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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complete reorganization. Getting rid of FSO test.

Wonder if they are going to do what Congressman Wayne Hays tried to do in the 70s and make all State employees be part of the FS?

They want to do hiring based on “charisma” and ideological agreement with POTUS’s foreign policy agenda. Not a joke.

Of course, what happens when a POTUS changes and staff no longer align?

So the State Dept staff should only allign with democrat administrations? I mean, I realize that’s been the defacto standard until now, but why should it be?

The United States has promoted democracy and American benevolence and hegemony worldwide for 80 years. That's not partisan or Democrat, it's American.

A lot of these libertarians in charge right now don't even know that so when they say realign, they don't even really know what they are moving away from.

Yes they do. The whole libertarian movement has been funded by Russia and we ar now seeing the fruits of the Soviet/Russia long game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of the exam is wild. The best people.

There have long been complaints about the exam. A republican-tied career ambassador told me that he found it impossible to get his best people through it and they were limited to other functions. In general, the selection process does seem to favor bland personalities.

Because the GOP hates competency and intelligence. The FSO exam separates the wheat from the chaff in terms of weighing knowledge and temperment to ensure the career diplomats truly represent the best of our country and not partisan loyalty.

The exam is biased towards liberal world view.

[Anonymous]

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?

Article said they were going to use AI to write cables, so I guess you can say goodbye to the civil service. This is going to be a disaster.

Too bad for the American citizens on Africa — no more American citizen services since the embassies and consulates will be closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of the exam is wild. The best people.

There have long been complaints about the exam. A republican-tied career ambassador told me that he found it impossible to get his best people through it and they were limited to other functions. In general, the selection process does seem to favor bland personalities.

Because the GOP hates competency and intelligence. The FSO exam separates the wheat from the chaff in terms of weighing knowledge and temperment to ensure the career diplomats truly represent the best of our country and not partisan loyalty.

The exam is biased towards liberal world view.

Only a MAGA woiuld make that claim.

If you mean, in order to pass the Foreign Service exam, you have to have an understanding of history, diplomacy, negotiating tactics and foreign language expertise - in other words, you have to be educated, then sure, that is liberal, with a small "l." But the test does not slant towards "democrats" or "liberals" in the political sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s how the proposed changes outlined in the NYT article align with Project 25 priorities. You know, the same Project 25 that Trump claimed he didn’t know anything about and wasn’t following anyway.

1. Mass layoffs, buyouts by Sept. 30
→ Aligns with: Downsizing the federal workforce
Cuts career diplomats to install ideologically aligned personnel.

2. Elimination of climate, refugee, democracy, and human rights bureaus
→ Aligns with: Deconstructing the administrative state
Dismantles progressive policy arms of foreign affairs.

3. End of the Foreign Service Exam; loyalty-based hiring
→ Aligns with: Loyalty over meritocracy
Replaces institutional career paths with political alignment.

4. AI used to draft documents and plan policy
→ Aligns with: Technocratic streamlining
Centralizes power, reduces bureaucratic discretion.

5. Replacement of regional bureaus with 4 new “corps”
→ Aligns with: Structural government overhaul
Simplifies hierarchy to assert tighter executive control.

6. Closure of most Africa-related operations
→ Aligns with: "America First" foreign policy
Retreat from global engagement not seen as strategically essential.

7. Cut Fulbright scholarships (except national security); eliminate Rangel/Pickering
→ Aligns with: Limiting liberal education pipelines
Defunds diversity- and diplomacy-focused academic programs.

8. New Under Secretary for Transnational Threat Elimination
→ Aligns with: National security priority
Elevates immigration, terrorism, and cross-border crime issues.

9. USAID functions absorbed into humanitarian bureau
→ Aligns with: Centralization and weakening soft power
Shrinks independent aid arm; shifts focus to crisis-only response.

10. Downsizing U.S. operations in Canada
→ Aligns with: Bilateral over multilateral diplomacy
De-emphasizes traditional alliances unless deemed security-critical.

11. 50% budget cut; embassy and consulate closures
→ Aligns with: Fiscal restraint and isolationist lean
Reduces global diplomatic footprint, slashes spending.

Looks great but we need additional cuts and efficiency with more ai implementation.

[Anonymous]

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?

Article said they were going to use AI to write cables, so I guess you can say goodbye to the civil service. This is going to be a disaster.

Too bad for the American citizens on Africa — no more American citizen services since the embassies and consulates will be closed.

So the state department is going to have AI, which is generally controlled by the Chinese, generate content. That's a win for someone, but not the US taxpayer or citizen of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of the exam is wild. The best people.

There have long been complaints about the exam. A republican-tied career ambassador told me that he found it impossible to get his best people through it and they were limited to other functions. In general, the selection process does seem to favor bland personalities.

Because the GOP hates competency and intelligence. The FSO exam separates the wheat from the chaff in terms of weighing knowledge and temperment to ensure the career diplomats truly represent the best of our country and not partisan loyalty.

The exam is biased towards liberal world view.

By "liberal world view" do you mean a world view based on erudition and knowledge of a wide range of issues? And on cultural sensitivity/awareness? Yes, those are certainly not MAGA qualities so you may have something there.

In reality, they want to eliminate it so they can hire people based purely on loyalty to MAGA and the MAGA leader. This is a Project 25 priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s how the proposed changes outlined in the NYT article align with Project 25 priorities. You know, the same Project 25 that Trump claimed he didn’t know anything about and wasn’t following anyway.

1. Mass layoffs, buyouts by Sept. 30
→ Aligns with: Downsizing the federal workforce
Cuts career diplomats to install ideologically aligned personnel.

2. Elimination of climate, refugee, democracy, and human rights bureaus
→ Aligns with: Deconstructing the administrative state
Dismantles progressive policy arms of foreign affairs.

3. End of the Foreign Service Exam; loyalty-based hiring
→ Aligns with: Loyalty over meritocracy
Replaces institutional career paths with political alignment.

4. AI used to draft documents and plan policy
→ Aligns with: Technocratic streamlining
Centralizes power, reduces bureaucratic discretion.

5. Replacement of regional bureaus with 4 new “corps”
→ Aligns with: Structural government overhaul
Simplifies hierarchy to assert tighter executive control.

6. Closure of most Africa-related operations
→ Aligns with: "America First" foreign policy
Retreat from global engagement not seen as strategically essential.

7. Cut Fulbright scholarships (except national security); eliminate Rangel/Pickering
→ Aligns with: Limiting liberal education pipelines
Defunds diversity- and diplomacy-focused academic programs.

8. New Under Secretary for Transnational Threat Elimination
→ Aligns with: National security priority
Elevates immigration, terrorism, and cross-border crime issues.

9. USAID functions absorbed into humanitarian bureau
→ Aligns with: Centralization and weakening soft power
Shrinks independent aid arm; shifts focus to crisis-only response.

10. Downsizing U.S. operations in Canada
→ Aligns with: Bilateral over multilateral diplomacy
De-emphasizes traditional alliances unless deemed security-critical.

11. 50% budget cut; embassy and consulate closures
→ Aligns with: Fiscal restraint and isolationist lean
Reduces global diplomatic footprint, slashes spending.

Looks great but we need additional cuts and efficiency with more ai implementation.

... Have you ever used AI? It can be useful sometimes for some things. But overall it doesn't work. It isn't reliable. Sometimes it is correct, sometimes it is wrong, sometimes it hallucinates. It is fundamentally dumb.

[Anonymous]

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?

Article said they were going to use AI to write cables, so I guess you can say goodbye to the civil service. This is going to be a disaster.

Too bad for the American citizens on Africa — no more American citizen services since the embassies and consulates will be closed.

So the state department is going to have AI, which is generally controlled by the Chinese, generate content. That's a win for someone, but not the US taxpayer or citizen of the world.

They also want to eliminate most of our embassies and consulates in sub-Saharan Africa, basically signaling that they are ceding that region to the Chinese. That is really short-sighted because most of the population growth in coming decades will occur in Africa. Nigeria, for example, is projected to be the third most populous country in the world by 2100, surpassing the United States.

[Anonymous]

And I guess they will send a lot (but not all) procurement and property related functions to GSA leaving maybe construction and security stuff. Would not at all be shocked if the moved CA to another agency altogether.

[Anonymous]

What about folks living abroad with their families. Isn't that expensive?

[Anonymous]

Rubio is calling the NYT report fake news. But I’m not so sure. They clearly have major changes planned for State. Maybe they plan to implement them under the radar in a slow drip sort of fashion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about folks living abroad with their families. Isn't that expensive?

Depends on the country. I'm from a FS family and grew up living mostly in countries that you would not consider visiting, let alone living in--you know, the type of "sh**hole" countries Trump likes to refer to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about folks living abroad with their families. Isn't that expensive?

Depends on the country. I'm from a FS family and grew up living mostly in countries that you would not consider visiting, let alone living in--you know, the type of "sh**hole" countries Trump likes to refer to.

PP here. Thanks for that info. I was thinking.of Asian areas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about folks living abroad with their families. Isn't that expensive?

Do you know what is more expensive? Conducting world wars.

The Post WW2 order has worked to evolve the human condition moreso than any other time in this history of the world. Yes, there have been wars, but nothing of the scale of what preceeded and ended with WW2. And in the meantime, innovations in technology, health, medicine, etc has made the lives of humans much better. If humankind falls back into using war to settle differences rather than diplomacy, then we are moving backwards as a species.