"Well, you would have an interagency process to vet policy ideas. You'd have extensive consultations with allies. You would prepare the field with a lot of expertise and with high-level envoys who have been confirmed by the Senate into roles for which they are accountable, none of which is happening."
"So we have this very different administration that doesn't really believe in expertise, thinks a lot of the government is against them, and you have a president who is very much into personal diplomacy. We heard Greg Myre say that he wants to play a leading role in major, major issues. And we should be frank, in this administration, one person's opinion matters. In fact, one person's most recent attitude matters."
Standard national-security practice involves an interagency process to vet policy, extensive consultations with allies, and deployment of experienced, Senate-confirmed envoys who are accountable. Current practice replaces those routines with ad hoc, personalized diplomacy that sidelines institutional expertise and formal consultation. High-level meetings and negotiations proceed without coordinated preparation, reducing accountability and operational readiness. Public-facing actions have included senior officials not addressing key security threats at major conferences and not participating in allied meetings. The result is increased reliance on a small circle of trusted individuals to lead major foreign-policy initiatives, with uneven preparation and allied coordination.
Read at www.npr.org
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