More Military Musicians Than Diplomats
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 09:24 AM
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 09:24 AM
Here's an interesting observation by David J. Kilcullen, a former Australian Army lieutenant colonel who is now a senior counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq:
At present, the U.S. defense budget accounts for approximately half of total global defense spending, while the U.S. armed forces employ about 1.68 million uniformed members. By comparison, the State Department employs about 6,000 foreign service officers, while the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has about 2,000. In other words, the Department of Defense is about 210 times larger than USAID and State combined—there are substantially more people employed as musicians in Defense bands than in the entire foreign service.
(Hat tip: Foreign Policy's Passport blog, via Andrew Sullivan)
Comments
The source for the article was from Australia. If you look at State's own web site you'll see a work force of 80,000. I guess the defination of a diplomat is whether they get invited to the embassy parties
dan ketter | Monday, July 30, 2007 | 12:36 PMThousands of Americans and countless foreigners have died in just the past few years because of a war we shouldn't have started. How many people have been killed through diplomacy?
And the bands play on.
Robert M. | Thursday, July 19, 2007 | 07:48 AMDoD budgets are designed to get Congressmen re-elected by bringing Federal dollars to their constituents. Billion dollar aircraft for the Air Force, billion dollar ships for the Navy, and sprawling military bases in key districts bring those dollars to the Defense Department for re-distribution to contractors who, in turn, give massive amounts of money to re-election campaigns. It's a self licking ice cream cone.
Allen | Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 03:52 PMHow many diplomats does Al Qaeda have? You still don't get it.
Steven | Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 11:36 AMNot surprising, considering our affinity towards solving problems by force instead of by diplomacy. Who cares about diplomacy when you can turn their country into a parking lot? We certainly don't. Or at least that's the image every other nation has of us.
former CBP employee | Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 09:48 AMABOUT THIS BLOG
Government Executive Editor Tom Shoop takes a look at news and events affecting the federal bureaucracy, from the perspective of a longtime observer of government.
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