One of the most deeply unsettling patterns of the Bush Administration is government experts' tendency to abandon it to its fate. This is troublesome not just for the obvious problem of politicization, but for the gaping hole left in government's institutional memory when career experts are driven out. That this is done for reasons of ideological paranoia only gives shape to the travesty, the consequence is the collapse of good governance, as the leadership is no longer able to draw on the professional experience and capability that lays underneath the policy making process. Not that they care, since experts and scientists throughout the government are being censored or intimidated regularly.
Ultimately, what we are left with is the blind leading the blind. And we see this happening with FEMA, Veterans Affairs, the Justice Department, NASA and NOAA. Counterterrorism agencies have seen a worrisomely high turnover as well. And now -- Lord help us -- it is the State Department proliferation experts. Swell.
I meant to post on this Knight Ridder piece days ago (but Jeffrey Lewis reminds). To echo his point, we are seeing the legacy of John Bolton at work here, and longtime readers who've subjected themselves to my various Bolton rants will know how.
State Department officials appointed by President Bush have sidelined key career weapons experts and replaced them with less experienced political operatives who share the White House and Pentagon's distrust of international negotiations and treaties.
And it is this ideological commitment that is of more consequence that results.
The reorganization was conducted largely in secret by a panel of four political appointees. A career expert was allowed to join the group only after most decisions had been made. Its work was overseen by Frederick Fleitz, a CIA officer who was detailed to the State Department as senior adviser to former Undersecretary of State John Bolton, a critic of arms agreements and international organizations.
I'm shocked Mr. Fleitz is still lurking around State, and is apparently wielding more influence than ever before.
Jonathan Granoff, the director of the Global Security Institute, an arms control advocacy group, said the loss of State Department arms-control expertise was especially worrisome because the only mechanism for verifying U.S. and Russian nuclear arms cuts - the 1991 START I treaty - is due to expire in less than three years.
That also will eliminate the most effective way of verifying that the former rivals are abiding by their Non-Proliferation Treaty commitments to eliminate their nuclear arsenals eventually, he said. "Rather than nurture our experts, the administration seems to have brought in neophytes without a passion for progress in this field and, worse, undermined the international institutions that are most effective in stopping proliferation," he said.
Secretary Rice doesn't seem engaged on these issues. Unfortunately, it will be she that suffers in the end.
The cronyism that gave us Michael Brown is alive and well, and thriving at all levels of the Federal Government.
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