It is good to see that the State Department is coming under increased bipartisan scrutiny over the department’s efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Still, lawmakers on the committee expressed concern that military leaders are still performing too many diplomatic jobs that should be the responsibility of officials from other agencies, like the State Department.

“The long-term answers must reflect an integrated approach to foreign assistance and not simply a shift in those types of missions to U.S. military forces,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

“I see the enlistment rates for our soldiers in Iraq are extraordinary … and then read stories about how [the State Department] can’t find 40 people to deploy to the Green Zone. There’s a distinct difference in the attitude and culture in terms of engaging in this enormous challenge to our country.”

Committee Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., noted that the national security structure remains largely unchanged from the 1960s, hardly appropriate for new conflicts such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq. [Stars & Stripes]

This criticism comes on the heels of last years uprising in the State Department against the directed assignments to Iraq that really exposed to the American public the type of people that work in the State Department.  There is clearly a culture of people working  in the State Department that are working at odds to what the nation needs them to do.  That is why I recommend that now is the opportunity to recruit retired and former soldiers to join the State Department in order to change the culture.  A flood of combat veterans into the State Department would break up the status quo and create the bridge between the State Department and the Pentagon needed to ensure smooth joint operations between the two agencies.  The same can be said for other government departments that lawmakers want to deploy experts overseas to conflict zones, start hiring and training vets to be these experts.