'Are You Kidding Me?': Jeff Merkley Lights Into State Department Official Over Firings At The Department

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At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) spoke Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Michael Rigas about certain firings of individuals at the State Department.

Transcript

00:00Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:02Appreciate your testimony today, and certainly reorganizations can eliminate inefficiencies,

00:08but they can also raise a lot of questions about values.

00:12But one thing I was really struck by is the new guidance that has been put out

00:17for evaluating both mid-level and senior personnel in the State Department

00:22that basically uses the word fidelity,

00:25and essentially saying, how loyal are you and how quickly do you align yourself,

00:33and I'll quote, completely align oneself and one team to the most current USG goals.

00:38You know, back in 1981, I was a State Department fellow in India in between two years in graduate school.

00:45I was later admitted to the Foreign Service, but I turned it down.

00:48I was working as a presidential fellow for Secretary Weinberger in the Department of Defense.

00:52But I was really struck at that time.

00:56The State Department officers said, look, we develop extraordinary expertise in the field

01:02on complicated issues around the world.

01:04We funnel that information to help the decision makers back in D.C. make decisions.

01:11What I see emphasized in this list of promotion criteria,

01:15there's not a single thing in it that says developing regional expertise,

01:19language expertise, knowledge of complex issues, informing and helping shape the dialogue in a responsible way.

01:27There's nothing like that.

01:27It's all about loyalty, implementing whatever D.C. says.

01:32Are we completely devaluing our Foreign Service officers for their development of expertise

01:39that can help enlighten our own policy agenda?

01:42So, thank you for that question, Senator.

01:45So, the core precepts for promotion at the department were updated.

01:50The fidelity precept, which you just quoted, replaced the DEI precept.

01:56But it calls for fidelity to the Constitution of the United States.

01:59It calls for fidelity to executing the president's policy priorities,

02:05which, you know, we're in the executive branch.

02:06The president stood before the American people and went from one end of this country to the other

02:11saying what he wanted to do.

02:13And that policy agenda was ratified by the voters in November.

02:17And it's incumbent upon the career Foreign Service officers

02:21and the career Civil Service officers at the State Department

02:24and, indeed, at every other executive branch department

02:26to faithfully carry out what the president stood for before the American people.

02:31So, the American people have confidence that when they go to the ballot booth

02:34and elect a president that what they voted for will get implemented.

02:40Okay.

02:40Well, I will say that actually the criteria talk about how much you accentuate executive power

02:47under Article 2.

02:49And there is a huge debate going on now as we've seen ourselves slide into an authoritarian state,

02:54both the defunding of agencies, the firing of employees,

02:58the reorganizing without congressional direction are all factors assaulting the separation of powers,

03:05which is actually an assault on the Constitution of the United States.

03:08But I'm going to set that aside for the moment

03:10because I'm concerned about the values represented in this reorganization.

03:15And I'll give you some example.

03:17Firing the consular fraud prevention in passport operations

03:22makes no sense to me that our value is to allow fraud in passports.

03:26Second of all, firing the leadership team for the coordinator for Afghan relocation efforts.

03:33This is firing the team that's standing up for the people who stood with us in Afghanistan

03:37and now we are abandoning them.

03:40Abandoning our partners is not a value that I think our State Department should be promoting.

03:46Third, proceeding to terminate the personnel who were taking on the issue of Russian propaganda in Ukraine.

03:54I do not think promoting Russian propaganda is a value that our State Department should be promoting.

04:01Fourth, firing the experts on money laundering.

04:06Are you kidding me?

04:07That is now our strategy is to make sure that money laundering is easier around the world,

04:12not to mention that in areas of fast-changing technology,

04:18experts in quantum technology and AI were terminated.

04:21And let's look at one other case here.

04:25Firing the team that was working on war crimes committed by Russia and Ukraine.

04:29Our value is now that we don't care about war crimes.

04:33I don't think that's an American position.

04:36And finally, I'll note, firing the entire Bureau of Energy Resources,

04:40which carries on international energy policy,

04:42energy is critical to the future of our economy and success in the world.

04:47So these are not values that are American values.

04:50This reorganization was, as my colleague Chris Coons noted,

04:54hastily planned, poorly coordinated,

04:57and is going to do real damage to the security and success of the United States of America.

05:01Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:02Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:03Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:04Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:05Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:06Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:07Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:08Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:09Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:10Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:11Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:12Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:13Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:14Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:15Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:16Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:17Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:18Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:19Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:20Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

05:21Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

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