Despite John Kerry being confirmed as the Secretary of State for President Obama’s second term two months ago, numerous senior State Department positions remain unfilled with no plans to fill them in sight. Instead, the White House process for political appointees is moving as “slowly as molasses,” according to State …
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) recently informed its workforce about sequestration cuts to Voice of America’s (VOA) shortwave and medium-wave broadcasting. Ironically, the Board is cutting the most cost-effective part of its organization: radio. It would be more rational to cut the bloated management and administration of the International …
Under President Obama’s leadership, U.S. influence among Middle East nations has waned, and in fact declined since President Bush left office. During last week’s visit to Ramallah, Palestine, Obama was the object of demonstrations by irate Palestinians. They are not alone in their anger over neglect and unfulfilled presidential promises, …
Yesterday, President Obama nominated a new ambassador to Libya to succeed Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the terrorist attack in Benghazi last September 11. Six months after that attack—and two federal investigations later—we still have an alarmingly small amount of information about it. The Obama Administration made quite a …
The revelation that at least one survivor of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi remains hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Hospital has provoked renewed demands for accountability and answers. “Why hasn’t Congress had access to these survivors? Don’t we have an obligation to hear from them and …
The White House reportedly agreed on Friday to provide the Senate Intelligence Committee with documents on the terrorist attack against the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last September. Getting to the bottom of the Benghazi affair has been like pulling teeth ever since that fateful night that cost the …
President Obama’s pick as the next Secretary of Defense is the wrong one. Heritage’s defense and foreign policy experts have examined the record of Chuck Hagel, the Republican former Senator from Nebraska, and concluded he simply does not have the experience and skills for the job. What’s more, his vision …
The Senate’s failure last week to advance the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel to Secretary of Defense was the right result, but for the wrong reason. Some Senators voted against Hagel as a way of pressuring the Obama Administration to answer many troubling and still outstanding questions about the …
A multitude of questions loom over former Senator Chuck Hagel’s (R–NE) nomination process. It is now up to the Obama Administration to ensure that Senators get the answers comprehensively and not in drips and drabs. For one thing, Hagel’s performance during his confirmation hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee …
