READ NEWT'S BLAST AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT here.

It's little secret that many of the foreign service officers do not have much sympathy for the policies of the president they serve and politically, many of the career officials are far more attuned to the diplomatic worldview of the EU than the GOP. However, part of the problem is institutional - Foggy Bottom is a congenial place for loose cannons and heads of desk and assistant secretaries can, in the words of George Shultz " wander off doing deals on their own ". Democratic presidents also have problems getting State to carry out policies but philosophically as a rule they are more in tune with the results State bureaucrats seek through acts of passive resistance and insubordination. A personal memoir worth reading on this topic is from Constantine Menges a neoconservative analyst who worked for the CIA and the NSC under Ronald Reagan, called Inside the National Security Council. Even if you disagree with Menges' politics, he has anecdotes of interest to history buffs and political junkies.



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