Some comment on specifics then:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that she will shift hundreds of Foreign Service positions from Europe and Washington to difficult assignments in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere as part of a broad restructuring of the diplomatic corps that she has dubbed "transformational diplomacy."

Well, I don't know about "transformational" blah blah, but getting US diplos out of Berlin and into Baghdad, so to speak, is a good idea. We're not living in 1985, although much of the US overseas presence seems to be predicated on 1985.

The State Department's culture of deployment and ideas about career advancement must alter now that the Cold War is over and the United States is battling transnational threats of terrorism, drug smuggling and disease, Rice said in a speech at Georgetown University. "The greatest threats now emerge more within states than between them," she said. "The fundamental character of regimes now matters more than the international distribution of power."

Well, the last line makes me a bit wary (and weary), as she still seems to be banging on about regimes when she could be thinking of non-regime issues...

But on the other hand, taking back that initial reaction, diplomats deal with regimes. Strike me peevish criticism.

As part of the change in priorities, Rice announced that diplomats will not be promoted into the senior ranks unless they accept assignments in dangerous posts, gain expertise in at least two regions and are fluent in two foreign languages, citing Chinese, Urdu and Arabic as a few preferred examples.

Is there anything to say to this besides "bravo!" - about bloody time as well, but good thing to hear.

Of course this supposes that the rotation system (which I stress I only know from the frequent drunken compliants of my delightfully corrupt diplomatic friends - that reminds me, have to call some favours to get my JV partner over to see me in my dying cancerous state, wouldn't want the project to break down) will be changed - hopefully a thorough going relook.

Rice noted that the United States has nearly as many State Department personnel in Germany -- which has 82 million people -- as in India, with 1 billion people. As a first step, 100 jobs in Europe and Washington will be immediately shifted to expanded embassies in countries such as India, China and Lebanon. Many of these diplomats had been scheduled to rotate into coveted posts in European capitals this summer, and the sudden change in assignment has caused some distress, State Department officials said.

Good.

Of course it is madness to have large diplo staffs in Western Europe now. They really don't add much value at all. Intel is easily gathered via public sources, state-state relations are not that much handled via Embassies per se in these instances, etc.

As for the whinging and distress, as one of my delightfully corrupt drunken US diplo friends said to me (he's left by the way, quit out of frustration with the current bumbling boobs - I add the fellow also had personal photos of him and Reagan, etc.), in complaining of an inability to get out on the street, etc. "People shouldn't take this fucking job if they're afraid of getting whacked." Or something to that effect, not sure if it was whacked he said. Lots of rhum you know.

Hopefully Rice's plans will not be derailed (as hopefully they will be properly planned and not create bizarrely distortive incentives).

Now this is also interesting:

Separately, today Rice plans to unveil a restructuring of U.S. foreign assistance, including announcing the nomination of Randall L. Tobias as the new administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Officials said Rice plans to elevate the USAID post, giving Tobias -- a former Eli Lilly chief executive who now heads the administration's global AIDS relief program -- an office and a planning staff in the State Department. Rice will designate Tobias as having a rank equivalent of deputy secretary of state.

Although the move stops short of merging USAID with State, it is intended to draw the agency closer into the department's fold, the officials said. Additionally, the new director will be given broader authority over a range of foreign assistance accounts now managed by separate entities. "Effectively, this will allow a single person to have visibility into these various accounts," a State official said.

Interesting.

I wonder what this means.

My exposure to US assistance is fairly limited, but it's not hard to see that on the ground USAID and US regular diplos don't get along. I have never quite understood their relationships on any level.

Anticipating such a change, some outside the government have warned that it could result in a greater politicization of foreign assistance. "We're concerned that the same priority won't be given to long-term development as resources are siphoned to support shorter-term diplomatic or military objectives," said Jim Bishop, a senior officer of InterAction, the largest coalition of non-governmental U.S. aid groups.

Whinging.

Assistance is political. Now, if the US process can't distinguish between long term and short term objectives, having some bizarro wall between the diplos and the assistance people is not going to help much overall.

In any case, I rather suspect Bishop is the sound of comfy sinecures being gored.

But State Department officials described the restructuring as necessary to reverse a growing fragmentation of foreign assistance programs in recent years and to ensure more effective and focused spending overseas.

Perhaps knowledgeable readers can comment, but this sounds good to me, and given my outsider's view, needed.

Of course, the US is light years ahead on coherency as compared to the EU. The EU people, who I love dearly, have some of the most bizarrely and stupidly run programs I have ever encountered (although great cash cows). I recall interviewing someone leaving an EU program for a position with my Fund, and in checking references discovering the EU did zero monitoring on performance for his little slush fund. It was... amazing. He seemed honest enough though.

The two announcements -- combined with changes announced Tuesday to streamline the movement of people and goods across U.S. borders -- are intended to fill in the details of Rice's promise to make what she calls transformational diplomacy the hallmark of her tenure as secretary of state.

You know, I am thinking Rice is already proving to be a better chief diplo than Powell.

"These proposals are part of the secretary's continuing strategy to dramatically increase America's engagement and dialogue with the world," said Jim Wilkinson, senior adviser to Rice.

Rice has described the notion of transformational diplomacy as a shift from merely reporting on events to influencing them to foster the growth of democratic states worldwide.

Under the plan outlined yesterday, Rice will expand the U.S. presence by encouraging the spread of new one-person diplomatic outposts, now located in a few cities such as Alexandria, Egypt, and Medan, Indonesia. "There are nearly 200 cities worldwide with over 1 million people in which the United States has no formal diplomatic presence," Rice said. "This is where the action is today."

You know, that's interesting, the one person diplo post concept.

The get out on the ground idea is fundamental.

The move is intended to bring U.S. diplomats -- now often barricaded in fortified embassies -- closer to the mood in the streets.

Well, anyone who has read me for a while has heard me whinge on endlessly about the isolated character of the US diplos work set up as compared to their colleagues.

And as noted, the really active ones don't like it one bit.

The State Department will also expand the use of interactive Web sites maintained by diplomats to communicate with foreign citizens, promote the creation of rapid-reaction forces to deal with regional problems and seek to work more closely with military officers to promote the stability of nations after conflicts, Rice said.

Well, I am impressed. No snide comments from me, Rice has put forth some really quite spanky ideas. This is the kind of shake up the US diplo service badly needs.