state department

Ex-CIA director slams Trump for turning career public servants into 'politicized robots'

Former CIA director William J. Burns blasted President Donald Trump’s mass firing at the State Department in July and the reduction of international programs.

“It was heartbreaking to see so many of you crossing [the State Department] lobby in tears, … carrying cardboard boxes with family photos and the everyday remains of proud careers in public service," Burns wrote. "After years of hard jobs in hard places — defusing crises, tending alliances, opening markets, and helping Americans in distress — you deserved better."

“The work you all did was unknown to many Americans, rarely well understood or well appreciated,” wrote Burns, the author of The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal. “And under the guise of reform, you all got caught in the crossfire of a retribution campaign — of a war on public service and expertise.”

“[T]here is a smart way and a dumb way to tackle reform, a humane way and an intentionally traumatizing way,” said Burns. “If this process were truly about sensible reform, crucial experts in technology or China policy in whom our country has invested so much wouldn’t have been pushed out.”

If the firings were truly about reform, he said, it would have addressed not only bloat and inefficiencies but also their causes, including congressionally mandated budget items. If it were about sensible reform, “you and your families wouldn’t have been treated with gleeful indignity.”

But this was not about reform, said Burns. It was about retribution. “It is about breaking people and breaking institutions by sowing fear and mistrust throughout our government.”

Burns said he has served six presidents: three Republicans and three Democrats, and it was his “duty” to faithfully implement their decisions, even when he didn’t agree with them. Career public servants have an obligation to execute the decisions of elected leaders, which is “essential to any democratic system.”

But what Trump was doing was “hammering professional public servants into politicized robots.”

“That’s what autocrats do. They cow public servants into submission — and in doing so, they create a closed system that is free of opposing views and inconvenient concerns,” said Burns, adding that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s “foolish decision to invade Ukraine” was a classic example of policy making without peer review.

“Putin … relied on a handful of long-serving advisers who either shared his flawed assumptions about Ukraine’s ability to resist and the West’s willingness to support it, or had learned a long time ago that it was not career-enhancing to question Putin’s judgment. The results, especially in the first year of the war, were catastrophic for Russia,” said Burns, explaining that Trump was now engaging in his own “strategic self-immolation” by dismantling USAID, Voice of America, and by flushing “50 percent” of the State Department’s budget.

“If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon,” Burns writes. “Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai.”

Read the full Atlantic report at this link.

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Trump gives big promotion to 'dangerous' official who said 'white men must be in charge'

One official in President Donald Trump's administration just got a new job heading up a congressionally funded organization that Trump previously tried to eliminate.

According to a Friday report in Politico, Darren Beattie — who is currently the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs in the U.S. State Department — has been named as the acting president of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). Beattie was a speechwriter in Trump's first administration who was eventually fired after speaking at a white nationalist conference.

In a statement, the State Department said that Beattie will be serving a dual role in the administration, maintaining his role at the State Department while also heading the USIP. The Department stated that it "look[s] forward to seeing [Beattie] advance President Trump’s America First agenda in this new role."

In 2016, Beattie spoke at the H.L. Mencken Club's annual conference (named for the late 19th and early 20th century writer who harbored racist views and railed against democracy) alongside white nationalist activist Peter Brimelow. Brimelow is the founder of the website VDare, which has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. And in 2024, he posted to social media: "competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work."

Beattie's initial hiring at the State Department alarmed multiple lawmakers. In March, 44 Democratic members of the House of Representatives co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging him to fire Beattie, saying his "racist" viewpoints made him "actively dangerous." They cited examples of him heaping praise on China's and Russia's authoritarian governments as "superior to American democracy," and lauded Xi Jinping's regime as one that doesn't "coddle violent third world trash."

Similar to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which Trump also recently defunded with the help of Republicans in Congress), the USIP is an independent organization that receives congressional appropriations. According to its 2023 IRS form, Its most recent president was paid more than $365,000 in total annual compensation. Assuming Beattie is keeping his State Department undersecretary salary of roughly $165,000, he could be reaping a taxpayer-funded salary in excess of $500,000 per year.

Earlier this year, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attempted to zero out the USIP's budget and seize its building. However, a federal judge in May ordered all of the USIP's assets be returned to the organization, ruling that DOGE's actions were illegal. Established in 1984 by the late former President Ronald Reagan, the USIP is dedicated to training people in diplomacy and mediation to de-escalate international conflict. Its 15-member board includes the secretaries of state and defense as well as the president of the National Defense University. The other remaining 12 board members are presidential appointees confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Read Politico's full report by clicking here (subscription required).

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'Shameless mob boss corruption': Critics say State Dept acting as Musk's 'sales force'

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has specifically directed State Department officials to pressure countries challenged by President Donald Trump’s global tariff war to approve deals with Starlink, the satellite internet company led by top Trump donor Elon Musk, according to an exclusive Washington Post report.

“As the government of Lesotho negotiates a trade deal with the United States, it hopes that licensing Starlink demonstrates goodwill and intent to welcome U.S. businesses,” an internal State Department memo obtained by the Post states.

Lesotho is one of more than a half-dozen nations that have approved or are in the process of approving deals with Starlink in efforts to fend off President Trump’s tariffs. There are two distribution deals in India, and “at least partial accommodations with Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam,” likely among others.

One State Department cable signed by Secretary Rubio was an “action request” that cited Starlink “by name” and argued that “U.S. government advocacy is essential to maintain and extend their global ‘first-mover’ advantage.”

The documents that the Post obtained “do not show that the Trump team has explicitly demanded favors for Starlink in exchange for lower tariffs.” But the direct pressure campaign comes “at a moment when the White House is calling for wide-ranging talks on trade.”

One of the people briefed by officials in India told the Post, “It’s not likely to be an explicit element of the trade negotiations with the U.S., but the Indian side sees this as an important lubricant that facilitates a deal.”

The U.S. Department of State did not appear to deny efforts to support and promote Starlink.

“Starlink is an American-made product that has been game-changing in helping remote areas around the world gain internet connectivity,” the State Dept. said in a statement. “Any patriotic American should want to see an American company’s success on the global stage, especially over compromised Chinese competitors.”

Growing adoption of Musk’s Starlink had not previously gone unnoticed.

Last week, in a letter to President Trump, Democratic lawmakers called for an investigation into Elon Musk’s Starlink deals, accusing the billionaire of “the possibility of self-dealing” while in government, NBC News reported. “13 senators led by Mark Warner, D-Va., wrote that Starlink seemed to make sudden breakthroughs this year in at least five countries that previously resisted giving the company footholds there.”

The lawmakers alleged that “Musk is reportedly taking advantage of his government role to coerce concessions from foreign governments for his own benefit, including unfettered market access as well as contracts with his companies, in exchange for favorable treatment by the U.S. government.”

And last month, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (video below), citing a Wall Street Journal report, noted that “Vietnam has been trying to fend off harsh treatment under Trump’s tariffs by number one, buying American jets. Number two, allowing the Starlink Internet service that’s owned by Donald Trump’s top campaign donor, Elon Musk, to operate inside their country.”

“And number three, here’s the kicker: Vietnam also ‘decided to accelerate the approvals for a $1.5 billion Trump resort in Vietnam.'”

Meanwhile, critics are speaking out over the State Department’s reported role.

“More evidence of President Trump’s soft corruption,” claimed the X account for Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats. “Trump is using his power to enrich himself and his friends — allowing Elon Musk to use the State Department as a salesforce for Starlink globally.”

The X account for House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats added, “And there it is. Trump is telling Americans to pay more and buy less because of his reckless tariffs, @SecRubio is apparently leveraging them to make Elon Musk richer. This looks like one big grift for Trump and his MAGA billionaire backers.”

The Atlantic’s David Frum remarked: “The second Trump administration is the most corrupt presidency in American history, more corrupt than the next runner-up: the first Trump administration.”

“This is a huge new scandal,” alleged U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX). “Trump and Musk are using tariffs as leverage to get other countries to buy from Musk’s companies. Working families pay $4,000+ more a year so Musk gets new deals. They get richer. Everyone else gets screwed.”

“Everything is a shake down,” charged former prosecutor, public defender, and Democratic Media consultant David Doak.

“This is what a corrupt oligarchy looks like,” wrote Melanie D’Arrigo, VP of legislation for the NY National Organization for Women.

Public Citizen, the progressive consumer advocacy group and think tank, wrote that “Trump is using official trade policy to promote Musk’s satellite business Starlink. This is a glaring conflict of interest. Government policy should be designed to benefit the American people, not abused for personal tech bro profiteering.”

“Corruption pure and simple!” exclaimed Michael Nelson, a self-described tech policy wonk.

“Clearly the best way for countries to evade tariffs is by licensing Starlink and paying for it in Trump meme coins,” snarked The Bulwark’s Sam Stein.

Jonathan Cohn, the policy director for the nonprofit Progressive Mass called it “shameless mob-boss corruption.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

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'But you're the spokeswoman for the State Department!' CNN host corners Trump official

When asked if Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken recently with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce refused to comment on "what world leaders the secretary speaks to."

"He speaks to multiple world leaders working on the case," she told CNN's Kasie Hunt during an appearance on the channel Monday.

Hunt pressed Bruce, asking if Rubio was still working on the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador.

ALSO READ: 'New Tiffany Trump': Marco Rubio mocked after being given yet another White House role

"I'm not going to speak to his work. I'm not going to speak to the nature of the work," she said.

"But you're the spokeswoman for the State Department," the host said.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I'm the gossiper for the State Department," Bruce responded. "I'm telling you the nature of what it is that I can speak to, and it does not include the day-to-day operations or choices the secretary of state makes."

Earlier, the spokesperson avoided another question Hunt asked about Rubio's ability to serve as Secretary of State and the interim National Security Advisor at the same time. "What is he delegating considering his workload is now at least twice what it was?" the host asked.

"Well, what I can tell you is that I can't get into the details of the choices the secretary makes on a on a moment-by-moment basis, but clearly, the president and the secretary have a very good relationship. They know each other," she said.

"He has been very excited about the trust that the president has placed in him in general, and he's also not someone who's going to do something that if he thinks he can't do it," Bruce said of Rubio.

On Sunday, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told CNN's Jake Tapper that it is "too much" for Secretary of State Marco Rubio to serve as interim National Security Adviser at the same time. “I don't know how anybody could do these two big jobs," he said.

On Thursday, Rubio was appointed as the interim National Security Advisor after President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz from the role.

Watch the video below or at this link.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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