Torch Pompeo

Dems torch Pompeo in report ahead of hearing

Senate Democrats are welcoming the secretary of State's long-delayed testimony with a report harshly critical of his leadership.

By NAHAL TOOSI

Two days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo makes a long-awaited appearance on Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats plan to release a report that is highly critical of his management of the State Department.

The analysis, shared first with POLITICO, finds that vacancies, turnover and a fear of political retaliation plague the department well into President Donald Trump’s first term. At least one key State Department division has seen a significant rise in its staffers considering quitting, while others report myriad morale issues.

The report, titled “Diplomacy in Crisis: The Trump Administration’s Decimation of the State Department,” is produced by the Democratic staff on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It runs more than 40 pages and is a synthesis of surveys, anecdotes, news articles and other data dealing with U.S. diplomacy stretching back to just before Trump took office.

The report argues that the coronavirus pandemic has further exposed the dangers of having a weak and strained State Department.

“The Trump administration’s negligence and its attacks on our diplomatic corps, who serve on the frontlines of our global pandemic response, have left diplomats devoid of leadership and cost the United States valuable time in preparedness and response efforts,” the document states.

Asked for comment, a spokesperson insisted, “The State Department’s swagger is fully back,” using a favorite term of Pompeo’s.

“From day one, Secretary Pompeo has delivered on advancing the interests and values of the American people both here at home and around the world,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “At the core of this success is the dynamic and talented team that forges ahead each and every day with one mission, and toward one future.”

Although many of the report’s findings are not surprising, its release suggests that Pompeo is in for some difficult questioning as he appears before the Republican-led Senate committee Thursday.

The secretary is slated to discuss the Trump administration’s proposed 2021 budget request for the department. As it has in each of its previous years in power, the administration is floating major budget cuts for the State Department, a proposal Congress is likely to once again ignore as it pulls together spending bills.

Pompeo has resisted appearing before lawmakers for months, according to Hill staffers. That has meant he’s managed to avoid their questions about his role in firing his department’s inspector general in May.

The now-fired inspector general, Steve Linick, was pursuing at least two investigations directly affecting Pompeo. One involves whether Pompeo and his wife, Susan, improperly used State Department resources. The other looks at Pompeo’s efforts to push through arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Both probes continue despite Linick’s ouster, which the president said came at Pompeo’s request. Pompeo has denied any improper motive in ousting Linick, insisting the former inspector general was undermining the State Department’s mission.

In February, Pompeo appeared before the Democratic-led House Foreign Affairs Committee for a contentious session on Iran policy. Democrats berated him for giving them only two hours of his time.

POLITICO reported earlier this summer that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch (R-Idaho) had essentially given up trying to get Pompeo to appear before his committee to discuss the budget – a routine appearance for a Cabinet secretary under normal circumstances. After that report, Democrats on the Senate committee sent a letter urging Risch not to back down.

In a statement Monday, Risch said he is “pleased that Secretary Pompeo will be joining us this week after months of delay due to impeachment, Covid-19, and other pressing issues. We have all had to adjust our expectations and schedules in recent months, but it has not and will not deter from the critical oversight responsibility of this committee.”

Aside from the issue of Linick’s firing, Pompeo is likely to face questions on several other topics, including the increasingly hardline U.S. policy toward China as well as general morale challenges at the State Department.

He might also get questions about his role in the Ukraine affair that led to Trump’s impeachment and subsequent acquittal; a number of career diplomats testified during the impeachment inquiry despite the White House’s objections.

Democrats plan to unveil their report on U.S. diplomacy during a virtual event Tuesday featuring former veteran diplomats, including Tom Shannon, a past undersecretary of State for political affairs who departed the Trump administration in 2018.

In their report, Democrats blame the White House and Pompeo for frequently failing to nominate candidates for open positions, including ambassadorships and high-ranking slots in Foggy Bottom. They also assert that many of the candidates the administration puts forth are deeply flawed.

Pompeo has pushed back in the past against such complaints, arguing that Democrats are blocking many of the nominees for unfair political reasons, and that that’s a major reason why so many roles remain unfilled.

The State Department spokesperson, in the statement shared on Monday, in particular attacked Sen. Bob Menendez, the committee’s ranking Democrat.

“Had Senator Menendez not obstructed so many nominations, the department would have even more well-qualified and talented people fulfilling important roles,” said the spokesperson, whose statement was given on condition of anonymity.

As part of their analysis, the Democratic committee staffers looked at data from the federal “Employee Viewpoint Survey.” The annual survey looks in part at morale issues in federal departments and agencies.

According to the staffers’ analysis of the data covering 2016 through 2019, there are serious crises of confidence in some key sections of the State Department.

For instance, the percentage of responding staff members in the Office of the Legal Adviser who said they were considering leaving their job in the next year rose from 13 percent in 2016 to 30 percent in 2019.

Much of the data is not surprising given numerous accounts of low morale among U.S. diplomats during the Trump years. Some of the dissatisfaction also reaches back to before Trump.

For logistical reasons, the data used isn’t all up to date, either. For one thing, the coronavirus pandemic has devastated the U.S. economy. Many State Department employees who in 2019 had hoped to leave may now be reconsidering given the uncertainty about the availability of other jobs. Lawyers, however, may be more mobile than other State Department officials, who have more specialized skills.

Overall, the Democrats argue that the situation is getting worse under Pompeo, who took over as secretary of State in April 2018 after Trump fired the unpopular Rex Tillerson.

The Democrats take particular issue with Pompeo’s refusal to publicly defend career government officials who say they were mistreated by the Trump administration’s political appointees.

Some political appointees found by the inspector general’s office to have engaged in such retaliation against career staffers remain in their positions and have never been held accountable, the Democrats note.

“Many [career staffers] are far more fearful today than they were three years ago to report a violation of law, and are equally afraid they will be subjected to reprisal,” the analysis states.

The report takes into account Pompeo and Trump’s firing of Linick. It also weighs their treatment of other employees, such as former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

Yovanovitch, a key witness during Trump’s impeachment trial, was recalled early amid a smear campaign orchestrated by Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney. Her treatment outraged the State Department's rank and file, who were widely disappointed at Pompeo’s handling of the matter.

The report urges a number of fixes, including the promotion of more career staffers to senior positions at the State Department.