Alarm in US civil service as Trump fails to consult on policy decisions
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DISSENT began building at the US State Department soon after President Donald Trump signed an executive order late on Friday to limit immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Opposition mounted through the weekend as a draft memo criticizing Trump’s policy was written up in Washington and circulated by e-mail to US diplomatic posts around the world, according to officials involved in the effort.
By Monday, two of the officials said they had considered withdrawing their names from the document, fearing a backlash.
On Tuesday, just 12 days into Trump’s presidency, the memo with some 900 signatures was delivered to the State Department policy planning office and from there to other top officials, according to an insider.
Sources said this was an unprecedented number of names on a memo sent through the department’s formal “dissent channel.”
The memo is just one example of the alarm and, in some cases, resistance spreading within the federal bureaucracy as Trump’s administration makes sharp policy turns while ignoring some of the agencies charged with implementation, according to interviews with more than 20 current and former US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity and in some cases asked that their departments not be identified.
Still fearful of recriminations, one official said some diplomats discussed whether they could qualify for professional liability insurance, which would cover legal costs in the case of disciplinary action, through the American Foreign Service Association union.
The White House did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment.
Earlier, when the existence of the memo surfaced, White House spokesman Sean Spicer warned that anyone at the State Department who questioned Trump’s immigration policies “should either get with the program, or they can go.”
Elsewhere in the federal bureaucracy, officials have hastily saved scientific research and public information on climate change and other issues, fearing the new administration would strip it from their websites.
Officials have also set up alternative Twitter accounts to criticize the administration.
Other officials have begun debating whether to quit.
Some said that, while the administration’s policies concerned them, they are more worried that Trump might try to ignore legal and legislative restraints on presidential power.
Trump upset many by signing his controversial executive order on immigration without consulting key agencies and members of Congress.
“When they try to ram through things that have foreign policy and national security implications, it demands consultation,” said an official who worked in a part of the government charged with implementing the immigration order. “But there was no meaningful consultation, despite what they said.”
A civil servant at the Federal Communications Commission said he was considering quitting, citing a fear widespread at the agency “of being cut out of the decision-making processes.”
Most new presidents, particularly Republicans, who favor limited government, tussle with the federal bureaucracy.
Early in his tenure, Ronald Reagan fired 11,000 air traffic controllers, all federal employees, after they ignored his order to return to work.
But Philip Wallach, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, said Trump’s apparent hostility to those who must implement his policies was in a different league.
“There certainly is something about Trump’s chip-on-the-shoulder attitude that makes it seem like he’s itching for a potential long-term fight with the bureaucracy, rather than something he works to develop a smooth relationship with,” he said.
Several government managers said they have advised their employees not to react so early in Trump’s presidency.
“Some of the things Trump is doing are foolish and make no sense from a management perspective,” said a State Department official who supervises scores of civil servants.
“But I’ve told my folks to be professional and stay calm — don’t panic,” the official said. “What else can I tell them? Someone needs to be an adult. Otherwise, we’d have chaos.”
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