Tag: State Department

The Death Of American Diplomacy

For a few years I was employed by the US State Department as an analyst….and I have watched the role of State as the diplomatic corps for the nation diminish…..until we come to today and the whole idea of diplomacy has become something of a dream replaced with idiots that would not know true diplomacy if it bit them in the ass.

Today Donny’s secretary of state, Rubio, is so incompetent that he allows his role in the world to be dictated by a mad man….

In the past few days, senior US diplomats in two friendly countries – France and Denmark – have been summoned to receive diplomatic protests from the host government. This is unusual.

Denmark has called in the US charge d’affaires (as the ambassador has not yet been confirmed) after intelligence reports suggested there were covert efforts by the US in Greenland to stir up opposition to Danish rule.

And in Paris, the new US ambassador, Charles Kushner, was summoned after publicly criticising the Macron government for not doing more to curb anti-semitism – but sent one of his staff instead.

Trump’s approach to diplomatic relations dispenses with the usual niceties, the traditional courtesies, and cuts to the chase: who’s bigger than who? The suggestion is that if it is Trump, then he expects you to do what he wants. Where a foreign government continues to disagree with his policy, he seems willing to support efforts, as in Greenland, to change the government or publicly pressure them to change.

US president Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) advised his successors to speak softly and carry a big stick. Trump clearly prefers to speak loudly and use the stick liberally, especially on the country’s allies. This is a new US diplomatic game.

https://theconversation.com/how-the-trump-administration-changed-the-rules-of-international-diplomacy-by-a-former-british-ambassador-264053

American diplomacy is in rapid decline……use India as an example…..

Recent US administrations (Bush, Obama, Trump) have often decided to send career foreign service officers to New Delhi—which is all to the good, after all, Pickering was a career foreign service officer. Such men and women often bring a deft touch in confronting nettlesome problems.

President Joe Biden’s (or the person who was actually making the decisions for Biden) choice for Ambassador to India was, for reasons that remain obscure, the nepo-mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti. The downward trend in quality seems set to continue. Last week, President Trump announced that a former errand boy for Sen. Rand Paul’s office (an office that seems to attract self-important types who think that plagiarizing Wikipedia is a substitute for speechwriting) who somehow parlayed that role into a publishing partnership with the Trump sons (the partnership produced the imaginatively titled Letters to Trump—available for a cool $100 at trumpstore.com) will be his nominee to head the diplomatic mission in New Delhi. Sergio Gor, a 38 year old native of Malta with zero diplomatic or foreign affairs experience (but, as it happens, ample experience as an amateur wedding DJ) will take the reins in New Delhi pending Senate confirmation (or, more likely, a recess appointment). It is said that for the last 7 months Gor has been the Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, but there is little evidence of his time there, as scores of political appointments remain unfilled.

From Galbraith, Moynihan and Pickering to Garcetti and Gor. The long decline of American statecraft continues.

https://original.antiwar.com/james-carden/2025/08/28/the-decline-of-american-diplomacy/

This decline is troublesome because the world is a tinder box than ks to the last 5 presidents and without some sort of diplomatic mission this decline will accelerate to reach of no return.

It is sad because the US could be an agent for peace but that idea has been kicked to the curb by warmongering d/bags…..matters not the party both are as guilty as the other.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

No Free Ride

As the war in Gaza and Israel heats up Americans have been advised by the State Department to leave the country for their own safety. It was the same with Ukraine and Sudan and Niger and etc etc etc…..

That is the State Department and the embassy doing their job keeping American citizens as safe as possible.

But is it a service or a business?

When American citizens find themselves caught in a foreign country amid a war or natural disaster, the U.S. government sometimes swoops in and rescues them from harm’s way — but it isn’t free. Before they can board the ship or plane, the people being rescued must sign a document promising to repay the U.S. Department of State for the expenses accrued in the process.

“I clearly understand that I am accepting evacuation of my own free will and at my own risk to a location chosen by the U.S. Government,” the U.S. Department of State form begins. Later, it says, “I promise to repay the U.S. Government in U.S. dollars or the foreign currency equivalent, within 30 days of initial billing, and if not repaid within 60 days of initial billing at an interest rate established in accordance with Federal law, for all applicable expenses for my/our evacuation.” While it might seem a little harsh — people are being forced to sign a promissory note while fleeing a potentially deadly situation — it’s been the law of the land since 1956.

Even before requiring evacuees to repay the government became a law, it appears that it was standard practice, even during World War II, per the Austin-American Statesman. The American government bases the reimbursement cost on what the evacuee would pay for a “full fare economy flight, or comparable alternate transportation” to the destination of the government’s choosing, which is rarely the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of State website.

The protocol is to send evacuees to the nearest safe neighboring country, or even a safer part of the country they’re fleeing. When an evacuee arrives at their destination, they’ll have to pay for their accommodations and any connecting flights. Evacuees may be able to get an emergency loan. “For U.S. citizens who need emergency financial assistance at the evacuation destination, you may ask a consular officer to help you apply for a loan to help with the costs of your accommodations and/or other essential expenses,” the U.S. State Department reads. But again, it’s a loan that will need to be paid back.

If a U.S. citizen can’t afford to pay off the promissory note, the Department of State “at its discretion” may give the evacuee the option for an installment plan, per the U.S. Department of State form. If the evacuee still doesn’t repay the fee, the government can prevent that person and their family members from getting a U.S. passport. In some cases, the Department of State has waived reimbursements during evacuations. In 1990, the U.S. government picked up the tab for citizens fleeing Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf War. Similarly, in 2006, the government didn’t require evacuees from Lebanon to pay back travel costs.

“In an emergency, when people are in danger, your life is at risk, it’s not the time to be forcing people to sign away their life’s savings,” Richard Goldberg, senior advisor at the nonpartisan think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The National Desk. “It’s the time to be getting people out of harm’s way.” Members of Congress have attempted to amend the law over the years — but without success.

(grunge.com)

Let me see if I get this right…..the US has cash to pay foreign governments budgetary crises and to pay their officials but not for t6he protection of American lives….is that about it?

Seriously?

Our priorities are getting damn right obscene.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Prevent Conflict And Promote Stability”

For as long as I can remember the US State Department has had the same, almost comical, slogan …..their goal is to “prevent conflict and promote stability’.

Recently the Biden White House has added to this delusion.

Every country, including our own, experiences risks and challenges related to stability and conflict. The international community grapples with issues that cut across borders, societies, ways of life, and economies. As the world has witnessed too often, the effects of conflict and instability are not constrained by borders or technologies. Cooperation and long-term investments in conflict prevention and stabilization are needed now more than ever to build peace across divided communities and boundaries. We must collectively bolster societal resilience to prevent and reduce the heavy human and financial costs of conflicts that undermine global peace, security and sustainable development.

On April 1, 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration launched the implementation of the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability with partner countries across the globe.  The Strategy outlines a ten-year, evidence-based, whole-of-government effort to foster peace and long-term stability through integrated U.S. diplomacy, development, and security-sector engagement with dual goals of strengthening national and regional peace, resilience and stability and enhancing the way our government operates in a variety of contexts.

(whitehouse.gov)

And how has that worked out for the US since 1990?

In Kosovo….and Somalia….Libya….Iraq….Afghanistan….and now Ukraine…..how is all this helping promote stability?

This is my favorite paragraph of the strategy from Biden…..

This Strategy lays out a whole-of-government approach to advancing America’s national interests on the world stage. This means tapping into the expansive expertise and resources that reside across our Government, sharpening and updating those tools where needed, humbly applying the costly and painful lessons from the past, and transforming the way we work with each other. Our diplomats, officers, and experts in the State Department, the United States Agency for International Development, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, and others across Government, as well as members of the Foreign Service and Armed Forces, will work in close cooperation with multilateral organizations and a wide variety of local partners in each nation where these efforts will be pursued — including civil society organizations, community leaders, businesses, and government officials. Those who are closest and most  vulnerable to these challenges know best where the opportunities for peace and stability lie — they represent the strongest source of promise and immunity from destabilizing forces, and we must support their strength and resilience. From strengthening social institutions and state-society relations, to mitigating the spread of extremist ideologies, to confronting the corrosive impact of gender inequality, to cultivating greater trust between security forces and citizens, to guarding against the destabilizing threat of climate change — we will help foster locally led, locally owned solutions grounded in mutual trust and long-term accountability.

All this should be the opening act down at the ‘Chuckle Shack’

All this humor is wonderful rhetoric and great slogans but the actions show a different side to this comedy.

SecState has made my case for me….

The US will focus its efforts on arming Ukraine and not attempting to bring the war to a negotiated settlement, America’s top diplomat said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out a plan to massively expand Kiev’s military before talks begin.

In a speech delivered in Finland on Friday, Blinken stated, “The United States – together with our allies and partners – is firmly committed to supporting Ukraine’s defense today, tomorrow, for as long as it takes.” He continued, “We believe the prerequisite for meaningful diplomacy and real peace is a stronger Ukraine, capable of deterring and defending against any future aggression.”

Blinken dismissed the idea of even a temporary pause in the fighting. “Some countries will call for a ceasefire. And on the surface, that sounds sensible – attractive, even. After all, who doesn’t want warring parties to lay down their arms? Who doesn’t want the killing to stop?” He said. “But a ceasefire that simply freezes current lines in place and enables Putin to consolidate control over the territory he’s seized…It would legitimize Russia’s land grab. It would reward the aggressor and punish the victim.”

Blinken Dismisses Calls for a Ceasefire, Says US Must Build Up Ukraine’s Military

None of his words will ‘prevent conflict and promote stability’

And yet the American believe the BS…..so damn typical.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–26Aug22

We hear lots of positive stories coming out of Ukraine….and equally disturbing reports coming out of Russia….

But the question is….are things going well in Ukraine?

The latest issue from the State Department raises many question and that is just one….

The US embassy in Kyiv is imploring any American citizens still in Ukraine to leave, citing intel that Russia might launch attacks on civilian areas and government facilities in the coming days, reports the Wall Street Journal. The warning comes ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday, one that marks 31 years since Ukraine left the teetering Soviet Union. The day also marks the six-month anniversary of the Russian invasion. As such, there will be no celebrations or parades this year; instead, Ukrainian officials are instituting curfews and warning citizens to stay home.

Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine’s ministry of defense, said “missile attacks and other provocations” are likely on or around Wednesday, per CNN. “[The Russians] are crazy about dates and symbols,” Yusov said, “so it would be quite logical to … be prepared for the fact that Independence Day will also be attacked.” President Volodymyr Zelensky also warned in a weekend video message that “we must all be aware that this week Russia could try to do something particularly ugly, something particularly vicious” in the coming days.

The warnings follow the murder of Darya Dugina—daughter of ultranationalist Alexander Dugin—in a car bomb attack on Saturday, as well as a series of attacks far behind Russian lines, including a military airfield in Crimea and strikes on several ammunition depots and command posts in occupied areas. Meanwhile, as the New York Timesreports, a skeleton crew of “stressed, tired, and scared workers” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are “all that stands between the world and nuclear disaster.” And in a possible signal that Ukraine is preparing for new counteroffensives, the Pentagon on Friday announced an $800 million assistance package that reportedly includes short-range TOW missiles, armored mine-clearing vehicles, and other weaponry suitable for “closer combat,” according to the Washington Post.

If things are going well then why does the State Department thinks it needs to issue this warning?

So again….are things really going all that good in Ukraine?

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Slow Death Of The State Department

After the military I worked for the DoD and the State Department…..I was proud of the work that most of us peons were doing promoting the US while promoting solutions for problems other than war.

But I have not been so proud of the department in the last couple of decades from Bush 1 forward……in fact I believe the State Department is slowly dying and being replaced by the DoD and endless wars…..at this rate the State Dept. will be gone by mid-century…..

The Department of State drifted through the past handful of administrations, an agency without agency, adequate personnel, or budget, virtually obsolete in the 21st Century. How did this happen?

Traditional diplomacy began as a necessary expedient. Nations had business with one another, but messages could take weeks to travel from one capital to another. Instead, ambassadors were sent out, empowered in the case of the U.S. as the President’s personal representative. Heady stuff. Over time communications improved to the point where world leaders can now text each other, but those ambassadors and embassies remain like vestigial limbs.

With exceptions (FDR stand outs), presidents did not conduct first-name diplomacy or tie themselves up with the details of foreign affairs. They had secretaries of state for that. Things shifted under Richard Nixon, whose interest in first-person diplomacy with China and ownership of the Vietnam War sent the State Department into a supporting role. Soon enough, events both internal and external to the U.S., its State Department, and the world, did their work.

The Long, Lingering Death of the U.S. State Department

The decades past has shown what these Neoliberal twats have done to foreign policy……

Ben Rhodes, who served as President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, labeled the nation’s foreign policy elite as “the Blob.” Members of this well-educated, well-connected group disagree on peripherals but agree on essentials of foreign policy. Their almost unanimous bottom line is that the U.S. government must run the world.

The result over the last couple decades has been catastrophic. Thousands of dead Americans. Tens of thousands injured, many maimed horribly. Hundreds of thousands of dead civilians in the nations Washington was supposed to be liberating. Millions of people driven from their homes. Trillions of dollars wasted. Enemy nations empowered. Terrorists created. America’s reputation shattered.

The Foreign Policy Blob Strikes Back: We’re Just Fine, Proclaim Architects of Endless Wars

Allowing the DoD to set foreign policy is just plain wrong….they implement foreign policy not invent it.

I miss my work for State but I am glad that I got out when I could still hold my head up and say that the US was truly a world leader……since then it has gone downhill and at the bottom of the hill is Trump and his impotent minions.

The world order is gone along with US foreign policy….

The authors contend that world order “weakened after 9/11 and ended over the past decade, driven by a combination of great power ambition, American withdrawal, and transformational changes that left many nations unmoored from old certainties.”

“The fundamental strategic problem the United States faces with respect to world order is how it should respond to the breakdown in agreed arrangements between the major powers,” say Blackwill and Wright. For the United States to “preserve its national interests and its own notion of international order” in the wake of COVID-19, the authors argue that the United States should:

https://www.cfr.org/report/end-world-order-and-american-foreign-policy

This fall from prominence will take decades are longer to repair….if ever.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

No Room For Amateurs

I am a foreign policy wonk….I studied it in college………I worked for the country in the pursuit of foreign policy and I have been a writer on the subject for decades……so to say that I live and breath foreign policy/international relations/geopolitics would be an understatement….

I have been a fierce critic of our presidents actions for decades from Reagan to Bush to Clinton to Bush to Obama and now to Trump….but in all those years I have seen the track of our foreign policy, I did not always agree with their decisions but I could see their end game…..but this administration looks like a 3 Stooges episode……Lincoln had his Team of Rivals but Trump has a Team of Amateurs….especially when it comes to foreign policy….the clueless team is Mulvaney, Pompeo and Rudy…. we have a “Don” overseeing the actions……and dictate our policy.

The truth is I was surprised when Trump picked Tillerson as SecState…..

https://lobotero.com/2016/12/15/tea-for-the-tillerson/

Then he picked a even more clueless person to lead our diplomatic branch, Pompeo……https://lobotero.com/2018/03/14/my-opinion-us-state-secretarys-rex-tillersons-replacement-is-the-presidents-toady/

I have watched our foreign policy be reduced to a pale, very pale reflection of what it use to be….all thanx to Trump and his Team of Amateurs……

US foreign policy is increasingly hostage to a mind that is, as NPR’s Car Talk guys used to say, “unencumbered by the thought process.” That’s embarrassing, but it could also be lethal. If we’re not going to use nuclear weapons, Trump once argued, “then why are we making them?”

Set aside the delegation of Ukraine relations to liegeman Rudi Giuliani and campaign contributor Gordon Sondland, and ignore for a moment whatever caprice inspired last week’s abandonment of Syria’s Kurds. There’s already something amiss when, at any G-20 summit, the most powerful person in the world is also the most ignorant person in the room, an inversion of competence and power that you don’t tend to see in corporate boardrooms or in other organizations that wield significant public influence

There’s a reason society requires the credentialing of people who make highly consequential decisions — lawyers through bar exams, doctors through board certifications and state licensing procedures. It’s the same reason airlines don’t put untrained pilots in the cockpit and pray that they’re quick learners; pilots pass rigorous tests of competence long before they start moving passengers. And yet the most critical job on earth has no test for measuring what other professions call “job knowledge.”

Diplomacy for Dummies: Foreign Policy Is No Place for Amateurs

These same amateurs are helping the US to lose our war on tyranny…..

The dominance of the public debate by these two camps advocating a diminished international role for the U.S. is easily observed by our nemeses, who take great heart at the silence of some, departure from office of others, and tired repetitiveness of yet more of those who advocate a more muscular foreign policy. Absent the U.S., no great power stands in their way, and the regional allies which could have reinforced American power are left hunkering down in defensive postures.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-us-is-losing-the-war-against-tyranny

All this does not bode well for our foreign policy in the coming years and decades……the damage being done could possible be permanent….why?

The State Department’s civilian workforce shrank more than 6 percent overall during the initial eight months of the Trump administration, but that figure masks significantly higher departure rates in critical areas of the country’s diplomatic apparatus.

In December 2016, the department employed 2,580 people under the foreign affairs occupation series, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. By September 2017, the most recent data available, that number fell to 2,273, a decrease of roughly 11.9 percent.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/tillerson-trump-state-foreign-service/553034/

That expertise will be missed when we return to a ‘normal’ state department activity until then we are in the clutches of inmates ruling the asylum…..

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Has Our Foreign Policy Failed?

AS a student and writer on American foreign policy I feel that ours in the last decades has been a failure.

I say this because in two decades we have gone to endless wars and the threat of even more to come…..Albright, Powell, Clinton and all the Trumpites…..confrontation and armed conflict has become the norm as opposed to the exception.

How to describe U.S. foreign policy over the last couple of decades? Disastrous comes to mind. Arrogant and murderous also seem appropriate.

Since 9/11, Washington has been extraordinarily active militarily—invading two nations, bombing and droning several others, deploying special operations forces in yet more countries, and applying sanctions against many. Tragically, the threat of Islamist violence and terrorism only have metastasized. Although Al Qaeda lost its effectiveness in directly plotting attacks, it continues to inspire national offshoots. Moreover, while losing its physical “caliphate” the Islamic State added further terrorism to its portfolio.

Three successive administrations have ever more deeply ensnared the United States in the Middle East. War with Iran appears to be frighteningly possible. Ever-wealthier allies are ever-more dependent on America. Russia is actively hostile to the United States and Europe. Washington and Beijing appear to be a collision course on far more than trade. Yet the current administration appears convinced that doing more of the same will achieve different results, the best definition of insanity.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/skeptics/understanding-failure-us-foreign-policy-albright-doctrine-60477

Our failures have been shown to be forefront…especially with Trump’s favorite tactic….sanctions…..

The U.S.’s military might be the most powerful weapon in the country’s arsenal, but economic sanctions are being fully exploited to go after “enemies” real or imaged. The U.S. Treasury Dept. identifies 30 active sanctions programs that include, according to one estimate, 7,967 operating sanctions.

The Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) defines an economic sanction “as the withdrawal of customary trade and financial relations for foreign and security policy purposes.”  It notes that the modern sanction era began in the wake of the Cuban Revolution and escalated following the 9/11 attacks when Pres. George W. Bush signed an Executive Order (#13224) that gave the Treasury Department officials “authority to freeze the assets and financial transactions of individuals and other entities suspected of supporting terrorism.”

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/05/sanctions-failure-of-u-s-foreign-policy/

It is time for the US to re-learn the use of diplomacy as opposed to direct action…..diplomacy costs less (something that Repubs should be pushing if they truly are deficit hawks) in cash and lives.

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Teach Me How To Do The Job

I have worked in the foreign service and I have taught about foreign policy and international relations/conflict management……recently a young man asked me if I could help him prepare to take the Foreign Service Exam (FSOT)….I agreed to do so.

First thing I needed to do is let the young man know that the exam has many parts…written, oral, medical, security clearance and if at first he does not succeed he may take the test again.

To be employed in foreign service you will have to understand….geography, economics, political science…..the candidate will go before the QEP, Qualifications Evaluations Panel…..such skills will be needed such as…..communication skills, management skills, intellectual skills, an understanding of US history/government/culture.

I try to emphasize that the tests are not for the faint at heart….to pass these tests it will take hard work/hard study……but if and when one makes it through the process then the whole world opens up to them.

The study of international relations is a subject that has many aspects……I studied the political history of the Middle East but I could have studied many other subjects….a short intro to international relations…..

The jobs that you can expect to be offered….(below)…..

A career in international relations can be very rewarding and fascinating work…..foreign service is just one of the careers that are open to grads in international relations.

My advice was to get an advanced degree and then decide which field is to one’s liking……then decide if foreign service is to their liking….it is not for everyone.

I told the young man to let me know if I can be of any help in their pursuit of the degree and to keep his head up and an eye to the news.

Iran In The Cross Hairs

We have a new SecState…..Tillerson is out and warmonger Pompeo is in….when he was in Congress he was a “Attack Iran Hawk” and now that he is at State I expect that his advice will be well received by a president that has no idea what an attack on Iran will mean.

For all the reasons to be concerned about President Trump’s nomination of current CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, experts on Tuesday warn that an increase risk of a U.S.-initiated war with Iran should be at the top of the list.

In a reaction on Tuesday, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), worried openly that Trump’s nomination of Pompeo “could have profound implications for the fate of the Iran nuclear deal and the prospect of a new war in the Middle East.”

Jon Rainwater, executive director of Peace Action, also expressed grave concerns. “By tapping Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State,” said Rainwater, “Trump is handing over the reigns of U.S. diplomacy to one of the most hawkish members of his administration. For all of Tillerson’s flaws, he served as a check on Trump’s more hawkish positions. With Pompeo, Trump’s worst instincts on Iran and North Korea will be reinforced.”

http://theantimedia.org/experts-warn-mike-pompeo-attacking-iran/

Every expert says that the deal with Iran is not perfect but a good deal…the people that do not like the deal would not like any deal and most have NO idea what is in the existing deal anyway.

Another One Bites The Dust

Yet another cabinet member has been kicked to the curb……Trump has done yet another thing that Trump does….fires people that do not agree with him….personally I never thought Tillerson was a good fit at State but I never thought that he should be fired with a Tweet….but that is how cowards do things…..

Another White House staffing bombshell: Rex Tillerson, who has had a rocky public relationship with President Trump, is out as secretary of state, reports the Washington Post. Trump is replacing him with CIA chief Mike Pompeo, a move the president himself confirmed on Twitter: Pompeo “will do a fantastic job!” the president wrote. “Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service!” The shuffle will result in Gina Haspel replacing Pompeo at the CIA—pending Senate confirmation—making her the agency’s first female leader. Tillerson, for his part, increasingly seemed out of sync with the White House, and this move was apparently no different. CBS News reports he had not spoken with Trump and found out with the public. “The Secretary had every intention of staying because of the critical progress made in national security,” said a department statement, which added that “he will miss his colleagues” at State and fellow foreign ministers.

Two recent examples of the Trump-Tillerson distance, per USA Today: On Monday, Tillerson blamed Russia for a London assassination, something the White House had stopped short of doing. Tillerson also seemed caught off guard by Trump’s announcement of a summit with Kim Jong Un of North Korea.The Post cites statements from both Trump and Pompeo on the news:

  • Trump: “I want to thank Rex Tillerson for his service. A great deal has been accomplished over the last fourteen months, and I wish him and his family well.”
  • Pompeo: “I am deeply grateful to President Trump for permitting me to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and for this opportunity to serve as Secretary of State,” he said. “His leadership has made America safer and I look forward to representing him and the American people to the rest of the world to further America’s prosperity.”

That opens up the CIA for anew head…..and the ass kisser from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, is who I expect to be named as the new head of the spy agency…..the word around the Beltway is that Trump will name a woman as head of CIA…….if true Cotton will get pouty no doubt…..

Maybe McMasters should start looking over his shoulder…..his number is drawing close….