Something “big” dropping this week ahead at Dept. State

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is the Civil Service domestic side is going to take a major hit. Wonder how this will affect CA, OBO, and DS? What happens to the FS Specialists?

Yeah if they start closing embassies, where will intelligence officials sit? Do we not care about preventing terrorism anymore either?

This is bad. Any hope that Rubio would not just roll over and play dead is gone.

Seems like they are setting us up to be attacked.

Then they can declare martial law and REALLY take over. They had hoped there would be violent protests but no go. So they'll a terror attack instead. It was the plan all along. If it doesn't happen, they'll false flag one, which is how Putin took over.

Yes. Very likely. Sad. Terrifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what exactly are FSOs doing besides living the expat life with tax payer funded servents?

This is exactly why we can't compete with China, the brightest in China work for the government, here we are vilifying educated people and calling them "elites". This country deserves everything headed it's way, when the citizenry is dumb and there is no respect for education, intellect and experience then current economy and politics is what you get.

+100000

I'm American Chinese and can confirm that in China - you have to be well educated to get a seat in government. Government is considered a respectable form of service - it's culturally 180 from US where people don't think twice about anyone working in govt, more that they hold in high esteem politically high offices. In China, you can be a low rung on the ladder in govt and that's still considered respectable but here, unless you are well regarded politically as a high visibility Senator or Cabinet member, whatever.

Americans are culturally, collectively idiots. American strength is in innovation, marketing/sales to an extent, entrepreneurship - all things highlighting individuality v community. So while certain individuals may lean to awesomeness, the collective stays unimpressive. There's a lot of talk about equality and inclusiveness but in reality, American culture is about a focus on independence and "power" in the context of winning - without actually understanding the definition of winning that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/us/politics/trump-state-department-overhaul.html

"The draft executive order would eliminate Africa operations and shut down bureaus working on democracy, human rights and refugee issues."

"The draft also calls for cutting offices at State Department headquarters that address climate change and refugee issues, as well as democracy and human rights concerns."

"Some of the proposed changes outlined in the draft document would require congressional notification and no doubt be challenged by lawmakers, including mass closures of diplomatic missions and headquarters bureaus, as well as an overhaul of the diplomatic corps. Substantial parts, if officials tried to enact them, would likely face lawsuits."

"Major structural changes to the State Department would be accompanied by efforts to lay off both career diplomats, known as foreign service officers, and civil service employees, who usually work in the department’s headquarters in Washington, said current and former U.S. officials familiar with the plans. The department would begin putting large numbers of workers on paid leave and sending out notices of termination, they said.

The draft executive order calls for ending the foreign service exam for aspiring diplomats, and it lays out new hiring criteria that includes “alignment with the president’s foreign policy vision.” "

Sickening.

They’ll end up with more sycophants who can’t navigate their way out of a paper bag much less navigate international Diplomacy. It’ll be the equivalent of their disastrous economic policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what exactly are FSOs doing besides living the expat life with tax payer funded servents?

You could actually google this question and get several reasonable answers. Why do you assume the FSO's, who run the offices in the embassies abroad, and particularly in many third world countries where life isn't easy, are living the "expat life?" - I mean, what you are describing is what the appointees to places like the Vatican, Monoco or in the case of Kim Gilfoyle, Greece, are doing. They are not the rank and file workers.

What’s the point?

You’re essentially trying to argue with the modern day equivalent of the Know Nothing party.

These are people who revel in ignorance and isolationism.

Some people are trying to learn. What does a FSO do that's so special they need their own test? For foreign adoptions? Do they make sure the kid really is an orphan, if you know what I mean...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what exactly are FSOs doing besides living the expat life with tax payer funded servents?

You could actually google this question and get several reasonable answers. Why do you assume the FSO's, who run the offices in the embassies abroad, and particularly in many third world countries where life isn't easy, are living the "expat life?" - I mean, what you are describing is what the appointees to places like the Vatican, Monoco or in the case of Kim Gilfoyle, Greece, are doing. They are not the rank and file workers.

What’s the point?

You’re essentially trying to argue with the modern day equivalent of the Know Nothing party.

These are people who revel in ignorance and isolationism.

Some people are trying to learn. What does a FSO do that's so special they need their own test? For foreign adoptions? Do they make sure the kid really is an orphan, if you know what I mean...

The FSO process is rigorous. Multiple choice test. If you pass, written essays. If you pass, in-person group test to observe dynamics etc. if you pass, then you go Thru clearance process. Then after all of that, you MAY get invited to a training class called A-100 assuming there is funding.

Took about 18 months from the time I took first test to getting an a-100 offer. (Turned it down for family reasons). Met a lot of interesting people at all phases of their careers and with different backgrounds and politics aiming for it.

TBH we should bring back the civil service exam more broadly. Get rid of the DEI veterans preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what exactly are FSOs doing besides living the expat life with tax payer funded servents?

You could actually google this question and get several reasonable answers. Why do you assume the FSO's, who run the offices in the embassies abroad, and particularly in many third world countries where life isn't easy, are living the "expat life?" - I mean, what you are describing is what the appointees to places like the Vatican, Monoco or in the case of Kim Gilfoyle, Greece, are doing. They are not the rank and file workers.

What’s the point?

You’re essentially trying to argue with the modern day equivalent of the Know Nothing party.

These are people who revel in ignorance and isolationism.

Some people are trying to learn. What does a FSO do that's so special they need their own test? For foreign adoptions? Do they make sure the kid really is an orphan, if you know what I mean...

The FSO process is rigorous. Multiple choice test. If you pass, written essays. If you pass, in-person group test to observe dynamics etc. if you pass, then you go Thru clearance process. Then after all of that, you MAY get invited to a training class called A-100 assuming there is funding.

Took about 18 months from the time I took first test to getting an a-100 offer. (Turned it down for family reasons). Met a lot of interesting people at all phases of their careers and with different backgrounds and politics aiming for it.

TBH we should bring back the civil service exam more broadly. Get rid of the DEI veterans preference.

What do they do? There are 5 major cones and you determine at outset which cone you plan to apply for

Consular:
Focuses on assisting U.S. citizens abroad with issues like passports, visas, and emergencies, according to the American Foreign Service Association.

Economic:
Works on economic issues, trade, and development, as explained by the U.S. State Department.

Management:
Handles the internal affairs of an embassy or consulate, including personnel, budgets, and contracts

Political:
Deals with foreign policy and diplomacy, including relations with foreign governments.

Public Diplomacy:
Communicates the U.S. government's messages and engages with the public in host countries.

[Anonymous]

Need to offer more opportunities for CS experts to work on FS roles, perhaps in long term LNA arrangements.

[Anonymous]

I was hoping for FS uniforms. I’d look cute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Need to offer more opportunities for CS experts to work on FS roles, perhaps in long term LNA arrangements.

CS experts ate not known for their people skills. All FSO positions are public facing.

That's why we have the NSA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what exactly are FSOs doing besides living the expat life with tax payer funded servents?

You could actually google this question and get several reasonable answers. Why do you assume the FSO's, who run the offices in the embassies abroad, and particularly in many third world countries where life isn't easy, are living the "expat life?" - I mean, what you are describing is what the appointees to places like the Vatican, Monoco or in the case of Kim Gilfoyle, Greece, are doing. They are not the rank and file workers.

What’s the point?

You’re essentially trying to argue with the modern day equivalent of the Know Nothing party.

These are people who revel in ignorance and isolationism.

Some people are trying to learn. What does a FSO do that's so special they need their own test? For foreign adoptions? Do they make sure the kid really is an orphan, if you know what I mean...

The FSO process is rigorous. Multiple choice test. If you pass, written essays. If you pass, in-person group test to observe dynamics etc. if you pass, then you go Thru clearance process. Then after all of that, you MAY get invited to a training class called A-100 assuming there is funding.

Took about 18 months from the time I took first test to getting an a-100 offer. (Turned it down for family reasons). Met a lot of interesting people at all phases of their careers and with different backgrounds and politics aiming for it.

TBH we should bring back the civil service exam more broadly. Get rid of the DEI veterans preference.

What do they do? There are 5 major cones and you determine at outset which cone you plan to apply for

Consular:
Focuses on assisting U.S. citizens abroad with issues like passports, visas, and emergencies, according to the American Foreign Service Association.

Economic:
Works on economic issues, trade, and development, as explained by the U.S. State Department.

Management:
Handles the internal affairs of an embassy or consulate, including personnel, budgets, and contracts

Political:
Deals with foreign policy and diplomacy, including relations with foreign governments.

Public Diplomacy:
Communicates the U.S. government's messages and engages with the public in host countries.

How many of those jobs sound like something you need to pass the Gom Jabbar to get? Maybe one if I'm being generous. The rest is pretty interchangeable while collar work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Need to offer more opportunities for CS experts to work on FS roles, perhaps in long term LNA arrangements.

CS experts ate not known for their people skills. All FSO positions are public facing.

That's why we have the NSA.

Which is why folks in CS usually have to come in and clean up messes like post-managed projects for construction when things go south (and they usually do).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Need to offer more opportunities for CS experts to work on FS roles, perhaps in long term LNA arrangements.

CS experts ate not known for their people skills. All FSO positions are public facing.

That's why we have the NSA.

Which is why folks in CS usually have to come in and clean up messes like post-managed projects for construction when things go south (and they usually do).

True but Posts shouldn't be constructing any of their IT systems. Management and DS should both be required to pass some network training classes.

But that's not a reason to eliminate AF and the Foreign Service Exam.

[Anonymous]

The is a type that does really well as an FSO. And there is a type that makes a career of being an FSO. The first is much more rare. That is what they hope to recruit and retain. At least it has been.

Getting rid of the exam almost guarantees our FSOs will be garden variety civil servants. Think about that for a moment. Just imagine your typical paper pusher hiking all over a foreign country the week after a catastrophic earthquake looking for injured (or dead) Americans. I couldn't even get the lady at the DMV to stand up and walk to the printer last week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyday I wake up to more cuts and savings

Draft Trump executive order proposes sweeping changes to State Department

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-draft-executive-order-sweeping-changes-state-department-rcna202047

Savings?
Are you for real?

I suppose I would also save money if I quit buying toothpaste and floss and getting dental checkups.
I should also stop wasting money on soap and shampoo.
Or if I stopped doing laundry. Who needs to waste money on detergent, electricity, and water when I can just rewear everything? I should stop going to the doctor too. Waste of money.

I will also save money by dropping auto insurance. Heck, I should just sell my car and stop going to work because of all that money wasted on insurance, gas, and maintenance.

I will quit eating those expensive frozen vegetables because it is even cheaper to eat biscuits and pasta. That’s sure to make a big difference to my bottom line.

I’m also going to stop buying food and stuff for my kids. Why waste the money? My son is old enough to join a gang and they will take good care of him since he will make money for them. My daughter will be able to find a great sugar daddy.





Ok. So you might think my post is stupid, but it EXACTLY the same kind of stupid self-defeating idiocy that is going on with most of these government “cuts and savings”. I would not ultimately save money by quitting dental hygiene, because I would end up with nasty cavities and infections that would lead to a huge medical bills or even death.

Like it or not, we are not islands. Not as individuals, not as a city, state, or nation. We live on a planet with other individuals, cities, states and nations and we will not ultimately be helping ourselves by wholesale cutting what amounts to maintenance/hygiene of our relationships with others and other states.

What do you think will happen to the sub Saharan countries we are pulling out of? Will they just “grow up” and not need us any more and everything will be fine and hunky-dory? No, you dolt. The Chinese are now able to complete their swooping in. Perhaps that writing was already on the wall, but the fact that we are looking at just rolling over and letting China take everything, and that isn’t the great thing you think it is, must be lost to you.

No matter how efficient, dynamic, and Great we are able to be as a country, it won’t matter if we aren’t able to participate on the world stage. And we won’t be great anyway, because MAGA is literally destroying all institutions that ever made us so.

Signed,
A traditional conservative.

36,000,000,000,000 and growing

desperate measures are required.

It is going to grow much faster once WWIII has started.

Agree. Maybe democrats can advocate for policies that US voters want, and get re-elected . But so far democrats are same , abandoned US workers while groveling for urban elites. I have little hope

Like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, ACA, safe food, safe water, worker safety standards? Stuff like that?

What policies do YOU think that US voters want? I mean, over and above the millions who voted for Harris?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyday I wake up to more cuts and savings

Draft Trump executive order proposes sweeping changes to State Department

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-draft-executive-order-sweeping-changes-state-department-rcna202047

Savings?
Are you for real?

I suppose I would also save money if I quit buying toothpaste and floss and getting dental checkups.
I should also stop wasting money on soap and shampoo.
Or if I stopped doing laundry. Who needs to waste money on detergent, electricity, and water when I can just rewear everything? I should stop going to the doctor too. Waste of money.

I will also save money by dropping auto insurance. Heck, I should just sell my car and stop going to work because of all that money wasted on insurance, gas, and maintenance.

I will quit eating those expensive frozen vegetables because it is even cheaper to eat biscuits and pasta. That’s sure to make a big difference to my bottom line.

I’m also going to stop buying food and stuff for my kids. Why waste the money? My son is old enough to join a gang and they will take good care of him since he will make money for them. My daughter will be able to find a great sugar daddy.





Ok. So you might think my post is stupid, but it EXACTLY the same kind of stupid self-defeating idiocy that is going on with most of these government “cuts and savings”. I would not ultimately save money by quitting dental hygiene, because I would end up with nasty cavities and infections that would lead to a huge medical bills or even death.

Like it or not, we are not islands. Not as individuals, not as a city, state, or nation. We live on a planet with other individuals, cities, states and nations and we will not ultimately be helping ourselves by wholesale cutting what amounts to maintenance/hygiene of our relationships with others and other states.

What do you think will happen to the sub Saharan countries we are pulling out of? Will they just “grow up” and not need us any more and everything will be fine and hunky-dory? No, you dolt. The Chinese are now able to complete their swooping in. Perhaps that writing was already on the wall, but the fact that we are looking at just rolling over and letting China take everything, and that isn’t the great thing you think it is, must be lost to you.

No matter how efficient, dynamic, and Great we are able to be as a country, it won’t matter if we aren’t able to participate on the world stage. And we won’t be great anyway, because MAGA is literally destroying all institutions that ever made us so.

Signed,
A traditional conservative.

36,000,000,000,000 and growing

desperate measures are required.

It is going to grow much faster once WWIII has started.

Agree. Maybe democrats can advocate for policies that US voters want, and get re-elected . But so far democrats are same , abandoned US workers while groveling for urban elites. I have little hope

The last election, democrats platform included:
-maintianing the economic growth of the previous 2 years after the COVID recovery
-supporting Ukraine
-supporting a woman's right to manage her body
-combating price gouging
-supporting israel's right to defend itself while also supporting the palestinians right not to be exterminated
-Supporting the second amendment but also supporting sensible gun control legilsation

These are all wildly popular positions. Meanwhile, MAGA supported a dictator on day one, and here we are with a crashing economy and diminishing future prospects for our children.

So what do you think went wrong?