WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement today on the newly released report by the State Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG) into politically-motivated retaliation against career Department employees within the Bureau of International Organization Affairs:
“Today, the OIG substantiated many of the concerns State Department employees have raised with the Committee since day one of the Trump presidency. Left to its own devices, the Trump Administration has had no limits or shame in how they’ve targeted career employees because of a perceived political preference or otherwise mistreated them, a problem that has been compounded by the inability or unwillingness of both Secretaries Pompeo and Tillerson to stop this behavior.
“Politicizing our national security puts America’s safety at risk. Creating a hostile environment at the State Department, discriminating against loyal public servants, and retaliating against those deemed not loyal is a cancer at the State Department and for career employees across the government. More to the point, this OIG investigation makes clear the Administration has undermined American interests and values and placed our nation in harm’s way. For that they must be held to account - by Congress now and by the American people next year.
“As the committees of jurisdiction continue our bicameral efforts to uncover the extent of the politicization of our national security, the OIG must swiftly publish its second report on retaliation at the State Department without further delay.”