By William Fisher, t r u t h o u t
As the US struggles to fill critical posts in its diplomatic missions overseas – including its massive new embassy in Baghdad – the State Department is suspending the security clearances of dozens of experienced Foreign Service Officers based on flimsy allegations or bogus accusations.
This charge is being made by an organization known as Concerned Foreign Service Officers (CFSO), which claims that security clearances often remain suspended for years, thus preventing the employee from doing the work for which he or she has been trained. CFSO is calling for an overhaul of the department’s diplomatic security management and practices.
One State Department official, David Firestein, says the practices of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security have turned it into “the State Department’s own version of Guantanamo.”