“Career officials are not supposed to be compliant yes-men and yes-women who fail to meet their professional responsibility to speak up, behind closed doors, about likely negative consequences of pending policy decisions. Have these things taken place in recent years at the State Department? Have some senior career officials “sold their souls” over Iraq and other issues in order to advance their careers? I believe that some have. I also believe that it is appropriate for active-duty diplomats, like our uniformed colleagues, to openly discuss this important professional issue.”
John K. Naland
President, American Foreign Service Association
October 2007 Foreign Service Journal (p.5)
