Israel war: State Department employees can vent privately but must remember who is boss
Tom Rogan
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The State Department‘s private dissent cable is valuable. It allows employees to express countervailing views over diplomatic strategy and policy.
It is not valuable, however, when State Department employees are encouraged to believe that they are individual secretaries of state. And as the war between Israel and Hamas continues, that’s what appears to be happening at State Department headquarters in Washington.
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As Politico reports, numerous State Department employees have signed a dissent memo that “has two key requests: that the U.S. support a ceasefire, and that it balance its private and public messaging toward Israel, including airing criticisms of Israeli military tactics and treatment of Palestinians that the U.S. generally prefers to keep private.” Politico says it is unclear whether the memo was submitted to the department’s dissent channel. The leaking of this memo follows numerous meetings between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and department personnel concerned over U.S. policy on the conflict.
Again, the problem here is not that some State Department employees disagree with the Biden administration’s policy. In the civilian policy world, the ability to air private dissent is good for morale and the development of effective strategy. Instead, the problem here is that too many at the State Department appear to believe that their individual viewpoints should compete for priority with the government’s policy.
That’s not how it’s supposed to be.
U.S. military personnel swear oaths to engage in combat, if so ordered — even if they believe that the conflict in question shouldn’t be fought. CIA officers swear oaths to break foreign laws secretly, if so ordered — even if they believe the foreign nation in question is undeserving of their activity. Agents of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service swear oaths to put their lives on the line protecting officials, including visiting foreign ministers, even where those ministers might be engaged in terrorist plots. Top line: These Americans value their duty to the nation more than they do their personal views in any one moment. They follow the lawful orders of the government of the day because the authority of that government is ultimately derived from the people.
In contrast, by making such repeated public shows of their disagreements with government policy — Politico didn’t get this memo out of thin air, after all — some State Department employees are failing in their duty. Their very public dissent is incompatible with the public interest in effective government. Indeed, their action is a slippery slope to increasingly ineffective government. To understand why this is a problem, just consider what would happen were military personnel to apply the same public stance.
Blinken should make clear that while he welcomes private disagreement, the responsibility of department employees is to avoid public performances in favor of doing their jobs.