The Washington Post just posted a fun article that peeks inside the State Department’s high-pressure, round-the-clock operations center. In an office that coordinates phone calls to the most powerful people in the world, even things as mundane as bathroom breaks have their own protocol: “I’m going blue!” duty desk officers call out when they stand up to go to the bathroom. They flip a switch, triggering a blue glow from the [Barbie-sized, light bulb-equipped wooden] outhouse. As on an airplane, the light signals: Bathroom occupied; remain in your seats. Work stations must be staffed in case of an emergency.
Browsing: State
Six suicide bombers stormed a US Agency for International Development compound in Northern Afghanistan this morning, the Associated Press reports. The bombers killed at least four other people, including at least two non-Afghans, and wounded several other people.The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. There’s no indication yet that any of the dead are federal employees, but the attack is another reminder of the extraordinary challenges and dangers deployed civilians face.
Six people, including at least two Pakistani security guards employed by the State Department, were killed in a suicide bomb and rocket attack against the U.S. consulate in Peshawar this morning. No Americans were killed. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault and compared it to December’s suicide bombing of a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan. State has been trying to increase the security of its embassies and consulates since 1998, when al Qaida destroyed American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Despite the loss of life this morning, the Peshawar consulate’s beefed up security measures appear to have helped repel the brunt…
The company formerly known as Blackwater — now known as Xe (pronounced Zee) — allegedly billed the government for the X-rated services of a prostitute by marking the charge a “Morale Welfare Recreation” expense, according to this Washington Post report published today. Here is the paragraph if interest, as penned by the Post’s Carol D. Leonnig: The [plaintiffs] assert that Blackwater officials kept a Filipino prostitute on the company payroll for a State Department contract in Afghanistan, and billed the government for her time working for Blackwater male employees in Kabul. The alleged prostitute’s salary was categorized as part of…
The General Services Administration is building on the Obama administration’s efforts to improve the health of federal employees and to green cafeterias by offering healthier options through its dining facilities contracts. The State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. will be the first to benefit from what GSA calls “a new national template for food service requirements to provide healthier and more sustainable food options in federal dining facilities across the country.” The contract creates a healthier and more sustainable cafeteria by using “locally grown produce and market baskets, menu options that are prepared using healthy cooking techniques, and a nutrition…
I wanted to pass along the links the State Department posted instructing the public on how to provide assistance to the victims of yesterday’s devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. State says the fastest way to give financially is to text HAITI to “90999.” A $10 donation will automatically go to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts. The charge will show up on your cell phone bill. State also set up a number to call if you need information about loved ones affected by the disaster. The number is 1-888-407-4747. You can find more disaster assistance information from the…
The State Department “got what it paid for” when it hired embattled contractor ArmorGroup North America to provide security to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, a new report from the Wartime Contracting Commission found. Unfortunately, the commission also found State had little choice because federal law prohibits the department from choosing security contractors based on performance rather than cost. According to the report: Unlike other federal agencies, the U.S. Department of State is forbidden by law to select anything but the lowest price and ‘technically acceptable’ offer when awarding contracts to protect its overseas buildings — even if this…
The Wartime Contracting Commission is the latest body to announce it will investigate the State Department’s oversight of a controversial contract for private guard services in Afghanistan. The congressionally chartered commission called a hearing for Sept. 14 in the wake of a Sept. 1 Project on Government Oversight letter to the department alleging employees of the private security contractor Armour Group North America engaged in lewd acts and hazed junior employees, compromising the security of U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Kabul. The hearing will focus on “the underlying questions of what the State Department contract require[s] of contract-employee conduct,…
BoingBoing, the self-proclaimed “directory of wonderful things,†points out an interesting exchange in a State Department town hall meeting Sec. Hillary Clinton and Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy held Friday. Here is what BoingBoing quoted from the meeting’s transcript: MS. GREENBERG: Okay. Our next question comes from Jim Finkle: Can you please let the staff use an alternative web browser called Firefox? I just – (applause) – I just moved to the State Department from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and was surprised that State doesn’t use this browser. It was approved for the entire intelligence community, so I don’t…
The $106 billion war supplemental bill President Barack Obama signed yesterday will start closing the pay gap between Foreign Service officers in Washington and overseas beginning this fiscal year. The bill for the first time authorizes diplomats abroad to receive the same 23.1 percent locality payment they would receive if they were stationed in the Washington area. The bill does not spell out how much the State Department and other foreign affairs agencies such as the Agency for International Development should pay Foreign Service officers this year. The American Foreign Service Association suggested closing the gap by one-third — or…