we know it. There's also spam, malware, misguided legislation and a drift away from what Internet law expert Jonathan Zittrain calls "generativity" -- a system's receptivity to unanticipated (and innovative) change instigated by myriad users.

Harvard law professor Zittrain, as an investigator for the OpenNet initiative and co-founder of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, has long studied the legal, technological and world-shaking aspects of quickly morphing virtual terrains. He performed the first large-scale tests of Internet filtering in China and Saudi Arabia in 2002. His initiatives include projects to fight malware (StopBadware) and ChillingEffects, a site designed to support open content by tracking legal threats to individual users.

"Zittrain's book, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, sounds ... a klaxon calling to arms everyone who believes that platforms open to user innovation should rule the world, not tethered, sterile appliances that are controlled only by their designers." - ArsTechnica

State Dept’s HR Looking for I’AfPak Bloggers

Did you hear that the State Department’s HR office is looking for bloggers?  Yep, apparently if you have served or are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan they would like you to blog about why you volunteered and what you have accomplished during your tour.  According to my sources, this is in preparation for the 2011 Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan (AIP) Open Assignments cycle.

You heard it right – the 2011 upcoming assignment cycle. I wonder if the line-up of this one more acronym – A-I-P -- reflects the importance that Afghanistan now occupies in the foreign policy ladder? 

Sorry, I’m sticking to my own, easily recognizable made up bureau, I’AfPak -- 'cuuuuz it sounds more fun than calling it the ape (AIP) cycle! (Q: "Are you bidding in the ape cycle?" A: "No, I'm bidding in the I'AfPak cycle).

This is reportedly the brain child of HR’s Office of Policy Coordination (HR/PC) which plans several submissions to the official blog, DipNote. I don’t have the contact names, but check the Intranet or your local HR office. 

HR’s Office of Policy Coordination is also reportedly collecting photographs of life and work in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan for display throughout the Department and the Foreign Service Institute.

The next thing you know they’ll be running a slogan contest for the 2011 recruitment cycle!We don’t want to be taken by surprise so we’re trying to get a headstart:

OR:

• Join I’AfPak, Get the Top of Your Bidlist!
• I’AfPak, a Workaholic’s Paradise
• I’AfPak, the beginning of a beautiful relationship
• You should really get a gig in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan; it's a workaholic's paradise. You'll fit right in.
  

Were there complaints about those publicly available OIG reports?

Just curious.  One day, not too long ago this popped up in the OIG website:

“NOTE: The dates on OIG reports represent the dates the publications were issued/published, not when they were posted to the Web site.”

More recently, the following notation has been added:

Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports are posted on OIG's Web sites in accordance with section 8L of The Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), as amended. All reports are reviewed, and redacted when appropriate, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552), and related statues/regulations, plus the President's memorandum on "Transparency and Open Government", dated January 21, 2009, and the Attorney General's FOIA guidelines dated March 19, 2009.

If you have time in your hands and are looking for a report on your post or prospective post that is unavailable or has yet to be released publicly, you can file a FOIA request: 

The OIG Library contains reports and publications that have been determined to be publicly releasable. Unclassified summaries of OIG reports are presented in the Inspector General's Semiannual Report to the Congress, as well as Report Highlights. Classified reports are distributed on a strict need to know basis. Many unclassified audit reports are available in .pdf format. Unclassified audit reports that are not yet available online may be requested by submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to:

FOIA Office
Department of State
Office of Inspector General
Office of Counsel
2121 Virginia Ave, Room 8100 (SA-3)
Washington, DC 20037
Fax: (202) 663-0390
Phone: (202) 663-0389 or (202) 663-0383
E-mail: oigfoia@state.gov
All requests should be sent by mail or fax.

On a related note – is your spouse holding three jobs, in danger of a burnout and you barely get to see him although he's not in a warzone? Are you conducting 200 interviews a day with no relief in sight?  Are you being sent to do public outreach without training that you have nightmares about it?  Is the CLO doing only morale stuff but has not covered employment support for spouses? Are you absolutely not tickled with eServices? Is your housing board functioning kind of hinky? Does your local HR's hiring policy make language an unnecessary hurdle for spouses who need to work?  Does your boss need one of Bob Sutton's books?  Does your Front Office have a deputy challenge?  Make a note.

When your post gets an IG visit, do make time to talk to the inspectors. They look at waste, fraud and mismanagement.  I heard that in some posts, overburdened officers in places in the far orbit of the galaxy are actually praying for the OIG to show up at their doorsteps.  If you can't wait for that visit and must talk to the OIG, here is the hotline email:oighotline@state.gov; hotline numbers: Washington D.C., Metropolitan Area: (202)-647-3320; Elsewhere, Toll Free: 1-800-409-9926. See more here: http://oig.state.gov/contact/index.htm.

The Problem with Alleged Kleptocrats and Visas …

Equatorial Guinea in the last decade has become Sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil exporter. It has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world at $ 37,300 (CIA World Factbook  2008 est.)

Equatorial Guinea is also ranked 118 in UNDP’s current Human Development Ranking of 182 countries.  It has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. How much does it spend on education?  A mere 0.6% of the GDP.

If that is not distinctive enough, Equatorial Guinea places 12^th in Transparency International’s Corruption Index for 2009. 

Ian Urbina had a piece on Teodoro Nguema Obiang of Equatorial Guinea who regularly visits his $35 million estate in Malibu, California, his fleet of luxury cars, his speedboats and private jet without any problem entering/exiting the United States (Taint of Corruption Is No Barrier to U.S. Visa | NYT | November 16, 2009).  Mr. Obiang’s Wikipedia entry states that he was born in 1971, nicknamed Teodorín and is the son of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equatorial Guinea, by his first wife, Constancia Okomo. According to opposition figures, Teodoro is the favorite to succeed his father, who is rumored to be suffering from prostate cancer.  This rumored future of Equatorial Guinea graduated from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. 

Excerpted from the NYT article:

The nation’s doors are open to Mr. Obiang, the forest and agriculture minister of Equatorial Guinea and the son of its president, even though federal law enforcement officials believe that “most if not all” of his wealth comes from corruption related to the extensive oil and gas reserves discovered more than a decade and a half ago off the coast of his tiny West African country, according to internal Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents.

[…]

Susan Pittman, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement in the State Department, said she was prohibited from discussing specific visa decisions. But other former and current State Department officials said Equatorial Guinea’s close ties to the American oil industry were the reason for the lax enforcement of the law. Production of the country’s nearly 400,000 barrels of oil a day is dominated by American companies like ExxonMobil, Hess and Marathon.

[…]

When asked how many times the laws have been used to bar corrupt foreign officials from entering the country, State Department officials declined to answer, citing privacy reasons, though Ms. Pittman said thousands of visas had been denied to corrupt officials using other legal means. A 2007 State Department report said the presidential proclamation, signed by President George W. Bush in 2004, had been used “dozens” of times.

[…]

The Justice Department memorandum, dated Sept. 4, 2007, and obtained by The New York Times, said the government believed Mr. Obiang’s assets were derived “from extortion, theft of public funds or other corrupt conduct.” From April 2005 to April 2006, the memorandum said, Mr. Obiang funneled at least $73 million into the United States, using shell corporations and offshore bank accounts to launder the money and ultimately buy his Malibu estate and a luxury jet.

Ms. Pittman also cited privacy reasons – but according to this privacy impact assessment from the State Department, visa applicants are not U.S. persons (that is, U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents), thus, they are not covered by the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E-Government Act of 2002.

Information provided by the visa applicants, are however, considered a visa record subject to confidentiality requirements under section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).  But --

Here is what 9 FAM 40.4 N1 says about the maintenance of confidentiality of visa records, information, or other purposes information:

INA 222(f) provides for the confidentiality of visa records. As used in this context the designation “confidential” does not relate to the security classification of a document but rather to its releasability. The INA 222(f) generally requires that information contained in visa records: "shall be used only for the formulation, amendment, administration, or enforcement of the immigration, nationality, and other laws of the United States.”  

Therefore, the focus for determining the releasability of a given document (telegrams, memoranda, reports, and any other documentation relating to an identifiable applicant) from a visa file shall depend on whether its release provides any assistance in the administration or enforcement of U.S. law (whether Federal, State, or local), or whether release of information would breach the confidentiality provision of INA 222(f).

These restrictions also apply to direct quotations from information contained in visa records, to the visual inspection of such records, and to the disclosure of information from visa records.

Well – then …

In January 2004, President George W. Bush signed Proclamation 7750 “To Suspend Entry as Immigrants or Nonimmigrants of Persons Engaged In or Benefiting From Corruption.”

Section 1. The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of the following persons is hereby suspended:

(c) Public officials or former public officials whose misappropriation of public funds or interference with the judicial, electoral, or other public processes has or had serious adverse effects on the national interests of the United States.

Sec. 2. Section 1 of this proclamation shall not apply with respect to any person otherwise covered by section 1 where entry of the person into the United States would not be contrary to the interests of the United States.

Sec. 4. For purposes of this proclamation, ``serious adverse effects on the national interests of the United States'' means serious adverse effects on the international economic activity of U.S. businesses, U.S. foreign assistance goals, the security of the United States against transnational crime and terrorism, or the stability of democratic institutions and nations.

H.R.2764, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, was also signed into law by President George Bush in December 26, 2007 and became Public Law No: 110-161. It includes the following:

Anti Kleptocracy

SEC. 699L. (a) In furtherance of the National Strategy to Internationalize Efforts Against Kleptocracy and Presidential Proclamation 7750, the Secretary of State shall compile and maintain a list of officials of foreign governments and their immediate family members who the Secretary determines there is credible evidence to believe have been involved in corruption relating to the extraction of natural resources in their countries.

(b) Any individual on the list submitted under subsection (a) shall be ineligible for admission to the United States.

(c) The Secretary may waive the application of subsection (a) if the Secretary determines that admission to the United States is necessary to attend the United Nations or to further United States law enforcement objectives, or that the circumstances which caused the individual to be included on the list have changed sufficiently to justify the removal of the individual from the list.

(d) Not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act and 180 days thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit a report, in classified form if necessary, to the Committees on Appropriations describing the evidence considered in determining involvement pursuant to subsection (a).

So that’s two -- a federal law and a presidential proclamation that bans corrupt foreign officials from receiving visas to visit the United States. The NYT has a Justice Department memorandum and a presentation prepared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outline specific accusations against Mr. Obiang and his associates. The documents were originally obtained by Global Witness, a British human rights group, and neither the Justice Department nor ICE would confirm its authenticity.

Read the 40-page memo from the Criminal Division of DOJ and the ICE presentation here. 

Click here to continue reading >>>

Ambassador Bleich's Strangely Interesting Experience Down Under

This one from US Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich (Read Journal: Getting my hands dirty):

"Today I added another unusual chapter to the strange, and strangely interesting, experience of being an ambassador. Not only did we have a good family day, but I will never look at my suits the same way again.

Photo from US Embassy Australia

Our family spent the morning at the Royal Canberra Show, where I’d been invited to sash the winning Poll Hereford bull and the grand champion Merino sheep. The show was far grander than any state fair or livestock show that I’d ever been to in the States. In addition to several stands for judging livestock, there was everything from fashion shows to amusement park rides to a shopping mall (we purchased more than our share of Cadbury chocolate “show bags”), exhibits, horse and buggy races, produce displays, demolition derby, diving pigs, and motorcycle jumps. We toured the whole range of activities with the president of the show, Rod Crompton and his wife Leonie.
[…]
As I watched the judges examine the merino sheep, they explained to me how they examined the thickness or length of the sheep’s coat (the “staple”), the size and consistency of the crimp in each strand (which helps the wool hold dye), and the fineness of the strands. The judges explained that people like me who have to wear a suit to work, are driving demand for fine and superfine merino sheep wool. They even introduced me to a few handsome rams who, they believed, might be responsible for one of my suits in the future (if I’m lucky). While the final choice of a grand champion was tough (we left it to the experts), we ultimately settled on a very impressive — and loud – ewe."

Active links added above. Read more here.

FCO’s Grace Mutandwa Blogs Farewell

Image via Wikipedia

We are sorry to see one of our favorite FCO bloggers say goodbye last week. We hope she will blog again about life in Zimbabwe in the coming months. Hers is a voice of hope and reason in a country that has been choked for far too long under the eyeballs of an aging dictator.  Excerpt from her farewell post:

At the end of March I leave the employ of the embassy to re-focus my energies on other things. It has been a journey of self-discovery, a riveting trip down the international relations road but more importantly it brought me together with an amazing array of people. It also paved the way for me to create new friends at British Council and the Department for International Development.

When I started work at the embassy, the offices where in the city centre. I leave when the embassy has moved to its new home in the low-density suburb of  Mount Pleasant. Landscaping is taking shape and somewhere in the long grass around the property, a leopard and its cub have established a home. A duiker and some guinea fowl have also graced us with their presence. A month or so ago a huge snake was sighted on the property.

The presence of all this wildlife has become a subject of intense discussion between embassy staff and our neighbours in the European Union building. We are considering co-ownership rights.

When I have not been distracted by wildlife issues I have found time to blog about life in Zimbabwe. Some readers of my blog have asked me why I am still in Zimbabwe and if it is safe for them to visit.

I am still here because this is HOME and because I am a believer. I believe that my country will rise once again and take its place in the company of fellow great nations. I believe more than ever that the dark cloud we were under is passing and the sun will shine again. We will laugh again. In God’s time we will dance again.
[…]
The economy needs to get back on track. The politics of the country is still befuddled but one day we will get it right. That, is what keeps me here and that, is what makes me determined to help rebuild my country.

And when, South African President Jacob Zuma says it is up to Zimbabweans to make things right, he is right. It is our responsibility. We owe it to our children and future generations to find it in our hearts to do what is right for our country. We need more reflection and less fighting. We need more positive action and less bickering.

Beautiful! Read her entire post here.

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Quickie: Foreign Service Employees and the Mexican Drug War

Image by WordRidden via Flickr

The Dallas Morning News recently covered the Foreign Service employees serving in our Mexican border posts (Read: For Foreign Service workers in Mexico, Juárez slayings stress the increasing danger in drug war | 12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, March 21, 2010). Excerpt below:

Laneice Brooker has not felt the direct fury of the vicious drug war stretching along the Mexico-Texas border.

But the unpredictability of that violence has gripped the 27-year-old Foreign Service officer at the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros. She avoids certain parts of town and tries to alter her daily routine. Most of all, she wonders when it might hit near her office, her house, her family.

"You don't know what may happen or where," she said last week. "It can happen in the best neighborhood or the worst."

The drug-fueled tension in Mexico weighs heavily on Foreign Service workers posted along the border. Many who came to Mexico with the expectation of a mostly low-key assignment have been jolted by the brutal warfare among the drug cartels that has ripped apart communities and killed more than 18,000 people across Mexico since 2006.

The recent gangland slayings of an American Consulate worker and two others in Ciudad Juárez, a city across from El Paso, is yet another reminder of the danger faced by Foreign Service workers in Mexico and across the world.
[…]
Postings in dangerous and potentially violent parts of the world are recognized as part of the job, several veteran diplomats said. Diplomats receive special training to avert threatening situations, and those in especially risky posts receive hardship pay.

The most visceral reminder of that sacrifice is seen in the State Department's lobby, where a plaque honors the more than 230 American Foreign Service officers who have been killed in the line of duty.

But the attacks have been particularly jarring in Mexico – one of American's closest allies and where vacationers have flocked for years. It's not Kabul. It's not Baghdad. It's not Islamabad. And that could be part of the problem, a career diplomat based in Mexico City said.

"This is a country that as Americans we all grew up feeling pretty safe in, pretty comfortable," said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We tend to drop our guard. And that puts us in a more potentially dangerous situation."
[…]
"Certainly, everybody in the building was aware things were getting worse outside," said Laura Dogu, the consular section chief at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juárez, who noted the increasingly dire travel warnings put out by the State Department.
[…]
Even before the attack, edginess and security had increased at the Juárez consulate, said another employee, who asked not to be identified. Staffers, for instance, were told to stay away from certain areas, including a favorite local hangout, El Reco Bar, near the consulate.

"It's not normal here anymore, at least not now," said the employee, whose activity now consists only of going to work and going home. "The sad thing is we've seen this violence for years around us, and I knew it was just a matter of time something like this would impact us."

Earlier last week, senior U.S. officials said the consulate office in Juárez had been the target of recent threats.
[…]
And consulate staff members are refusing to give up one of the basic tenets of diplomacy: connecting with people face to face.

Even in Juárez, where employees are coming to grips with the horrific killings, that willingness to interact with locals won't change, said Dogu, the Juárez consular section chief.

"We all joined to be able to serve in a variety of situations, including this one," she said. "It doesn't mean we will go about it blithely, but we will adapt and do our best to get the job done."

Read the whole thing here.

2009 FS Grievance Board Annual Report, Fresh from the Oven

The 2009 Annual Report from the Foreign Service Grievance Board just came out.  The report provides information on the operations and responsibilities of the Board during calendar year 2009 and complies with the reporting obligations imposed by Section 1105(f) of the Foreign Service Act (22 U.S.C. §4135(f)). The Report includes information as to the number and types of cases decided and their disposition and narrative regarding the current and historical operation of the Board.

The Annual Report says that majority of cases are decided without hearings on the documents submitted  for the record, in keeping with the general preferences of the parties and reflecting the fact that potential witnesses are often located at a number of locations across the globe. The Board does hold hearings, however, in appropriate cases. Two full hearings lasting a total of seven days were held in 2009.

2009 Case Load

The number of new cases docketed at the Board in 2009 was 43, down slightly from the number of cases filed annually in the prior four year period. Given the small size of the cases docketed, however, and the variability in case filings shown over the years, it is premature to draw any conclusion from this single year decline. As in the past, the vast majority of cases were filed by Foreign Service Officers with the Department of State, a fact that mirrors the relative number of Foreign Service employees at the State Department when contrasted with those employed by other foreign affairs agencies.

[…]
The bulk of the cases filed in 2009 involve challenges to Employee Evaluation Reports (EERs), disciplinary action, or financial claims (consisting either of objection to salary offsets imposed by the agency or claims for pay, including allowances or differentials).

On EERs and OPFs

As has been the case in recent years, a high percentage of the cases considered by the Board this year involved challenges to decisions by the promotion and retention boards that were based on the grievant’s Employee Evaluation Reports (EERs) and official performance files (OPFs). The Board’s decisions upheld the agencies’ decisions in approximately half of these cases and found in favor of the grievants in the other half.

Two cases involved the unusual circumstance of State Department employees who had been criticized in Inspector’s Evaluation Reports (IER). The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) routinely carries out periodic assessments of posts, which include reports on post management (the Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission).

These reports are then included in the OPFs of the officials. The overriding purpose is to assure that upper level post management is not immune to criticism as a result of their positions of authority and physical distance from their own supervisors. However, the OIG may also issue “corrective” IERs for other employees, when information surfaces that the EERs for such employees are inaccurate, either in a positive or negative direction.

The grievant in the first case, FSGB Case No. 2008-012 (April 17, 2009), was a political officer who received a “corrective” EER criticizing his managerial performance while head of the Political Section at post. The IER, based on comments provided by confidential sources, concluded that the assessments of grievant’s managerial skills in his EERs were too positive and did not present a balanced picture.

Although the Board reaffirmed that while due process did not preclude the inclusion in IERs of critical comments from anonymous sources that had been guaranteed confidentiality, care had to be exercised when these IERs were placed in the employee’s OPF. When challenged, such statements needed to be sufficiently corroborated by named sources to allow the grievant a meaningful opportunity to challenge the truth of the criticisms. In this case, the Board found that some of the negative findings and conclusions in the IER were sufficiently corroborated, and others were not. It also found that grievant had no knowledge of the deficiencies noted in the IER and had never been counseled with regard to them, violating his substantive right to be counseled and given an opportunity to improve. The Board ordered that the IER be expunged from grievant’s file.

In the second case, FSGB Case No. 2008-018 (February 11, 2009), the IER assessed the performance of an FS-02 political officer during the ten-month period he acted as Chargé at post. The grievant presented evidence that contradicted the criticisms included in the IER. The Board found that the Department could not rely solely on the summaries of confidential sources in the face of direct refutation. Fairness required that grievant either be given an opportunity to discover and challenge the confidential sources or to confront independent corroborative evidence. The Board directed that the IER be expunged from the employee’s OPF.

On Disciplinary Cases

The Board decided 11 cases in 2009 in which grievants challenged disciplinary action by the agency. In five of those cases, the Board upheld the discipline imposed.

In six cases, it upheld the discipline in part, sustaining some, but not all, charges and/or mitigating the penalty. The cases involved a variety of circumstances, including improper use of diplomatic security identification credentials to utilize the Law Enforcement Officer entrance at an airport; loss of control of a government-issued weapon; altering language in an EER after it had been finalized; misusing the diplomatic pouch by importing a computer duty free for a Foreign Service National employee; engaging in sexual relations with prostitutes (separation for cause); lack of candor with a supervisor; violating the Department’s Policy on Consensual Relationships between Supervisors and Subordinates; violating the Department’s Workplace Violence Policy; undertaking unauthorized business activities in the officer’s country of assignment; and failure to secure classified materials. Many of the cases implicated questions as to whether the penalty meted out to the grievant was consistent with penalties issued to employees in prior similar cases.

Annual Report 2009 – Statistics

A. Total cases filed 43

B. Types filed

EER 16

Financial 7

Disability 0

Discipline 13

Separation 4

Assignment 2

Implementation Dispute 0

Other 1

C. The following dispositions were cited for the 53 cases closed in 2009:

Agency Decision Affirmed 16

Agency Decision Reversed 14

Partially Affirmed/Partially Reversed 7

Settled/Withdrawn 16

Dismissed 0

Note: Agency Decision Affirmed means that the grievance filed with the Board was denied and the grievant did not prevail. Agency Decision Reversed means that the grievance was sustained in whole or in substantial part. Dismissals refer to cases in which the Board found it lacked jurisdiction to proceed.

D. Oral hearings 2 (for a period of 7 days)

E. Mediations 2

F. Interim relief 12

G. Average time for consideration of a grievance, from the time of filing to a Board decision, was 41 weeks.

H. There were 41 cases pending before the Board as of December 31, 2009.

Read the whole thing below:

FS Grievance Board Annual Report | Feb 2009