▶ 0:00:00The last time Congress passed a comprehensive authorization of the State Department was in 2002, over 20 years ago. Since then, it has become common practice to reauthorize State Department programs within our legislative vehicles, resulting in a complete lack of transparency on the process and a lack of oversight on what is really going on within the department. Well, we're trying something new this year.
▶ 0:00:26Over the next few months, this committee will be using a microscope to examine the efficacy of the State Department and pass the first authorization in over two decades. This will allow Congress to exercise its constitutional oversight duties and ensure that executive agencies are being good stewards of US taxpayer dollars, that every dollar and every diplomat is working in alignment with American foreign policy and and its interests.
▶ 0:00:54My subcommittee has jurisdiction over the state department's near eastern affairs bureau, the counterterrorism bureau and the state bure state department's bureau of management. This hearing, the first one of the subcommittee focuses on Mranch and more specifically the bureau of administration within Mranch and I cannot think of a more appropriate place to begin.
▶ 0:01:18Simply put, the State Department would not be able to execute US foreign policy missions without this vital administrative work. The administration administrative side of Mranch is responsible for state's entire acquisitions, procurement, and logistics services. It oversees real property management for the state department and even the department's library and knowledge management systems.
▶ 0:01:43Given the significance of these responsibilities, the Bureau of Administration should execute its role with precision, prioritizing efficiency and effectiveness in its service delivery. However, that standard has not been upheld in its entirety. The Bureau of Administration has faced significant challenges from personnel attrition to long delays in standing up systems to poor management.
▶ 0:02:08And when the State Department's administrative services fail, so too does the State Department's ability to carry out the critical work of securing American interests and priorities abroad. That is why we are here today to gather more information on these shortcomings and explore how Congress can help. I think it's also important to point out the role that a branch uh has in advancing efforts to improve cost effectiveness and bring accountability to government spending.
▶ 0:02:36This bureau can be a force for good if we do the job right. The State Department allocates approximately of 11 billion to 13 billion annually on contracts for goods and services with the majority of expenditures occurring at the Washington level. As the nexus for the department's acquisitions and procurement, the Bureau of Administration is uniquely positioned to advance new policies promoting cost effectiveness and reform.
▶ 0:03:04from re-evaluating contracting procedures and policies to ensuring we have the appropriate personnel in place to procure and oversee the acquisition of goods and services for the department. This subcommittee will examine every legislative avenue to ensure sharp and streamlined state department spending procedures.
▶ 0:03:23I'm confident this hearing will bring the subcommittee more clarity on the challenges faced by the Bureau of Administration's work and really where Congress can come in, work together in a bipartisan way and make government more efficient for the American people. With that, I again thank our witnesses for being here and providing your testimony. Uh, and I now recognize the ranking member, uh, Sheila Shurilis McCormack for her opening remarks. Thank you, Chairman Lawler.
▶ 0:03:52I want to start by taking a moment to thank all of the dedicated state department foreign service, civil service contractors, and the local staff at home and abroad for your hard work and service to our country and the American people. The goal of the state department are to advance our strategic interests abroad by countering adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran, help Americans who are overseas, and finally to protect and secure our nation.
▶ 0:04:18When things go wrong abroad, when an American traveler gets in trouble, when someone needs a new passport, when top policy makers need information from the ground, you are there. You are our eyes and our ears and advocates abroad. Thank you for your hard work. I want to set the scene for what we are discussing today, streamlining and right-sizing the department. And why is it so important? The state department is not a business. We cannot afford to move fast and break things.
▶ 0:04:46This is not about building a social media app, the the stakes are much higher. This is about protecting Americans lives, keeping Americans who live and travel abroad, making sure that when your child decides to study abroad in Italy or Jordan or Vietnam, there is someone who will help them, someone they can call on. It's about ensuring our em embassies and our consulates are safe through hard work of our diplomatic security staff.
▶ 0:05:13It's about ensuring the next generation of foreign services officers are taught to be experts in their field, not yesmen. It's about competing against our adversaries and coordinating with our allies, not the other way around. And yes, it's about ensuring the State Department has the management tools, administrative capacities, and people it needs to get the job done.
▶ 0:05:36My Republican colleagues would like you to believe that the Trump administration administration is the first to want to streamline or rightsize the State Department and that it could be done that it can't be done without Doge. This just is plain wrong as is the hallmark approach of Doge used which they use to break things first and ask questions later.
▶ 0:05:58Former Secretary of State Blinken began his tenure by laying out a modernization plan, informed by actual data and input from department employees on how to bring the department into the 21st century and ensure it remains the world's premier diplomatic workforce. Similarly, my Republican colleagues might paint the work of Doge to slash agencies like the state and its workforce as a brave endeavor that Democrats have been unwilling to carry out.
▶ 0:06:27However, those actions have been reckless and have hurt many innocent Americans. Congressional Democrats have repeatedly shown that we're ready and willing to engage in good faith comprehensive bipartisan state department reform, bipartisan state authorization efforts over the last few congresses have yielded some real victories for the department, its workforce, and its ability to act in the best interests of the American people.
▶ 0:06:54We remain ready to build on those successes and continue our good faith bipartisan efforts on State Department and modernization efforts to ensure our diplomats emissions abroad are well poised to meet today's threats. I want to join the chairman in welcoming our panel today. Thank you for your service and your dedication to this country and I look forward to our discussion. But Mr. Chairman, I respectfully ask why this isn't a conversation that we're having with the administration itself.
▶ 0:07:23If Secretary Rubio and the administration are so proud of their work, where are they and why are they not here for questioning? If we are serious about working with the administration on their efforts to modernize the State Department, including proposals to streamline and rightsize it, then we have to hear from them. I stand ready to have the conversation whenever they are ready. Let me be clear.
▶ 0:07:44I'm not opposed to finding efficiencies and increasing effectiveness where we can, but we cannot do it recklessly in a way that seeds ground to our adversaries or that leaves American citizens high and dry. US national security, American lives are on the line. We need to do this the right way and not the doge way. Nevertheless, I'm grateful to our witnesses for being here to have this conversation.
▶ 0:08:12and in the administration's absence and I look forward to the insight. I yield back. Thank you to the ranking member. Uh other members of the committee are reminded that opening statements may be submitted for the record. We are pleased to have a distinguished panel of witnesses before us today on this important topic. The honorable Carrie B. Shabbaka, former assistant secretary, Bureau of Administration, US Department of State.
▶ 0:08:41Ambassador Michael C. Pul, former US Ambassador of Estonia, Serbia, and Montenegro, US Department of State. This committee recognizes the importance of the issues before us and is grateful to have you here to speak with us today. Your full statements will be made part of the record, and I'll ask each of you to keep your spoken remarks to five minutes in order to allow time for member questions. I now recognize Miss Shabbaka for her opening statement.
▶ 0:09:11Chairman Lawler, Ranking Member Sherphilis McCormack, members of the House. Just turn on your microphone, please. Is it not? Can you hear me better now? Great. Chairman Lawler, Ranking Member Sherilis McCormack, members of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, and my fellow panelists, Ambassador Pulk. I'm honored to be here speaking with you as we explore ways to streamline administrative services at the US Department of State. and I sincerely thank you for the invitation to be part of this conversation.
▶ 0:09:41I was fortunate to serve as the assistant secretary of state for administration from 2019 to early 2021 and in a role that was established during the FDR administration. Though the responsibilities of the bureau administration have certainly evolved over the past 80 years, what has not changed is that the bureau has always worked tirelessly to support the entire department and US diplomatic efforts around the globe.
▶ 0:10:04As the administrative backbone of the department, the Bureau of Administration's portfolio covers everything from worldwide logistics, transportation, travel, privacy and records mandates, acquisition and procurement, domestic real property management, emergency management readiness, language interpretation and translation services, and support for international schools.
▶ 0:10:26With a workforce comprised of a combination of civil service, foreign service, and contractors, the bureau manages overseas mail and diplomatic pouch, support for presidential travel overseas, a global publishing shop, and allowances policy for all those serving abroad. In many ways, the Bureau of Administration functions as a customer service organization with its customers being the other bureaus at the State Department, the 298 overseas posts, and even in some cases the employees of the State Department and other ICAS agencies. themselves.
▶ 0:10:56The best known example of course being shipping home goods when people are moving abroad. And due to this customer service nature, some of the administration bureau's divisions and programs have been able to run more as a business through the State Department's working capital fund. One long-standing example of this is the global acquisition division. The highly skilled and technical procurement team charges the other State Department bureaus a percentage fee of the overall procurement or contract cost to handle their acquisition work.
▶ 0:11:24In turn, those fees are what pay for the salaries of the employee in the division and the office spaces in which they work. Why is this a smart choice for taxpayer dollars and a good business model? One, it encourages bureaus to not to seek out only the contracting work that they need, not spend all that they have in their bureau budgets as there is a fee attached. Two, it ensures that the procurement shop remains flexible in size and agile in how it assigns staff as it is based on demand and use by the state department.
▶ 0:11:52And three, it encourages the global acquisition division to continue to look for ways to streamline and everinccreased productivity with its work to keep its fees low as higher fees cause higher levels of customer dissatisfaction. The acquisition's procurement decision uh division has long served under the working capital fund system as have other parts of a including logistics management and a new working capital fund service center is being developed as we speak.
▶ 0:12:19While I was assistant secretary, the property real property management team and I were keenly aware of the age and deteriorating condition of several of our domestic facilities. This is not a unique story to the state department as many government buildings are in similar situations. But we increased our focus on life cycle maintenance pro projections and schedules for the work that needed to be done to ensure proper upkeep and repair of our facilities going forward.
▶ 0:12:44The team and I also pushed to complete long-standing projects that mattered to the people at the State Department and proved improved their quality and were and quality of their work environment. One notable project we completed was the opening of the D Street entrance at HST, which had been closed for 12 years and was the access point closest to the Foggy Bottom Metro. As you can guess, this matters quite a lot to the employees of the State Department on rainy, snowy, and windy days.
▶ 0:13:11Taking these efforts one step further since I left the A bureau uh at the AB bureau. They have the real property program developed with congressional approval a working capital fund center for its domestic facilities. All State Department bureaus are charged a fee for the square footage of the space that they occupy. Those fees go into a fund that handle operational and maintenance work but also acrew funds for general facility lifestyle maintenance and repair work across fiscal years for things like roof replacement and updating electrical systems.
▶ 0:13:40This saves taxpayer dollars by one, ensuring routine maintenance and upkeep is done on our government properties and not letting issues go by the wayside until situations are so dire and costs are astronomical to fix them. and then of course potentially having to come to Congress to ask for additional funds. And two, better understanding all the square footage that we have on hand, continually looking for ways to improve how the spaces are used. And as other bureaus are not going to want to spend more of their budget on fees for underutilized and unused space.
▶ 0:14:10When possible, the State Department will be able to exit building leases that may no longer be needed, therefore decreasing cost. Working capital funds have been a successful tool at the Bureau of Administration as they provide flexibility, cost-saving, and responsiveness to the rest of the State Department. But technology is clearly another tool that the Bureau of Administration can further utilize to streamline its work. Like so many other government agencies and bureaus, the administration bureau is not alone in having a aging IT systems.
▶ 0:14:37One of the biggest technological challenges in the AB bureau is the integrated logistics management system. IMS IMLS is a product that works in tracking items that move from the United States to overseas and vice versa following life cycles of state department vehicles armored and otherwise and is utilized in the audits of inventory at embassies of physical property. This work is vitally important. However, ILMS is costly.
▶ 0:15:01Technologies have advanced since the original development of ILMS many years ago and going forward it is important to transition this work to new and improved platforms to continue to provide the best logistical support for the department. I can also envision other ways that technology can be helpful at the state department including machine learning and AI to continue to streamline work in things like declassification and FOYA and helping overseas allowances and language services. I'm happy to discuss this and much more, but now I want to turn the conversation over to you.
▶ 0:15:31There is so much good and vital work being done at the State Department in the Bureau of Administration and I know I've only scratched the surface this morning. I welcome your questions. Thank you, Miss Chebacca. I now recognize Mr. PT for his opening statement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Sheris McCormick, and distinguished members of the subcommittee.
▶ 0:15:51I am pleased to testified before you today regarding updating and strengthening America's diplomatic I speak to you now as a private citizen, but one who has had the great privilege to serve our great country and the American people for 35 years in our diplomatic service. I've served six presidents and 11 secretaries of state, both Republican and Democrat. over the course of those 35 years.
▶ 0:16:17I offer to you a set of American diplomacy modernization ideas that a group of former colleagues and I published in September of 2022 entitled Blueprints Toward a More Modern American Diplomacy. Our proposals were supported by Arizona State University's Leadership, Diplomacy, and National Security Lab with the participation of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation and the American Academy of Diplomacy. Our efforts were guided by four firm commitments.
▶ 0:16:46First, to work in full transparency with the State Department, Congress, and the many communities interested in these issues. Second, strict bipartisanship. Third, we remain convinced that because the United States should have the world's most modern and able diplomatic service, the State Department must change to earn its place at the center of US foreign policymaking and execution.
▶ 0:17:12And finally, we offered our blueprints to those currently serving our country's diplomacy at home and abroad. We addressed what we consider to be four important sectors of our nation's diplomacy. Our recommendations are mainly foreign service specific. They do not claim to deal with the full complexities of State Department operations or every element of potential state department reorganization.
▶ 0:17:38What we have done is submit for consideration detailed descriptions of how to implement our four blueprints, including specific legislative and regulatory language. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this has ever been done at this scale. Our four blueprints address first the mission and mandate of the foreign service in seeking enhanced authority, responsibility, and accountability for US ambassadors worldwide.
▶ 0:18:08holding US diplomatic leadership, career and appointed from outside the foreign service to the same high standard of foreign policy and international expertise. Third, empowering the State Department and the foreign service to play a more substantive role in the creation and implementation of US foreign policy.
▶ 0:18:28And finally, fostering a stronger relationship between America's diplomats and the American public they Second, we focused on professional education and training, defining, implementing, and sustaining an education and training complement for the foreign service that is about 8% of its total workforce.
▶ 0:18:50We focused on investing in robust diplomatic education and training to secure a dedicated career workforce with critical professional knowledge, including broad leadership and language We focused on creating broad institutional expertise within the foreign service both at home and through rotational opportunities abroad to draw on whole of government and private Finally, pri prioritizing both mid-career continuing education and
▶ 0:19:20extending training for higher level positions, we sought to expand the pipeline of qualified leadership Third, we focused on a modern and strategically focused personnel system by creating and staffing nimble, multifunctional teams and individuals positioned where they are needed, placing the right people in the right places in the right numbers with the skills.
▶ 0:19:47Developing a recruitment strategy directly targeting young, multi-skilled workforce best prepared to address rapidly progressing international challenges. And finally in this area and a growing greater professional opportunities for family members who serve with our foreign service officers abroad as a ready additional asset pool for advancing US interests. And finally we propose the creation of a diplomatic reserve corps.
▶ 0:20:17We seek to remedy the fact that the Department of State, in many ways America's first line of defense, has no ready, trained, and dedicated pool of reserves akin to the US armed forces. We propose the development of a thousand person strong reserve corps made up of retired state department professionals and other subject matter experts from outside the government ready and able to move quickly in the event of national disa natural disasters political turmoil or any emergency
▶ 0:20:48need. Finally, we offer these blueprints in support of an American diplomacy that is nimble, does not see creativity encumbered by peruncter tradition, and that is deeply connected to the people it serves. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I look forward to your questions. Thank you, Mr. Pulk. I now recognize myself for five minutes of questioning. Mr.
▶ 0:21:13Shabbaka in your own words can you describe the role and function of the bure bureau of administration what is its mission uh and during your tenure there what did you see as the biggest weakness within the bureau thank you for the question chairman Lawler um like I said in my opening remarks I really do feel like the Bureau of administration is the administrative backbone of the state department focuses on lots of operations that
▶ 0:21:43the state department both domestically and overseas really needs to support the work that they are doing abroad. So everything from again moving people's homeg goods to overseas school support to language services um also procurement which we talked about already both of us um in our opening remarks that that is obviously a vital part of providing services and additional support for the state department.
▶ 0:22:06So I would say again it's the administrative backbone of the department and again as we I mentioned it's been around for 80 years and though it doesn't have typing pools any longer or call centers in the same way that it did um technology has certainly evolved and opportunities have certainly evolved for the state department. I would say one of the biggest challenges that I had when I was at the state department um was the MS system that I mentioned in my opening remarks. It's it's a significant platform that really does track all the logistical support for the State Department.
▶ 0:22:37Um unfortunately, it's a a pretty big platform that's been overly spe um specialized over time and is very integrated. And I would say that the contract that it was originally placed on or very long contracts that have existed for a long time. And I think that as technology has improved that the ILMS project should move on to new technological platforms that can support that effort going further. I appreciate that.
▶ 0:23:02What in the work that we're doing now, especially considering that Congress has not undertaken uh this responsibility in two decades, what do you see as some of the considerations that we should uh make in assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of uh the current current organization of the Sure.
▶ 0:23:24So like I mentioned um a lot of the state um a lot of the Bureau of Administration actually does already operate under an efficiency type model in the fact that when you work in a revolving fund space or in a working capital fund you always want to make sure that you do not go into the red and there are several lines of effort at the state department not just in the bureau of administration that work in a working capital fund like the counselor affairs work that you see.
▶ 0:23:48I think something that's very smart about it is that it allows the staff to be agile going where the demand is the demand from within the state department which is what the A's which is what A's focus is most certainly but places like counselor affairs can look to the outside and see what the demand is for their needs of staffing and their needs of effort. So I think one thing that people should certainly look at is are there working capital fund opportunities within the state department that they can look to to make sure that they really are right sized already.
▶ 0:24:17And again, making sure that your program doesn't go into the red versus asking Congress for more money is certainly a way that people can do that. So, a bureau is responsible for domestic operations and emergency services at the department. Uh, can you explain to us what that encompasses and how it differs from the bureau of diplomatic securityurities role for instance? Why is emergency services planning and operations for domestic and foreign incidents split into two different bureaus? Sure.
▶ 0:24:46So imag emergency management services in the bureau of administration is actually more focused on coupe and cog. So continuing operations both of government and of operations at the state department. So it's more of a domestic focus. So thinking of things like active shooter unfortunately and other topics like that but also obviously emerging health crisis. Obviously emergency management was used a lot um during COVID. Obviously there was also a lot of efforts that were done internationally on COVID as well. But the focus is more domestic.
▶ 0:25:17I cannot speak to why emergency management services was originally put into the a bureau, but it's been there a long time. I can certainly do that. And again, it's a slightly different focus than diplomatic security. However, they do work very closely together. That was my next question. They're coordinating uh between emergency planning with diplomatic security officials. Most certainly. Okay.
▶ 0:25:39Um, are there gaps in funding personnel or technology that hinder effective emergency coordination between a bureau and diplomatic security? Um, I can't speak to diplomatic security as I never worked in that bureau, but I can say emergency management services, we never had a shortfall.
▶ 0:25:56We actually did update the notification system when I was in the a bureau um from an outdated system and that is basically so people can employees can call in if there is an active shooter situation checking in making sure people know where they are during a weather emergency or those sorts of things for the state department to be able to do headcount. So that is a system that was updated when I was at the state department but I don't remember there being any um financial problems when I was there. Okay.
▶ 0:26:23Uh I now recognize uh the ranking member uh Representative Sherilis McCormack of Florida for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you again for all your service to our country. My question is for Ambassador Paul um and for your continued service. I wanted to know about some of the cuts that we're seeing. Can you talk about some ways to reform the department um and better position its workforce, foreign service, civil service contractors, and local staff to advance America's interests?
▶ 0:26:52And do you feel that these policies of this administration so far have strengthened or our workforce or have weakened it? Thank you uh ranking member Chevis McCome. Um I want to be very careful in uh reasserting one of the key principles of the work that my colleagues and I did in this blueprints for a modern more modern US diplomatic service in our commitment to strict bipartisanship.
▶ 0:27:18uh I I I do not wish to criticize or praise the administration uh in in the current form or a past administration uh or or criticize it. But I want to emphasize the important principles of that our diplomacy serves and how one uh can approach the important aspects of modernizing it for a 21st century demands of international affairs.
▶ 0:27:41And in that context, I think it is very it is very important and I'm grateful to this uh committee for looking at the foreign service, looking at the state department and its functions to see if they are still uh the most effective way to deliver the services to the American people whom they serve.
▶ 0:27:58So I the one thing that I would advocate is something that you mentioned in your opening statements and that is to go ahead and look at the functions as you are doing of the department of state both civil and foreign service and our workforce abroad to see where they meet the mission of the administration's foreign policy and the the administration's foreign policy that we are so that we are right now focused on is this administration's foreign policy not previous ones not to hear to criticize or to praise but simply to follow the president's
▶ 0:28:29instructions to make his foreign policy the most effective for America and for the American people. That in my opinion as a 35-year nonpartisan foreign service officer is it should not be a political issue nor a partisan issue but simply one that supports America in the achievement of its goals. Specifically, my concern has been with our global um diplomatic footprint. We've seen that we have actually lost ground as compared to China.
▶ 0:28:55And so I want to make sure that we're keeping our priorities and our goals front and center as we're making decisions and that these decisions are actually strengthening us or bringing us into a place where we're actually gaining ground when it comes to that diplomatic footprint. So in that context, do you believe that the suggested cuts right now would actually lead us towards the goal of expanding our diplomatic footprint or do you believe that it actually is having us in this continued aggression? Thank you for the question.
▶ 0:29:22Uh, I'll give you my I'll give you my opinion and and uh hope that it finds some resonance uh in in in in your concerns. I firmly believe that the United States uh can afford roughly 1% of the federal budget on its diplomatic workforce to go to present a universally present American diplomacy in every part of the world.
▶ 0:29:46I do not think that it is something that is too expensive for the American people to support in terms of all the functions you mentioned in your opening statement and and all the concerns that the chairman mentioned in terms of the efficient operation of our of our of our foreign affairs um bureaucracy.
▶ 0:30:03Uh I would I would not I I would not cut back on our presence around the world no matter how what in our consulates nor in our in our embassies simply because there are other competitors out there who are perfectly willing to fill the vacuum that we leave when we depart.
▶ 0:30:21And I can assure you that I have served in huge embassies abroad from Mexico City to Berlin, Germany to very small embassies in Estonia and in other places around the world where the presence of the United States was always the central point of a focus for both a host country and other diplomatic representations from other countries to see the American embassy as the most effective and the most efficient diplomatic service there.
▶ 0:30:47whenever they had questions about how to deal with the diplomatic challenges of that region and of that country, they would first come to the US embassy. I think this is something that we would want to preserve. So, I want to um shift towards solutions before my time runs out. Are there any things you'd recommend that would help us actually gain ground on our diplomatic footprint? The one thing that I really think would be really important, I would hope that you would take a very close look at is our proposal for a diplomatic reserve corps.
▶ 0:31:17You know, when we when we uh deal with emergencies around the world, be they in Afghanistan, be they in in Europe, be they in any part of the world, in Africa, be they in whatever the places where they be, we do not have a ready surge capacity in the state department to meet those contingencies. What happens is you have to take people from existing positions around the world, take them out of those positions and send them to the area of greatest need. Fair enough. We do what we have to do.
▶ 0:31:47But that is not an efficient way to handle crisis when a surge capacity is desperately needed. So recreating this thousand person reserve corps ready, trained and cleared and able to be deployed whenever we need them, wherever we need them is something that we strongly urge the the committee consider. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you to the ranking member and thank you Mr. Folk for your testimony.
▶ 0:32:15Uh, I now recognize the chairman emeritus of the Middle East and North Africa subcommittee, the gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson, for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and indeed, Ambassador Paul, thank you for your service. It's really, uh, inspiring, uh, to have known that your service in Estonia, uh, in Serbia, Montenegro, and then find out Mexico City in Berlin, it just never ends. Thank you very much. And, uh, and with that in mind, I'm so grateful for your association with McCain Institute.
▶ 0:32:44I had the wonderful opportunity uh to campaign uh it was hard at Hilton Head Island uh for uh Senator McCain uh when he was running for president and then I was grateful to be with him and Senator Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman campaigning in New York City. Uh Mike Lawler gave me a visa to be there briefly.
▶ 0:33:01Uh and so then um over and over again Senator McCain what an inspiration uh each year at the M Munich Security Conference uh he uh played such a role and uh indeed he was referenced uh at the conference again this year as to his role that he's made and so I wish you well well in your service.
▶ 0:33:21With that in mind, in 2012, the GAO reported that the state had made limited progress in containing cost to providing administrative costs. It did not reduce the need for admin American administration cost overseas which cost more than local staff.
▶ 0:33:43Do you have any suggestions on how to re-engineer the administrative processes and seek innovative innovative manager managerial approaches to improve cost Uh Mr. Wilson, uh thank you very much for your question and I'll please I'll give you my answer but of course I will defer to my colleague here who's got much more expertise in those specifics.
▶ 0:34:06But I'll give you my my response from my experience of 35 years of of of being the beneficiary of the administrative services that the a bureau and other colleagues at the state department provided. I can I I must say that uh the overall support that the state department provides both to its foreign and civil service and and its locally employed staff is excellent.
▶ 0:34:28people try very very hard to go ahead and make us capable to to provide the services that we are do to provide for the American people in whatever function we serve political economic public affairs work consular work or the management staff for the embassy. So overall I think we all deserve uh uh gratitude we all deserve to give gratitude and applause to our colleagues who provide the services.
▶ 0:34:51Now that said, I must say that I've been over my time in the in the State Department involved in a few efforts previous to the current uh undertaking that I did with some of my former colleagues to try and streamline our overall bureaucratic processes. And I'll give you one example that I think is uh I once proposed and I was quickly shot down, but one that I I'd like to offer here for your consideration.
▶ 0:35:18For instance, our travel management system to travel for, as you probably learned from your own experience, to travel for the US government can be a very complex enterprise and it becomes very, very difficult to arrange, very complex to do and I would argue costly to maintain and to then cross check once you have accomplished it.
▶ 0:35:40I once proposed something totally revolutionary which I think would save the government a lot of money and make it much simpler to go ahead and undertake the the vast amount of travel that the state department particularly has to engage in. And that is a totally no fault travel system where the United States government simply says uh Mike P you're being sent to US Embassy Berlin. You are to report to your supervisor on date X and you are serving there for the three years.
▶ 0:36:09The State Department has figured out that that costs so much money for you to go ahead and afford to make that travel cabinet uh coach class American carrier all those rules. We have deposited this amount of money in your bank account. Uh report to your supervisor have a safe trip and over out there's nothing further that needs to be checked. Nothing further that needs to no additional bureaucracy that needs to be deployed. You can just go ahead and do that.
▶ 0:36:36We could save ourselves a number of of positions and expenses if we did away with some of those those people who have Thank you for that suggestion. I I saw Chairman Lawler write that down to forward it ahead. And um Madame Secretary as a former real estate attorney uh it's always intriguing to me real estate owned particularly by the US government uh and there are some properties that are underutilized.
▶ 0:37:00what's being done to determine uh the ability to uh devest uh properties that are not needed Sure. So, I can certainly speak to domestic facilities because overseas building operations is the bureau that's responsible for the properties that are overseas that are owned by the state department.
▶ 0:37:19Um, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, one of the things that the Real Property Group is doing in the Bureau of Administration is working under a working capital fund in the idea that if you charge other bureaus at the State Department for the space that they occupy, whether they use it well or if it's underutilized or potentially not used at all, um, that they will not want to incur those fees um, charged to them by the real property management team and therefore find ways to use the space more efficiently going forward.
▶ 0:37:46and if the space is unused, be willing to give up that space and give it back to GSA, who we all know is the landlord of the majority of the domestic facility um that the State Department operates out of. So, I think that's really a good way to really make sure you know what square footage you actually have. It's surprising how many government agencies don't even know the footprint that they necessarily possess. Thank you for your efforts. No problem. I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Wilson.
▶ 0:38:14I now recognize uh for five minutes the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Burchett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um and thank you all for being here. You don't have to adjust your mics. That's this is the way we talk in East Tennessee. It's the only place in America where people don't speak with an accent. So, thank you all. Um I never know what Lawler's saying. I just look at him. If his if our eyes meet, I figure he's talking to me, but I can't never figure out what the heck he's saying. What did you just say? Yeah.
▶ 0:38:44See, there you go. Hey, leave the comedy to me, logger. Anyway, um Mr. Chairman, I could you give me the um I'm sorry, not Mr. Chairman, but um you now you got me all confused. Could one of y'all tell me the role and the function of the Bureau of Administration and what services does it specifically provide for the State Department? Just give it to me from the heart. You don't have to read something, ma'am. Just tell me what you think. How about that? Sure.
▶ 0:39:14So, I would say the a bureau is certainly a collection of interesting operational functions that work at the state that are the backbone of the state department and the operational services there. So, again, as mentioned, travel services is certainly one of those. Um, but logistics management is a big category. Um, records management and privacy mandates and FOYA is another one that people obviously think of. Uh contracting and procurement is a huge part of what the a bureau does.
▶ 0:39:42Um and then real property is certainly something but we also oversees the overseas school program which making sure that those that serve overseas with their families that their children can be um can attend schools that um are up to US standards and give them the support that they need for the education of their children. We also do things like language interpretation and translation. Um it's far and wide. I kind of always make the joke there was this old life cereal commercial like give it to Mikey he'll eat it.
▶ 0:40:12The a bureau is kind of that model quite frankly. It is the place that lots of little programs that maybe a lot of people don't think about go that support the state department as a whole. Sir, would you add or detract anything from that? Well, the first thing I would like to add, Mr. Bett, is that I appreciate uh the way you talk because I'm a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville despite my accent which is obviously not from Tennessee. Go balls. What year was that? Uh 1977. The year I joined the foreign service.
▶ 0:40:41See, I was wait 97. No, my dad was dean of student conduct back then. I doubt he saw you then either. You were probably one of those overachievers, but he also had the freshman honor society, so I don't know if that saw you there either. Um, let me let me skip around a little bit.
▶ 0:40:58Do you think that the um the the uh State Department is maintaining facilities that provide little or no benefit to its diplomatic mission because I know we're looking into a lot now at waste and things and I don't want you to be critical but I um but I would like to know if you could see some efficiencies there. I'll I'll speak from my perspective of course.
▶ 0:41:23I'm happy to have my colleague be much more specific because she was in charge of the real estate uh of the department. Um I know that there's a a a plan or at least some consideration being given right now to streamlining our overseas present in terms of do we need to have consulates in various parts of uh various countries? Can we close smaller posts? Can we go ahead and uh create more efficiencies by not being everywhere?
▶ 0:41:49First of all, I would certainly recommend and advocate that we maintain the principle of universality in terms of being present in every country in which the United States has diplomatic relations. That does not mean that we have to have a gigantic presence or that we have to have multiple consulates in the same in the same country that the embassy can be the focal point of the US diplomatic presence uh and and representing US interests.
▶ 0:42:14So in that context, taking a close look at uh the multiple consular posts we might have in certain countries particularly in the more in the more advanced countries or the more modern uh parts of the world and also whether every agency that is represented overseas needs to be overseas to go ahead and perform the functions on behalf of the American people.
▶ 0:42:36In other words, does does every agency right now that has a purge in certain places, can it be done from either regional offices or can it be done from back in the United States versus having it done in overseas locations? So, in that sense, I think it's very worthwhile to look at efficiencies, not to sort of say, no, we have to have everything just the way it is.
▶ 0:42:58But I would always do it with the consideration of let's not move the United States out of countries altogether in which we know that Chinese and other interests will very quickly fill the vacuum that we real real quick. You mentioned Chinese. Something I have a real passion for and I'm not sure if it's with you all or not is um is is reclaiming desert areas all across the continent of Africa. Everybody thinks Africa is a country. It's a continent, but they are reclaiming the desert through a process.
▶ 0:43:27There's several process don't need to go into it and I'm wondering is that a function that you all would help facilitate through um uh grants or something like that in other words the question being would we because if we don't do it the Chinese are going to do it in other words should we should we be competing everywhere in the world including on the area that you just mentioned right now my strong recommendation is categorically so we should not bel let belin road be the be the effort that sort of uh rules pulls a roost
▶ 0:43:57around the world without the United States being present. I'm way over my time, but if y'all know somebody who's involved with that, if y'all could get with me, I would really love to be involved in that. Yes, sir. It's not worth a vote for me, but I could sleep well at night knowing that we did something. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm way over, but thank you, brother. Just a wee bit. Uh, thank you, Mr. Burchett. I now recognize uh for five minutes the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Kaine. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 0:44:24chairman and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. As the administration considers ways to improve the efficiency of US government overseas operations, we must determine the best approach for providing support services to the various agencies stationed at embassies and consulates. GAO has found that increasing participation in the international cooperative administrative support services system can lead to economies of scale and cost savings.
▶ 0:44:53It also noted that Congress should cons consider requiring agency participation in IICAS unless a valid business case justifies an exemption. Can you explain the benefits and the challenges that might require the state department to participate in ICAS? Thank you. Hi, thank you for the question. Um, right.
▶ 0:45:17The ICAST system is something that's well known to people that serve overseas and obviously it's a voluntary um participation by not only the State Department but also the other departments that potentially have people that are serving overseas and it provides um an administrative backbone of the services that are are provided overseas at embassies.
▶ 0:45:38I think the big question that kind of is outstanding is should it be voluntary by the agencies that don't participate in it or do participate in it and I think that that's a good question. I do think that generally consolidating services which the a bureau does not only for the state department but for a lot of other agencies like in delivering mail to people at their posts overseas um and moving all of their home goods and their office supplies and making sure that those are done in a consolidated manner.
▶ 0:46:06I think ICAST participation being voluntary is tricky, but it is a way to split costs also between different agencies that participate in it. So if you do work at the Peace Corps and you've got some folks that are at the embassy in a particular country, then they also participate and paying for the postal work that's done there and not having their own PeaceCore agency pay for that independently. So obviously there's some cost savings there. I do think it's a good idea for Congress to look into it. I know that there was a GA report I think back in 2012 um that talked about this.
▶ 0:46:36So this has obviously been a topic that's been around. Um the ICAST system actually is run primarily out of MSS. So kind of the think tank part of the state to bureau under the management family. So but obviously the bureau of administration has great involve involvement with it specifically in the logistics management space. So you prefer a voluntary or a man? It is currently voluntary. I think the recommendation by GO was to have it not be voluntary. And what's your what's your response to that?
▶ 0:47:04Again, it's a percentage of number of people that participate in it for other agencies. So, having other people pay into that system makes sense because it is based on the size of how you participate at the embassy. Obviously, the State Department is usually the largest member of that team. So, we obviously pay the largest share, but obviously there are other organizations. Again, Peacecore is just one. There's there's quite a few um that have people overseas. DoD is also one that participates. Thank you, Ambassador.
▶ 0:47:30I I would I would vote for making it mandatory simply because if we're all over there for the same team working for the same American people, the most efficient way to do it is for one agency to go ahead and provide these services that my colleague is pro is proposing. So I think if you're going to be overseas officially for the United States government, I think you should participate in this system. Thank you both.
▶ 0:47:52If US agencies, including the State Department, reduce their presence overseas, it may be even more difficult to gain economy of scale in providing administrative services at the post level. What are some options to help contain administrative costs for a reduced footprint? Um, I think I understand the question. Are you asking if there are some places that maybe consulates no longer exist? How do you still provide economies of scale for administrative services?
▶ 0:48:22Is that correct? Yeah, I think regionalization, which is something that my colleague here on the panel mentioned as well, I think that's a good idea. There are examples of regionalization of lots of services. Um, for example, in Bangkok, it's a it's a service where there's a lot of financial processing that's handled out of the embassy there. Um, for logistics management and shipping, we uh the a bureau has a pretty big presence at some ports in Europe as well. So I think I still think there is some regionalization that is possible.
▶ 0:48:50Also in the air of procurement, I know the a bureau has an operation in Germany. Um I don't know that it's always the most cost-ffective because German labor laws are actually a little challenging um and sometimes cause things to be a little more expensive, but I think there are some regional ways that you can do certain administrative aspects in regional parts of the world without compromising I don't think so. With technology the way that it is now, I don't tend to think so. I mean you can have a procurement officer in Germany doing work for a country in Africa and I don't see there being any downsize.
▶ 0:49:19Um I think also if co taught us anything that there are some things that can be done remotely and done in other places and people can be responsive that way. Thank thank you Mr. Chairman. I yel back. Thank you representative Kaine. I now recognize for five minutes the distinguished gentleman and former secretary of the interior the gentleman from Montana Mr. Zinci for 5 minutes. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And just a couple comments as we go through.
▶ 0:49:47I would I would think that uh if you use the services, you ought to pay the freight. Uh whether it's mandated or not, there might be more efficient. Let those guys, you know, figure it out. But if they use the services, certainly, I think they should pay the freight. I think that's fair. Uh Mr. Ambassador, um look, looking through and and listening to your testimony, I'm interested when you say enhanced authority.
▶ 0:50:10uh that that seems to be a theme uh throughout uh no doubt with individuals with traveling around is my experience as a commander I I think that everyone's work works for somebody so to give cart blanc I think probably the ambassador or the RSO is probably the the guy that would approve such things but but explain to me when you say uh enhanced authority what do you mean by that thank you Mr. Zinci.
▶ 0:50:39Um, since the ambassadors, our ambassadors serve uh as representatives of the president of the United States around around the world and they are charged by the president in these uh what we call the chief of mission letters by every president in every administration that give the ambassador instruction. you are in charge of all US official government uh uh activities in your country of assignment and you have all these responsibilities and accountability for their safety and for the performance of their duties.
▶ 0:51:09uh I have found that over the years in my experience and also my experience as ambassador that uh more and more there has been u this effort to uh have to refer back to Washington for uh permission to go ahead and do your job that has been very clearly outlined for you already by the president and the president's letter and the secretary and to your point we're talking about regionalization right in my experience you have to be very very careful when you regionalize because you often you often times rather and you re regionalize
▶ 0:51:40a service, you regionalize authority and and and that line uh is is problem because it does create a bureaucracy. So when you say authority, do you have specific authorities? Do you think that that we can we can push the state department to to give to the ambassadors?
▶ 0:52:00I think we should go ahead and let the ambassadors perform the function that the president and through his uh through the secretary of state from the president have been given to the ambassador uh in very clear format and not ask for for for our chiefs of mission to have to refer back to Washington for the functions which have already been authorized and to make sure that they have the authority to not only perform their mission but also to be the risk managers and the risk absorbers
▶ 0:52:30for our functions abroad. The example I'd like to give you is, you know, that many of our embassies nowadays are very heavily secured and fortified to make sure that our staff stays safe. That's a smart and prudent idea. At the same time, you can't do diplomacy from behind a fortified wall. You have to come out and meet the people to go ahead and engage with the host country to go ahead and take a certain amount of prudent risk in performance of your duty.
▶ 0:52:55Our ambassadors need to be authorized to go ahead and and and absorb that risk prudently, to hold themselves accountable for for taking those risks, but to go ahead and get their their staffs to be able to accomplish their mission and not to be so risk averse that we can't get the job done. Uh in your in your experience, do you find it frustrating on on a procurement process?
▶ 0:53:19It it seems you have the operator that knows what he wants, the vendor who basically knows how to manufacture it, but we put a third entity called the contracting officer in charge. Is there is there frustration in the state department like there is with the department of defense on on timeliness of procurement? Sir, certainly there is. Let's let's let me be honest. Of course there is. At the same time, we realize that everybody cannot be his or her own sec procurement officer.
▶ 0:53:46You have to have a process that is fair that is that is clearly delineated and that can that is accountable to this the money being wisely spent. At the same time you you know that sometimes it takes much too long to procure things. Often we work on budgets where there are restrictions all the way through the end to the end of the fiscal year and suddenly at the end of the fiscal year you said my god you better go out there and buy some refrigerators and some various other things because very quickly the money needs to be spent.
▶ 0:54:15It would be better if we had a more logical and more predictable procurement process throughout the entire fiscal year. You seem very articulate for a Sunundevil. I played for the Ducks just just for the for the matter of record. Uh and if we let me ask you that if this committee if you could say we're going to focus on one thing to fix one thing within the span and the authority of this committee, what would you pick?
▶ 0:54:42the one I already picked, sir, and that is the one is I I really think you should give serious consideration for creating this diplomatic reserve corp. Create that body of of of surge capacity for the for the United States, not just for the State Department, for the United States to meet overseas contingencies on a diplomatic basis that we currently do not have with the State Department positions already being vastly understaffed by current projections of about 13% of positions around the world.
▶ 0:55:11not being filled in order for us to go ahead and meet the emergencies. It becomes a really dire situation to be able to meet those. I thank you and thank you both for your service. Mr. Chairman, I yield. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Representative Zinci. Uh, Mr. Mr. Paul, I just wanted to uh go back and and drill down a little bit on the diplomatic reserve corps uh concept that you've uh put forth. I certainly think there's great value in it.
▶ 0:55:38Obviously, when there are uh flare-ups around the world, being able to have some type of surge capacity, if you will, and and get uh you know, a diplomatic reserve core uh there on the ground who has experience, especially in you know, specific geographic areas. Uh I certainly see the the value in it. How would you see that functioning within Mranch or A branch within the state department?
▶ 0:56:06uh how would you see that set up and and what is it that you think Congress should do uh to help get that uh on track? Thank you, sir. Mr. Chairman, the uh we've proposed a a 4-year ramp up period of uh basically recruiting 250 individuals for over a four-year period until you reach that thousand person mark. uh where it would be situated in the department.
▶ 0:56:31I suppose that the right place would be in the M family simply because M provides the overall umbrella for all of the platform services for our functioning both at home and abroad. uh at the same time I think it would have to have the kind of rigor that our military reserve services has in terms of once you sign up for this and once you are trained for this and cleared for this in other words the US the American people have invested in you to go ahead and be ready you have to also sign up to a commitment
▶ 0:57:02that when you are called you go meaning that the next time we have to have a a surge of let's say a consular function in Doha from the after the departure from Afghanistan that you that and and you are now a trained consular officer and you said we need a hundred of you to go ahead and go to Doha and you need to leave this weekend. You get on the plane and you go. In other words, it has to have the kind of rigor that that is not um traditionally used in the state department parliament.
▶ 0:57:32We need to have the kind of discipline and the kind of requirement that once we invest in this that it actually does happen when we need you. And that's the most important part. The one of the concerns that I've heard in the past is we can't enforce that kind of rigor in the State Department. We're not military. I would beg to differ. I think we can. Appreciate uh that. Anything else? Okay.
▶ 0:57:56Um well, I uh appreciate uh you all coming here uh today uh and providing uh your testimony. I thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the members for their questions. The members of the subcommittee may have some additional questions for the witnesses and we will ask you to respond to these in writing.
▶ 0:58:18Pursuant to committee rules, all members may have 5 days to submit statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the record subject to the length uh limitations. Without objection, the committee stands We
▶ 0:58:48can help process. Thank you.