Customer Reviews

Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America's Security

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I thought I'd hate this book, I'm not a conservative (would actually classify myself as more of a liberal) and I generally don't like political books, but I couldn't put it down. It's not sensationalistic or tabloidy, just good, hard-nosed reporting. From how the State Department supported the Taliban to how it gave $10,000 bonuses for "outstanding performance" to the executives in charge of giving visas to the 9/11 terrorists, Dangerous Diplomacy makes me afraid of my own government. And in case you don't believe Mowbray, there is a documents section at the end filled with classified memos that prove, in black-and-white, that the State Department has its own agenda.

Mowbray tells the tale of a government department woefully out-of-control. One amazing chapter details Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State, Charles Shultz testing the loyalties of Foreign Service operatives. All to often they would be more interested in helping their host country than serving the interests of the United States.

Mowbray was briefly detained by the State Department last year. That detainment certainly spurred the reporter to dig deeper into the problems at State. I bet they wish they could go back and undo that mistake.

If you've been following the war on terrorism, you owe it to yourself to read this book and find out if the entire government is united in that goal or not. I definitely recommend this book.

A hard-hitting eye-opener that documents our State Department's Arabist elite's us versus them orientation (no, no, it's not the pro-America us against the terrorists and their supporters you might expect in a time of war!). Given the large number of State Department heroes who lost their lives in service to America, the Arabist's attitude is baffling. Hard to come away from the book with a good feeling about State's current crop of a virtually unaccountable putative elite.

In this staccato burst book, Mr. Mowbray tells his perspective of many damning stories of the Department of State (DOS). His view is shaped by the formative experience he had of being detained by DOS security personnel for having the temerity to question a DOS spokesman on expedited visas in Saudi Arabia, and the lack of bureaucratic accountability.

Mr. Mowbray in eleven concise chapters, attacks DOS on several fronts--but his overarching theme is that DOS needs to remember why they exist--to advocate AMERICAN foreign policy aims, here and abroad. Mowbrays's contention is that DOS careerists frequently "go native" or display extreme "Stockholm syndrome" towards their target countries, and they forget that "their country" is not the country to which they have most recently been accredited as diplomats, or spent a lifetime studying and living in. DOS and their career Foreign Service Officers exist for one simple purpose: to get "on message" with the long term interests of the US, and advocate for them.

In every story, there are at least three sides--my side, your side, and the truth. One should read "Dangerous Diplomacy" with at least one arched eyebrow, wondering what the "rest of the story" is. Nonetheless, Mowbray's telling of the DOS failure to pressure Saudi Arabia, whether over general human rights issues, or terrorism, or kidnapped US children, has a great deal of truth in its perceptions. I have spent a great deal of time in the Middle East--and repeatedly US government officials are kowtowing to Saudis.

It is important to remember that nations have neither permanent friends nor permanent enemies, they have only permanent interests, as Chaim Herzog famously put it. We have very little in shared interest with Saudi Arabia--and once the oil is gone, and Americans have succesfully invented the next great source of cheap, plentiful, renewable energy, that list of common interests will get even smaller.

Mowbray's insightful observations about DOS "kultur" are spot on--they all want to get along, and avoid confrontation, as though somehow a healthy sense of outrage and anger from time to time is not allowable. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can be either Chamberlain-esque, or Thatcher-esque. I suspect that the great majority of the careerists at DOS routinely had their lunch money taken, glasses stolen, and were picked last to play on the kickball team in school--and never got over it. They want to use their words, as though words have some sort of long term productive value. The only words they should remember come from Cicero: Leges silent inter arma.

Lastly, I think a modest proposal would help readjust the bore sight for DOS. Every time diplomacy fails, and as a result, violent conflict ensues, the top five DOS employees for that region should be taken down to Grant's tomb at noon on the first Tuesday of the following month, and fired, publicly, for their failure. Sometimes, a good confrontation is just what's needed--DOS would do well to learn this.

In my opinion, the book was well written and Mowbray certainly deserves some credit for uncovering and publicizing the Visa Express Program. I always thought that the State Department's official policy is based on reciprocity. US-citizens do not require visa for a significant number of countries, and in some cases the policy is unilateral, meaning citizens of some countries (Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America, South America, Africa, most countries in Asia) do require a visa to enter the US while US citizens are exempt from such requirement. Not with Saudi Arabia. There have never been any tourist visas or Visa Express Program for US-citizens wishing to visit Saudi Arabia. You can only visit Saudi Arabia for Hajj but only if you are Muslim. Non-Muslim are barred from entering Mecca, as Mowbray correctly points out in his book.

While Saudi Arabia was not officially part of the Visa Waiver Program, Saudi citizens were literally given an unhindered entry through the INS (now BCIS) door and on 911 they entered directly through many windows killing 3.000 people.
Saudi Arabia is clearly an enemy of the United States and it is time the USG comes to term with this new post-911 reality. It is time for American people to realize that Saudi Arabia is an oppressive regime clouded in hatred against Western freedom and values. Anybody coming to the US can practice whatever religion he likes. This isn't the case in most Arab countries, and in particular Saudi Arabia, where even possession of BIBLE is considered crime punishable by severe sentence!!!
Saudi Arabia is run by somebody who was born in desert, has no formal education, speaks no English, and spends most of time riding camels in the middle of nowhere. And he needs more and more the support of the Unites States if he wants to stay in power, certainly more than we need Saudi Arabia.

Joel Mowbray comes out in a tour de force with "Dangerous Diplomacy." I have worked with the State Department in the context of international child abduction cases, an issue that State takes the lead on within the US government, and his description of their handling of the phenomenon in the chapter "Cold Shoulder: State's Smallest Victim's" is excellent. Likewise his treatment of many of our FSO's (Foreign Service Officers) and their prioritizing of their own interests in foreign countries above that of America's interests abroad and the general "culture of State" is excellent. Don't be fooled by the anonymous one star reviews that are probably attempts by one of America's biggest and most well-funded and powerful bureaucracies to defend itself from one of its most vocal and articulate critics.

Mowbray ran afoul of State in the context of the Visa Express scandal where State expedited the visas of most of the 9/11 terrorists as part of their program to appease our "strategic ally" of Saudi Arabia. Mowbray rightfully deserves credit for exposing that scandal and goes on to detail how many of State's FSO's dedicated to Saudi Arabia take lucrative "consulting" positions once they retire from US "service."

If you're an American dealing with the State Department and trying to understand why they seem to have their collective head up the proverbial backside of foreign governments (because a kiss is never enough) this is the book for you.

Joel Mowbray clearly has a point of view, but his reporting is solid. He exposed how our embassy in Riyadh had such a lax visa issuance policy that 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers were able to gain entry into our country by clearly lying on their visa forms. That's a public service. At times, Mowbray is too monolithic in his conclusions about the foreign service, which has many well intentioned members, but this is an important book to understand how our diplomacy often veers from the best intentions of our political leadership. I say this as a former member of the State Department press corps.

...that the State Department, by arresting Joel Mowbray (over some supposed leaks), gave him the name recognition to sell this book. Prior to that arrest there really wasn't anyone who's job description was "high profile State Department basher", and now there's Joel Mowbray. This book is the perfect answer to a State Department which showed as little wisdom in arresting him as it does in everything else it handles.

Disclosure: I am and have been a big fan of Joel Mowbray's reporting. I had known of some of the things that Mowbray writes about, but there were, nevertheless, many new revelations and anecdotes that were fascinating and quite shocking. If you think you know anything about the State Department, you need to read this book. I do wish Mowbray had spent more time on former State employees that find well-paid jobs with foreign governments immediately after leaving their State Department jobs. In my opinion, the promise of a big paycheck from a foreign government as a show of appreciation for services rendered while employed by State is a key factor in what makes State tick. I was especially dissappointed that Mowbray did not quote Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, who once said something to the effect that "we know how to reward those who are helpful to us at State, and they are aware of our willingness to show gratitude," (I am just paraphrasing, but the actual quote was along those lines).

Although Mowbray attempts to recommend some fixes toward the end of the book, the hopelessness of the situation becomes apparent. Also, being four years old now, it is in need of a revised edition covering Condolesa Rice's tenure at State, which, as Mowbray would no doubt have expected, has been no better than most of her predecessors.

Dangerous Diplomacy is a great read for people like me who are new to political books. It wasn't intimidating and I could not put it down. It's filled with interesting and sometimes scary stories and anecdotes that really caught and kept my attention. I look forward to reading more by Mr. Mowbray in the future.
TB