The State Department’s internal watchdog has found significant evidence of leadership and management problems in the bureau that deals with international organizations, including possible political retribution against career employees.
The department’s inspector general says a review of thousands of emails and dozens of interviews with current and former employees of the Bureau of International Organizations revealed a negative and vindictive work environment. The watchdog focuses on the actions of two Trump administration political appointees at the top of the bureau. It says nearly everyone interviewed complained about disrespectful and hostile treatment and harassment for their perceived political views.
One of the appointees has since left the department and did not respond to the allegations. The other, the assistant secretary of state in charge of the bureau, denied any unprofessional behavior.
(AP)
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Such a vague article piqued my interest. It seems that the two Trump appointees targeted career employees whom they deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump.
From Foreign Policy: The 34-page report, which followed a lengthy investigation, found that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kevin Moley and Mari Stull, a former senior advisor, berated career staffers in the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, commonly referred to as the IO Bureau.
…
The inspector general “found evidence of leadership and management deficiencies and mistreatment of career employees in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs,” according to the report.
“These inappropriate practices included disrespectful and hostile treatment of employees, accusations against and harassment of career employees premised on claims that they were ‘disloyal’ based on their perceived political views, and retaliation associated with conflicts of interest.”
Also, the article is inaccurate in stating that the departed official didn’t respond. Again from the Foreign Policy article:
In an email response to a request for comment, Stull told Foreign Policy that the inspector general’s “report focuses on false and silly allegations by career bureaucrats who hate President Trump.”
“The report is politically motivated payback for my efforts to implement President Trump’s agenda over the resistance of Deep State bureaucrats who opposed his reform agenda,” she said. “I was never even given an opportunity to interview with the [inspector general] during my tenure with the Administration. The report contains false and misleading information.”