Biden nominates a career diplomat to serve in Thailand

[webfact]

The US flag is reflected on the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, on March 1, 2022, ahead of US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address from the US Capitol (rear). (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP)

 

The White House announced today (Saturday) that Robert F. Godec, a career diplomat, is to be the next ambassador to Thailand.

 

The position has been vacant for over a year, after Michael DeSombre, who was appointed by the Trump administration, stepped down in January 2021. Michael Heath, chargés d’affaires at the US Embassy, has served as acting ambassador since then.

 

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Godec currently serves as Senior Coordinator for Afghanistan in the US bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration at the State Department. Previously, he served as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs. Prior to that, he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs.

 

Godec was also Deputy Commandant and International Affairs Advisor at the National War College. He was U.S. Ambassador to Kenya from 2013 to 2019. Godec was also chargés d’affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy Nairobi, Kenya in 2012.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/biden-nominates-a-career-diplomat-to-serve-in-thailand/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-04-02

 

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[Rig Pig]

Anything is better than that idiot Heath!!!

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The White House announced today (Saturday) that Robert F. Godec, a career diplomat, is to be the next ambassador to Thailand.

A career diplomat... another yes man?

[Rimmer]

Troll post removed

[John Drake]

15 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

A career diplomat... another yes man?

He does appear to be another time server with no direct access to the president's ear. At least I hope it sends Heath back to Chiang Mai. Will be interesting to see if this new guy gets the same royal treatment the new Chinese and Russian ambassadors have received. That will tell us a lot.

[John Drake]

Geez, this guy looks like he's a homeless person. Photo from the State Dept. 

[placeholder]

35 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

A career diplomat... another yes man?

Most rational complaints about the appointment system of US ambassadors is that it's politically tainted. People with no diplomatic experience are appointed as reward for contributing large sums of money to one party or the other.. It takes a very special kind of thinking to criticize appointees on the grounds that they are professionals.

[placeholder]

30 minutes ago, John Drake said:

He does appear to be another time server with no direct access to the president's ear. At least I hope it sends Heath back to Chiang Mai. Will be interesting to see if this new guy gets the same royal treatment the new Chinese and Russian ambassadors have received. That will tell us a lot.

You would honestly expect an ambassador to Thailand to have direct access to the President's ear? How many ambassadors do you think could actually enjoy the privilege of bypassing the Secretary of State? Any?  Yours is the kind of comment one would expect from someone who has no understanding of what it takes to run a large organization..

[Moonlover]

19 minutes ago, TheScience said:

He has zero experience in East Asia.

Pardon me?

 

'Assistant Office director for Thailand and Burma, in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Director for Southeast Asian Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative'.

[zzaa09]

8 minutes ago, placeholder said:

You would honestly expect an ambassador to Thailand to have direct access to the President's ear? How many ambassadors do you think could actually enjoy the privilege of bypassing the Secretary of State? Any?  Yours is the kind of comment one would expect from someone who has no understanding of what it takes to run a large organization..

....and then one could truly ask themselves the real reasoning and placement for diplomatic missions. 

[ThailandRyan]

He was also the Ambassador to Tunisia from 2006 to 2009 which borders Algeria and Libya, so he was around during the Khaddaffi Regime and left before Libya had it's uprising.  Tunisia is an important location for the US because it is Strategically centrally located in the Mediterranean Area.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Godec

 

Robert Frank Godec (born 1956)[1] is an American diplomat who served as the United States ambassador to Kenya from 2013 to 2019 and the United States ambassador to Tunisia from 2006 to 2009.[2][3][4] He served as acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs from January to September 2021.[5] He is the current nominee to be the next United States Ambassador to Thailand.

 

As Thailand is a strategic location for the US, maybe he will do the same as he did in Tunisia and write important cables discussing the corruption of the Thai Government as he did in regards to the then Tunisian President

 

[Sheryl]

A number iof trolling posts and replies to same have been removed

[ThailandRyan]

20 minutes ago, TheScience said:

Sorry, I'm throughly non plussed.

 

Senior Coordinator

Assistant

 

Secretary of State ***for the Bureau of African Affairs. ***

Deputy Assistant Secretary

 

Deputy Commandant and International Affairs Advisor - academic position.

 

Interim chargés d’affaires Nairobi.

 

Bureau position: Assistant Office director for Thailand and Burma

 

Director for Southeast Asian Affairs - Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

 

Meh. He'll be nothing for US and less so for expats.

Did you miss the 2 Ambassador posts he held?

Tunisa, and Kenya

 

He has been a career diplomat working in a number of positions and locales that do give his new appointment creedence.  Everyone needs to wait and see what he can do, will do, or won't do.

[Walker88]

1 hour ago, placeholder said:

Most rational complaints about the appointment system of US ambassadors is that it's politically tainted. People with no diplomatic experience are appointed as reward for contributing large sums of money to one party or the other.. It takes a very special kind of thinking to criticize appointees on the grounds that they are professionals.

There is a very good reason why ambassadors appointed to major posts are selected....it costs a lot of money to be the ambassador to most major nations. Access to the POTUS is an added plus, but---for example---the US Ambassador to the Court of St James (the UK) is out of pocket maybe $20 million per year. Most of the entertaining ambassadors do is out of their own pocket, not foisted on the taxpayer. The Amb to the UK is quite often a billionaire.

 

Posts at smaller, less significant nations are usually filled by a career diplomat, who is not---contrary to another poster here---a 'yes man'. Most have done good work in other posts. Often they have specific direct knowledge of the nation and its issues, but generally those appointed just have a good record of leadership and management skills. Obviously this isn't always the case, but more often than not it is.

 

Expats tend to have an incorrect impression of the job as well as what aid they can expect from an embassy. Some expats think embassies are responsible for them. One hears things like "I pay my taxes so the embassy owes me blah blah blah", when in fact few expats pay much tax. Of course citizens who are not expats but just at home would beef that 'some guy who chose to go to Country X expects my tax dollars to support him or get him out of trouble'. So you see....it depends on where one views the issue.

 

Any embassy is going to have senior people who fill in for any knowledge an ambassador may lack. There's always a Political Counselor, Economic, Commercial, Consular, Chief of Station, etc., who represent the collective knowledge. Getting into the foreign policy arm of the govt is an onerous process, requiring a great deal of varied knowledge. Agency folks not only must pass knowledge tests, but also IQ tests, psychological evaluation, and a rigorous security check.

 

All appointees---career or FOP (Friend of POTUS) must turn in a resignation upon Administration change. The resignation need not be accepted, though all political appointees are accepted.

 

Occasionally some Ambassadors royally mess up...such as when Amb Lewis (to the UK) remained on holiday when the Falkland War began, while recently the US Amb to Germany was about as ill qualified, inept, and offensive as any Ambassador had ever been. He was then appointed to head the DNI and was tasked with trying to collect names of deep cover assets in certain countries (Russia). The IC, of course, thwarted his efforts, as he had no need to know and it was assumed the covert assets would be given to the then POTUS, who would give them to his friend putin.

[unblocktheplanet]

Wonder if Thailand is a step up or down from Kenya...

[Caldera]

15 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Wonder if Thailand is a step up or down from Kenya...

I'd say it's a step up, but both don't sound like first-rate postings. ????

[jerrymahoney]

1 hour ago, Caldera said:

I'd say it's a step up, but both don't sound like first-rate postings. ????

The U.S. Mission in Thailand is one of the largest in the world and, in addition to its Embassy offices, is comprised of several United States government agencies:

 

Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS)
Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS)
Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
The Foreign Agricultural Services (FAS)
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
International Law Enforcement Academy Bangkok (ILEA)
Joint US Military Advisory Group Thailand (JUSMAGTHAI)
Orderly Departure Program
Peace Corps Thailand
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
U.S. Commercial Service
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Voice of America

https://th.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulate/bangkok/us-agencies/

 

 

[Saanim]

1 hour ago, Caldera said:

I'd say it's a step up, but both don't sound like first-rate postings. ????

For some it was just a stopover on the way to CIA

[Jingthing]

Happy to hear its a career diplomatic  That political appointment from Mr  Trump was vomitous.

[bangkokbonecollector]

Seems like a good choice for what is fast becoming a very important region and country.

[unblocktheplanet]

1 hour ago, bangkokbonecollector said:

Seems like a good choice for what is fast becoming a very important region and country.

You mean the US? They used to be. Sort of on the way out now.

[bangkokbonecollector]

1 hour ago, unblocktheplanet said:

You mean the US? They used to be. Sort of on the way out now.

No I mean Thailand.

[Tug]

On 4/2/2022 at 2:07 AM, John Drake said:

He does appear to be another time server with no direct access to the president's ear. At least I hope it sends Heath back to Chiang Mai. Will be interesting to see if this new guy gets the same royal treatment the new Chinese and Russian ambassadors have received. That will tell us a lot.

Ahhh what a difference an election makes!im 100% sure that if the ambassador needs to talk with president Biden the Biden team will make sure he has the presidents ear good to see qualified people beeing placed were needed

[JimGant]

19 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

Those are just tenants in the Embassy buildings.

Yeah, but they're treated so badly -- their offices don't even have windows.

[JimGant]

On 4/2/2022 at 5:48 PM, Walker88 said:

for example---the US Ambassador to the Court of St James (the UK) is out of pocket maybe $20 million per year. Most of the entertaining ambassadors do is out of their own pocket, not foisted on the taxpayer. The Amb to the UK is quite often a billionaire.

Or not..... One of the best recent ambassadors to the UK, politically appointed by Clinton, was retired Admiral William Crowe (Chairman of JCS under Reagan and HW Bush). Hardly a billionaire -- six figure estate, at best. But certainly a quality politically appointed ambassador -- moreso, I would think, than Shirley Temple and Caroline Kennedy.

 

Having said that, a career diplomat would seem, in most cases, a better choice to be better able to efficiently run a diplomatic post.

[SidJames]

I would have though that this person would fit in very well over here could advise on all things naval & seamen.

https://twitter.com/cold957/status/1510260785469079557

[jerrymahoney]

57 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Yeah, but they're treated so badly -- their offices don't even have windows.

So what? All they need to help them get a view is up on the roof.

[Rimmer]

Off topic posts and replies removed