All these special people are causing a bit of agita among senior diplomatic types. Special envoys, ambassadors at large, personal representatives and the like are not a new phenomenon for the pinstriped set. But the other diplomats assigned to related duties know they have to make some adjustments to work with them. It's easiest for career folks when the envoy is chosen more for star power or personal connections rather than for knowledge of the issues. It's a little trickier when, as in the examples mentioned above, the envoys know the subject matter. Nightmare of nightmares is when they think they know what they're doing. ad_icon So what do the assistant secretaries generally do when these interlopers pop in? "They clean up after the special envoys," one career diplomat quipped. Washington Post reporter Al Kamen served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia.
Al Kamen writes: Special Envoys Give Career Diplomats Special Heartburn
Special Envoys Give Career Diplomats Special Heartburn
By Al Kamen
Monday, December 15, 2008; Page A19
The economic downturn has driven up unemployment for just about everyone. But not for a small group of "special" people. We're hearing plans are afoot at the State Department to have a string of "special envoys" appointed to handle top-priority trouble areas around the world.
In addition to a special envoy for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke looks to be an obvious choice -- it appears we may have a special envoy focusing on Arab-Israeli matters -- perhaps someone such as retired diplomat Daniel C. Kurtzer, former ambassador to Israel and Egypt and now at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
There's also talk that Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, will become special but keep plugging away on the North Korean nuke problem. And Dennis Ross, a close Obama adviser, longtime diplomat and President Bill Clinton's special envoy to the Middle East, could be a special envoy to Iran, with maybe a broader portfolio of the Middle East in general. (That is, if he doesn't take the post of undersecretary for political affairs or some other uber-position in Foggy Bottom or in the White House.) The undersecretary for political affairs is usually reserved for a career Foreign Service officer, and career people would like current undersecretary Bill Burns to stay on.
All these special people are causing a bit of agita among senior diplomatic types. Special envoys, ambassadors at large, personal representatives and the like are not a new phenomenon for the pinstriped set. But the other diplomats assigned to related duties know they have to make some adjustments to work with them.
It's easiest for career folks when the envoy is chosen more for star power or personal connections rather than for knowledge of the issues. It's a little trickier when, as in the examples mentioned above, the envoys know the subject matter. Nightmare of nightmares is when they think they know what they're doing.
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So what do the assistant secretaries generally do when these interlopers pop in? "They clean up after the special envoys," one career diplomat quipped.
