Patricia H. Kushlis at WhirledView ("a look at world politics and most everything else") had an update on a sordid tale.
Money quote(s):
"Remember Joan Wadelton’s long running battle against the State Department’s Bureau of Human Resources that I reported here on March 14, 2012?
In case you missed it, the post is well worth reading. But I understand that lots of people did read it because I know that the post entitled “State Department Human Resources – A System Run Amok” circulated widely throughout the State Department, at US Embassies, Consulates and Missions abroad as well as elsewhere.
It is just the latest in a series of WhirledView posts over the last four years on corruption in State's personnel system. I understand that people forwarded it to friends and colleagues. It was also picked up by other blogs with a substantial number of readers throughout the State Department, on the Hill and elsewhere in the foreign affairs and defense communities."
It's not surprising that the original post received such wide readership within the foreign service community; it's our personnel system and we're all customers of it whether we like it or not.
"(S)ome of the major themes that have emerged:
-- All respondents believed what I wrote -- not a single person has tried to rebut anything in the post (or any of my previous posts on the topic);
-- Respondents were horrified by Joan's story and expressed sympathy for her and outrage against her treatment;
-- Several sent me stories about their own problems with State HR. I cannot corroborate the problems or the stories but every one is consistent with what my own separate investigations have uncovered;
-- The single most troubling discovery about State's Office of Inspector General is that rather than engaging in benign neglect – or better yet showing complete impartiality as should be the case -- the OIG comes across as an active and malignant presence in investigations of individual claims against HR’s behavior. This is reinforced by allegations that the OIG's practice of reporting the names of complainants about HR to HR management – rather than to investigate their charges or simply keep the individual’s confidentiality -- has also occurred with complaints filed in other Bureaus."
CAA can state with reasonable confidence that he has received, thus far, correct and proper treatment from HR in terms of assignments and promotions. Possibly because CAA takes some pains to be pseudonymous, of course, but CAA to date has enjoyed a reasonably normal assignments and career progression.
But cases like Joan's reduce my confidence in the system.
