MANAGING 'THE FUDGE FACTORY'

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630071-3
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
September 25, 2012
Sequence Number: 
71
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
March 25, 1985
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630071-3.pdf99.97 KB
Body: 
ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630071-3 A ;71,:st NEW YORK TIMES 25 March, 1985 Managing 'the Fudge Factory By BERNARD GWERTZMAN Special to The New York Times WASHINGTON, March 24 ? As Ronald I. Spiers tells it, he was hap- pily at work as Ambassador to Paki- stan when he complained offhandedly to Secretary of ' State George P. Shultz, who was passing through Isla- mabad, about the way the State De- partment was managed worldwide. The next thing he knew, Mr. Shultz was asking him to return to Washing- ton to become Under Secretary of State for Management. Mr. Shultz's first choice as head of management, a corporate expert in the field, had given up in disgust after less than a year of trying to put order into what has affectionately been called "the Fudge Factory." The problems of the State Depart- ment are so long-standing ? inade- quate resources, cliquish personnel policies and a pervasive feeling that what most officers do has little im- pact on foreign policy ? that being head of management is viewed by many in the department as an invita- tion to frustration. Mr. Spiers said he took the job because after complain- ing to Mr. Shultz "I could hardly tell him I preferred to stay where I was." Mr. Spiers, a veteran of the Foreign Service, has in recent months begun speaking out candidly about his un- happiness with the state of affairs at Foggy Bottom, and he is quick to say that not much has changed yet. He re- cent gave a speech to the American Foreign Service Association, the trade union for the State Department, and excerpts from that speech appear in the current issues of the Foreign Service Journal and the State Depart- ment's own house organ; In his view, not only does the State Department not receive enough money to do its job well, but it has failed to manage well the resources it has, namely a dedicated corps of dip- lomats. In a way Mr. Spiers may have dis- covered the wheel. It has long been known that a disproportionate num- ber of competent diplomats had little to do. Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk complained in the early 1960's that the department had "too many chiefs and not enOugh Indians." Mr. Spiers makes the same point when he says: "We have too many senior officers who cannot be placed in jobs appropriate to their rank" and "currently, 90 senior officers are overcomplement" (doing "make- work" jobs). In part, this is because of politics. Since 1981, he says, 23 am- bassadorial or other senior assign- ments have moved from career to 'At the heart of many problems is a loss of discipline.' ?Ronald I. Spiers political appointees. Even the most respected category is not immune. Of 40 career ministers, the absolute cream of the foreign service, seven are without meaningful jobs, he says. Many officers, particularly those without challenging assignments, complain that despite all sorts of ob- jective criteria that are supposed to be used to rank officers and to select the best for promotion, in the end it all depends on whom one knows in a posi- tion of power. An officer may have performed superbly in some far-off embassy, but ususally has less chance of getting a top positionsthan does a talented aide to a senior offi- cial in Washington. For instance, it is regarded in the State Department as a passport to a prized overseas assignment to spend two or three years as a senior aide to a high official. In fairness to those officers, they do put in 18-hour days and long weekends, and the toll on their personal lives is often heavy. Too often, Mr. Spiers says, assign- ments depend "more on whom you know than whether you are the best for the job or the job is best for you." The system today penalizes officers "who are less visible to the decision- makers in Washington" and fails to insure "equitable sharing of hardship assignments," he says. "At the heart of many of these problems is a loss of service disci- pline that, in my view, arises from a sense that the system is not operating equitably" he said. "I see little chance of restoring esprit de corps and a sense of service until we find ways to restore trust in the system and overcome a feeling that nice guys finish last." Another major complaint of Mr. Spiers is the lack of funds given to the State Department for its basic job. The budget is about $2 billion annual- ly, which, as Mr. Spiers points out, is less than one percent of the Penta- gon's budget. Moreover, he saysz despite the mystique attached to the Central In- telligence Agency and other clandes- tine o rations 70 rcent of the ma- tena in t e ? resi ent s supersecre morning report covering crucial overnight international develop- ments comes from Foreign Service reporting. And yet, in the last decade, there has been an 18 percent cut in the numPer or people -devotea to edo- nomic and political reporting and analysts ? the heart of the depart- ment's responsibilities ? as we had to meet increases in consular work- loads and provide administrative sun- port for other agencies." d ? What we have one, year after year, is thin the soup," Mr. Spiers said. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630071-3