Sunday, June 27, 2010
Kathryn Kiser
Dissent is back in style within the State Department, now that the Obama administration is in charge. During the Bush years, very few diplomats were willing to speak out against U.S. foreign policy, for fear of retribution. But under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, more Foreign Service officers once again are raising questions when they see American diplomacy headed in what they see is the wrong direction.
So says the union for diplomats, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), which recently sponsored awards for “constructive dissent” exhibited by Foreign Service officers. AFSA says there were 14 dissents filed in the first year of the Obama administration. The total during the last years of President George W. Bush’s second term never even reached double digits.
Among the winners this year was Kathryn A. Kiser, who objected to rules that left passport holders stranded abroad waiting for law enforcement databases were checked when all they had asked for was extra pages to be added to their passports.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
State Department Honors Three with 'Constructive Dissent' Awards (by Glenn Kessler,
Washington Post)
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