The optimism that U.S. diplomats had when Mike Pompeo took over as secretary of state in April has largely dissipated, Politico reported on Monday.
Many State Department employees reportedly feel conned by Pompeo’s promise to lift a hiring freeze imposed by his predecessor, Rex Tillerson. Staffers stressed out by large workloads and limited promotion opportunities were ecstatic about the promise, but in the weeks since the department has been told that many of the jobs cut under Tillerson will not be filled, at least not anytime soon.
Staffers give Pompeo credit for wanting to fill some vacant positions at the department, even bringing on a top adviser whose duties include recruiting, but what is not entirely clear is whether Pompeo will have more clout than Tillerson, who often saw his hiring choices vetoed by Trump.
Staffers also are alarmed after Foreign Policy earlier this month reported that political appointee Mari Stull is vetting the social media pages and past work of career to see if they are sufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump.
This has enraged career staffers who have always taken pride that they are non-partisan and sworn to implement the policies of whichever party controls the White House
Pompeo’s defenders, however, retain their optimism, pointing out that unlike the introverted Tillerson, he seems to genuinely enjoy mingling with staffers.
And there have been some pleasantly surprising decisions, such as Pompeo asking top-ranking Foreign Service officer Stephen Mull to serve as the acting undersecretary for political affairs after some had feared that he would be blackballed because he was tasked with implementing the Iran nuclear deal in the Obama administration.
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