State Department Staff Shortage

During a period when the United States is fighting two wars, struggling with an international financial crisis and dealing with a variety of other issues around the world, the State Department is short of staff.

Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for Africa, talked about staffing shortages during a news briefing yesterday with the Trotter Group, an organization of African American columnists.

“I do think an increase in the number of personnel that work for the State Department, the foreign service officers in particular, would be helpful and certainly would strengthen our diplomatic muscle,” she said.

The shortages are so bad that in some embassies diplomats are doing double and triple duty.

“I have some posts where you have officers who are serving as the political counselor, the economic counselor and the DCM (deputy chief of mission),” she said.

Last month, I wrote about an American Academy of Diplomacy report that bluntly described the need for more diplomats. Because of the shortages, the report said:
“Our foreign affairs capacity is hobbled .....”

“Significant portions of the nation’s foreign affairs business simply are not accomplished.”
“The diplomatic capacity of the United States has been hollowed out.”

The report Academy’s can be found online.

--Joe Davidson

By Steven E. Levingston  |  November 13, 2008; 3:30 PM ET  | Category:  Hiring , State Department
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