Ronny Jackson Slams Biden And Blinken: They Proved ‘These Bloated Agencies Must Be Kept In Check’

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During Wednesday’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) questioned State Department Officials about the Biden Administration's State Department.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to our witnesses for being here today. Appreciate your time.

00:04For over 20 years, Congress has failed to properly reauthorize the State Department,

00:08which has allowed the federal bureaucracy to circumvent congressional oversight.

00:12If Biden's State Department proved anything to us, it's that these bloated agencies must be kept in check

00:17or federal bureaucrats will act on their own whims, independent of the needs of the American people.

00:22Thankfully, President Trump and Secretary Rubio have already taken decisive action to restructure the Department of State

00:26to better align with our foreign policy objectives and put citizens of the United States first.

00:33Both sides of the aisle have argued that foreign service performance evaluation and promotion processes

00:38lack objectivity and transparency.

00:40The issue is largely due to the previous administration's obsession with DEI,

00:44where former Secretary of State Blinken released a five-year diversity, equity, inclusion,

00:49and accessibility strategic plan to, quote,

00:52ensure that the Department of State is a leader in the government-wide efforts to advance DEIA goals for federal workforce.

01:01Fortunately, President Trump and Secretary Rubio are working to ensure that all foreign service recruitment,

01:07hiring, promotion, and retention decisions are based on the individual's merit and merit alone.

01:13Ambassador Hale, what can this committee do to ensure that foreign service personnel education

01:18and promotion processes are based on merit even after the Trump administration is completed?

01:25Well, I think this is a core concern.

01:28We're a meritocracy.

01:31The foreign service is largely based on,

01:33staffing is largely based on a foreign service exam that is competitive.

01:38And we are pledged to the concept of up or out.

01:42In my experience, however, in my career, there was a lot of up, but there wasn't much out.

01:48And my data may be undoubtedly as old, but when I was in office,

01:53the data generally was about 0.5 to 1.5 percent of the foreign service each year

02:00was separated for basically for non-performance.

02:03I suspect that there were probably more people than that who were not meeting the standards

02:09that objectively would be required.

02:12But part of the problem was that the promotion process produces a list where the bottom third

02:20or the lower-performing staff, but then the next number you come into is how many positions

02:27do we have to fill?

02:28So the cut goes deeper than the cut-off mark for people who are really not performing

02:34by any objective standards.

02:35So we retain people who frankly really aren't capable, which is where streamlining can become

02:40very important.

02:41So you not only look at the people, but also look at positions and make sure that positions

02:45we have are really things we need to be doing.

02:48I personally don't get all that caught up in the reorganization charts.

02:51I'm not saying they're not important, but what is important is filling those boxes with

02:55people who can do the job.

02:56I mean, A, filling them, which we've seen as a problem in some administrations, and then

03:03B, making sure, as I said at the beginning, that they actually have the skill set needed

03:07and are held accountable to their performance, and that they understand the mindset of the

03:12Foreign Service should be that we are not policymakers.

03:15We are there to provide our expertise and knowledge and advice.

03:20Decision makers are other people.

03:22And when decisions are made, that we salute smartly and implement those policies rather

03:26than – but they also have to make sure that we have a climate inside the Foreign Service

03:31and the Civil Service that enables dissent and creativity, which is going to produce the

03:35best policies we can have.

03:36I agree with you on that.

03:37And I also think that recruitment and retention are going to be important as well, obviously.

03:41And I think that a merit-based system will help with the recruitment and retention and fill

03:44some of those boxes you were talking about.

03:46I have one more question real quick in my remaining time here.

03:49Consular officers play a vital role in our national defense adjudicating who receives a visa to come

03:54to the United States and who is denied entry.

03:56Ambassador Jeffrey, given the important role of the Consular Affairs Office in maintaining the

04:01security of our borders, is there any merit to moving the consular visa adjudication function

04:06from the State Department to the Department of Homeland Security?

04:09And if not, why not?

04:12As I indicated in my remarks, I would support that because the policy – first, the policy

04:18is determined by Homeland Security, not the State Department.

04:23Secondly, we have more people from other agencies at a typical embassy than we do people from the

04:30State Department, so just because there would be more DH people and a few less State Department

04:37visa offices, that would not be a major change in how embassies work or deal with.

04:43But the third thing is, and it gets to the question you posed to David, one reason that

04:48we're having a hard time evaluating on merit foreign service officers is that we don't know

04:55what their core skill is.

04:57The Marine Corps is well aware of what it is, every Marine a rifleman.

05:03Ours should be every foreign service officer a diplomat.

05:06But over the years, the accumulation of administrative functions has led to us thinking our people

05:14are managers.

05:15Now, management is fine.

05:16I've got a master's in business administration.

05:18But the core skill is diplomacy.

05:21And the visa function, unlike taking care of Americans abroad, which is a core counselor

05:28diplomatic function, the visa function is a managerial function.

05:31It almost never involves dealing with the host government.

05:34We keep the host governments out of it, just like they keep – we don't have any say as

05:38a government in Germany or other countries letting Americans travel there.

05:43So I think that it would be cleaner and it would streamline how we look at ourselves if

05:50that function were to go.

05:51Thank you, Ambassador.

05:52I appreciate your input and I yield back.

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