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Ronny Jackson Slams Biden And Blinken: They Proved ‘These Bloated Agencies Must Be Kept In Check’
Forbes Breaking News
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4/30/2025
During Wednesday’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) questioned State Department Officials about the Biden Administration's State Department.
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00:00
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to our witnesses for being here today. Appreciate your time.
00:04
For over 20 years, Congress has failed to properly reauthorize the State Department,
00:08
which has allowed the federal bureaucracy to circumvent congressional oversight.
00:12
If Biden's State Department proved anything to us, it's that these bloated agencies must be kept in check
00:17
or federal bureaucrats will act on their own whims, independent of the needs of the American people.
00:22
Thankfully, President Trump and Secretary Rubio have already taken decisive action to restructure the Department of State
00:26
to better align with our foreign policy objectives and put citizens of the United States first.
00:33
Both sides of the aisle have argued that foreign service performance evaluation and promotion processes
00:38
lack objectivity and transparency.
00:40
The issue is largely due to the previous administration's obsession with DEI,
00:44
where former Secretary of State Blinken released a five-year diversity, equity, inclusion,
00:49
and accessibility strategic plan to, quote,
00:52
ensure that the Department of State is a leader in the government-wide efforts to advance DEIA goals for federal workforce.
01:01
Fortunately, President Trump and Secretary Rubio are working to ensure that all foreign service recruitment,
01:07
hiring, promotion, and retention decisions are based on the individual's merit and merit alone.
01:13
Ambassador Hale, what can this committee do to ensure that foreign service personnel education
01:18
and promotion processes are based on merit even after the Trump administration is completed?
01:25
Well, I think this is a core concern.
01:28
We're a meritocracy.
01:31
The foreign service is largely based on,
01:33
staffing is largely based on a foreign service exam that is competitive.
01:38
And we are pledged to the concept of up or out.
01:42
In my experience, however, in my career, there was a lot of up, but there wasn't much out.
01:48
And my data may be undoubtedly as old, but when I was in office,
01:53
the data generally was about 0.5 to 1.5 percent of the foreign service each year
02:00
was separated for basically for non-performance.
02:03
I suspect that there were probably more people than that who were not meeting the standards
02:09
that objectively would be required.
02:12
But part of the problem was that the promotion process produces a list where the bottom third
02:20
or the lower-performing staff, but then the next number you come into is how many positions
02:27
do we have to fill?
02:28
So the cut goes deeper than the cut-off mark for people who are really not performing
02:34
by any objective standards.
02:35
So we retain people who frankly really aren't capable, which is where streamlining can become
02:40
very important.
02:41
So you not only look at the people, but also look at positions and make sure that positions
02:45
we have are really things we need to be doing.
02:48
I personally don't get all that caught up in the reorganization charts.
02:51
I'm not saying they're not important, but what is important is filling those boxes with
02:55
people who can do the job.
02:56
I mean, A, filling them, which we've seen as a problem in some administrations, and then
03:03
B, making sure, as I said at the beginning, that they actually have the skill set needed
03:07
and are held accountable to their performance, and that they understand the mindset of the
03:12
Foreign Service should be that we are not policymakers.
03:15
We are there to provide our expertise and knowledge and advice.
03:20
Decision makers are other people.
03:22
And when decisions are made, that we salute smartly and implement those policies rather
03:26
than – but they also have to make sure that we have a climate inside the Foreign Service
03:31
and the Civil Service that enables dissent and creativity, which is going to produce the
03:35
best policies we can have.
03:36
I agree with you on that.
03:37
And I also think that recruitment and retention are going to be important as well, obviously.
03:41
And I think that a merit-based system will help with the recruitment and retention and fill
03:44
some of those boxes you were talking about.
03:46
I have one more question real quick in my remaining time here.
03:49
Consular officers play a vital role in our national defense adjudicating who receives a visa to come
03:54
to the United States and who is denied entry.
03:56
Ambassador Jeffrey, given the important role of the Consular Affairs Office in maintaining the
04:01
security of our borders, is there any merit to moving the consular visa adjudication function
04:06
from the State Department to the Department of Homeland Security?
04:09
And if not, why not?
04:12
As I indicated in my remarks, I would support that because the policy – first, the policy
04:18
is determined by Homeland Security, not the State Department.
04:23
Secondly, we have more people from other agencies at a typical embassy than we do people from the
04:30
State Department, so just because there would be more DH people and a few less State Department
04:37
visa offices, that would not be a major change in how embassies work or deal with.
04:43
But the third thing is, and it gets to the question you posed to David, one reason that
04:48
we're having a hard time evaluating on merit foreign service officers is that we don't know
04:55
what their core skill is.
04:57
The Marine Corps is well aware of what it is, every Marine a rifleman.
05:03
Ours should be every foreign service officer a diplomat.
05:06
But over the years, the accumulation of administrative functions has led to us thinking our people
05:14
are managers.
05:15
Now, management is fine.
05:16
I've got a master's in business administration.
05:18
But the core skill is diplomacy.
05:21
And the visa function, unlike taking care of Americans abroad, which is a core counselor
05:28
diplomatic function, the visa function is a managerial function.
05:31
It almost never involves dealing with the host government.
05:34
We keep the host governments out of it, just like they keep – we don't have any say as
05:38
a government in Germany or other countries letting Americans travel there.
05:43
So I think that it would be cleaner and it would streamline how we look at ourselves if
05:50
that function were to go.
05:51
Thank you, Ambassador.
05:52
I appreciate your input and I yield back.
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