Budget Dip Decimates Diplomats

Dec. 12, 2007— -- Just weeks after the State Department threatened to order diplomats to serve in Iraq because not enough had volunteered, the department is facing another major staffing shortage.

Foreign Service Director Gen. Harry Thomas informed employees today that insufficient resources will force it to leave several jobs open next year in order to fill what he calls "priority positions," such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thomas' unclassified internal memo, titled "2008 Foreign Service Assignments, Deficits, and Tough Choices Ahead," which ABC News has obtained, says that approximately 10 percent of mainly midlevel positions will be temporarily "frozen" starting next year because of budget shortfalls that resulted in reduced staffing.

"We must focus our resources on our most important foreign policy priorities," Thomas' memo said. "If we cannot fill every position around the world, we must fill those that are our highest priorities, including continued development of our language cadre."

Thomas blamed the staffing shortfall on budget restrictions.

"The president's budget has included requests for several hundred foreign service positions each year, but since 2004 we have not received authorization or funding for any positions outside of security and consular functions."

"At the same time, our requirements and training needs, particularly in hard and superhard languages, have proliferated. We are, therefore, operating with significantly fewer people than positions," the memo said.

Early in her tenure as secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice announced she would overhaul the foreign service, downsizing the U.S. diplomatic presence in Europe and shifting those positions to boost staffing in the Middle East, Africa and other hot spots around the world.

In his letter Thomas acknowledged that filling some of those diplomatic posts at 100 percent staffing has led to shortages elsewhere.

"Critical new requirements (e.g., Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya) and a growing number of one-year jobs have translated into serious deficits in some grades, cones and specialist skill codes," Thomas noted, referring to the particular ranks and skill sets required for certain jobs.