For the State Department, this is about as disconcerting as thing can get on the domestic front. Foreign service officers just, well, refuse to serve.
Four days before a deadline for Foreign Service officers to volunteer to go to Iraq or face the prospect of being ordered there, the State Department notified employees yesterday that "about half" of 48 open assignments there for next year have been filled.
"This reduces but does not eliminate the possibility that directed assignments may be necessary," Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte wrote in an e-mailed update. Filling the remaining jobs remains "the Department's priority," he said, adding that he remains optimistic that more will volunteer.
With 26 positions still open, however, it appeared increasingly unlikely that they will all be filled by Tuesday's deadline. Both Negroponte and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have made clear in recent days that they intend to proceed with a mandatory call-up if spots remain unstaffed.
Ouch! In the history of the State Department, etc. etc....
