Tim Burchett Grills Witness About State Dept Facilities That Fail To Benefit ‘Diplomatic Mission’

3/31/2025

During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) questioned Michael Polt, a former U.S. ambassador, about improving the State Department’s efficiency.

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Transcript

00:00I now recognize for five minutes the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Burchett.

00:07Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for being here. You don't have to adjust your mics.

00:13This is the way we talk in East Tennessee. It's the only place in America where people

00:17don't speak with an accent, so thank you all. I never know what Lawler's saying. I just look at

00:23him. If our eyes meet, I figure he's talking to me, but I can't never figure out what the heck

00:27he's saying. What did you just say? Yeah, see? There you go. Hey, leave the comedy to me, Lawler.

00:33Anyway, Mr. Chairman, could you give me the... I'm sorry, not Mr. Chairman, but

00:42you know you got me all confused. Could one of y'all tell me the role and the function of the

00:47Bureau of Administration, and what services does it specifically provide for the State Department?

00:54Just give it to me from the heart. You don't have to read something, ma'am. Just tell me what

00:57you think. How about that? Sure. I would say the A Bureau is certainly a collection of interesting

01:04operational functions that are the backbone of the State Department and the operational

01:09services there. Again, as mentioned, travel services is certainly one of those, but logistics

01:15management is a big category. Records management and privacy mandates and FOIA is another one that

01:22people obviously think of. Contracting and procurement is a huge part of what the A Bureau

01:27does, and then real property is certainly something. But we also oversees the overseas school

01:33program, which making sure that those that serve overseas with their families, that their

01:37children can attend schools that are up to U.S. standards and give them the support that they

01:44need for the education of their children. We also do things like language interpretation and

01:49translation. It's far and wide. I kind of always make the joke there was this old life cereal

01:55commercial, like, give it to Mikey, he'll eat it. The A Bureau is kind of that model, quite frankly.

02:00It is the place that lots of little programs that maybe a lot of people don't think about go

02:05that support the State Department as a whole. Sir, would you add or detract anything from that?

02:11Well, the first thing I would like to add, Mr. Bouchet, is that I appreciate the way you talk,

02:16because I'm a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, despite my accent,

02:20which is obviously not from Tennessee. Go Vols. What year was that?

02:231977, the year I joined the Foreign Service. Let's see, I was... Wait, so you had 97. No,

02:30my dad was Dean of Student Conduct back then. I doubt he saw you then either. You were probably

02:34one of those overachievers. But he also had the Freshman Honor Society, so I don't know if he

02:39saw you there either. Let me skip around a little bit. Do you think that the State Department is

02:49maintaining facilities that provide little or no benefit to its diplomatic mission? Because I know

02:56we're looking into a lot now at waste and things, and I don't want you to be critical, but I would

03:02like to know if you could see some efficiencies there. I'll speak from my perspective, of course.

03:08I'm happy to have my colleague be much more specific, because she was in charge of the real

03:13estate of the department. I know that there's a plan, or at least some consideration being given

03:21right now, to streamlining our overseas presence in terms of, do we need to have consulates in

03:26various parts of various countries? Can we close smaller posts? Can we go ahead and create more

03:32efficiencies by not being everywhere? First of all, I would certainly recommend and advocate

03:38that we maintain the principle of universality in terms of being present in every country

03:43in which the United States has diplomatic relations. That does not mean that we have to

03:47have a gigantic presence or that we have to have multiple consulates in the same country,

03:53but the embassy can be the focal point of the U.S. diplomatic presence and representing U.S.

03:59interests. So in that context, taking a close look at the multiple consular posts we might have in

04:05certain countries, particularly in the more advanced countries or the more modern parts of

04:11the world, and also whether every agency that is represented overseas needs to be overseas to go

04:19ahead and perform the function on behalf of the American people. In other words, does every agency

04:24right now that has a perch in certain places, can it be done from either regional offices or can it

04:30be done from back in the United States versus having it done in an overseas location? So in

04:35that sense, I think it's very worthwhile to look at efficiencies, not to sort of say, no, we have

04:40to have everything just the way it is, but I would always do it with the consideration of let's not

04:47move the United States out of countries altogether in which we know that Chinese and other interests

04:52will very quickly fill the vacuum that we need. Real quick, you mentioned Chinese, something I

04:57have a real passion for, and I'm not sure if it's with you all or not, is reclaiming desert areas

05:04all across the continent of Africa. Everybody thinks Africa is a country, it's a continent,

05:08but they are reclaiming the desert through a process or several process, don't need to go

05:14into it. And I'm wondering, is that a function that you all would help facilitate through

05:21grants or something like that? In other words, the question being would we...

05:25We don't do it, the Chinese are going to do it. In other words, should we be competing everywhere

05:30in the world, including on the area that you just mentioned right now? My strong recommendation is

05:35categorically so. We should not let Belt and Road be the effort that sort of rules the

05:42roost around the world without the United States being present. I'm way over my time,

05:46but if you all know somebody who's involved with that, if you all could get with me, I would really

05:49love to be involved in that. Yes, sir. It's not worth a vote for me, but I could sleep well at

05:54night knowing that we did something. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm way over, but thank you, brother.

Tim Burchett Grills Witness About State Dept Facilities That Fail To Benefit ‘Diplomatic Mission’

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