“We’ve been looking for the enemy for some time now. We’ve finally found him. We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.” –BGen Lewis B. Puller, USMC, said during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, Korea.
There’s an old Marine Corps sea story that after the WW II Battle of Guadalcanal, a reporter asked Chesty how he managed administrative demands while leading 1/7 (First Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment) during the heat of battle.
As the tale goes, Chesty responded with words to the effect of, “My left top pocket was my inbox, my top right pocket was my outbox.”
While America is light years from slaying the bureaucratic beast à la Chesty, there’re still some signs of improvement.
Not exactly the sexiest or most titillating story coming out of DC today, the left-of-center news site The Free Press cites both the NY Times and the Washington Post (both behind those darn paywalls) that Pres. Trump’s State Department will be giving the axe to 132 various agencies, commissions, bureaus and councils.
Curiously enough, Free Press reporters Gabe Kaminsky and Madeleine Rowley are attempting to sell the notion that the State Dept. going from 734 to 602 layers of a stinking onion is a bad thing.
As reported (emphasis mine);
The Trump administration has begun an aggressive shake-up at the State Department that will close 132 agency offices, including those launched to further human rights, advance democracy overseas, counter extremism, and prevent war crimes.
The plans to reorganize the leading foreign policy agency in the United States are outlined in internal documents obtained by The Free Press. They show how the State Department will eliminate or restructure hundreds of offices in Washington, D.C.—a revelation that comes after reports in recent weeks of a rumored overhaul at the agency. The State Department is bringing its number of offices down from 734 to 602, a 17 percent reduction.
Separately, under secretaries at the State Department are also being instructed within 30 days to present plans to reduce their U.S. personnel in individual departments by 15 percent, according to a senior State Department official. These include six top offices employing thousands of people. The reorganization comes as the Trump administration seeks to drastically reduce the size and scope of the federal government.
As reporters Kaminsky and Rowley bemoan the soon-to-happen demise of a handful of specific agencies, such as the impressive sounding (but dubious, at best);
- Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights
- Office of Global Criminal Justice
- Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO)
- Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) activities at the Bureau of Counterterrorism
Kaminsky and Rowley somehow managed to treat an internal memo at the Washington Post as if were fact;
Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported on an internal memo that said the White House’s budget office was considering asking Congress to close the CSO as part of a separate proposal. The proposal would reduce the agency’s budget by $27 billion.
I just have to ask the question, does the openly Left-Wing media really think we’re all nothing more than a bunch of gullible mouth-breathers?
Yes… yes they do.