The Foreign Service Journal, June 2019

14 JUNE 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Department of Justice, Claiborne failed to report multiple contacts with PRC intel- ligence agents, who gave her and her fam- ily members “tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and benefits,” including tuition at a Chinese fashion school for a family mem- ber, a furnished apartment and cash. Sentencing in the case has been scheduled for July 9. The maximum statu- ary penalty is five years in prison. Legislation to Defend U.S. Citizens and Diplomatic Staff in Turkey O n April 9 Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) introduced the Defending United States Citizens and Diplomatic Staff from Politi- cal Prosecutions Act of 2019 to address the ongoing wrongful detentions of U.S. citizens and diplomatic staff by the Gov- ernment of Turkey. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who has actively supported efforts to secure the release of political prisoners around the world, is an original co-sponsor of the legislation, along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). The bill would require the U.S. administration to impose sanctions on all senior Turkish officials responsible for the wrongful detention of U.S. citizens Guilty Plea for Former State OMS C andace Claiborne, a former State Department office management specialist, pleaded guilty April 24 to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, by lying to law enforce- ment and background investigators, and hiding her extensive contacts with, and gifts from, agents of the People’s Republic of China, in exchange for providing them with internal documents from the U.S. State Department. The 63-year-old Claiborne began working as an OMS in 1999 and was posted in Baghdad, Khartoum, Sudan, Beijing and Shanghai. According to the We Are Not Going to Approve This Budget Reduction I don’t know if I speak for every member of the committee, but I certainly speak for myself, for sure, and most of us. We are not going to approve this budget reduction. It’s insane, it makes no sense, it makes us less safe. I don’t know who writes these things over in the White House, but they clearly don’t understand the value of soft power. If you’re going to win this war, you better be on the ground, and you better have something to offer other than the terrorists,which is a hopeful life vs. a glorious death. So I am confident this committee will restore the 23 percent cut below the 2019 enacted level. Again, to me, from the administration’s point of view, this is a very short-sighted approach to the problems we have in the world. If you don’t have some developmental aid available to you, you better really build a military a lot bigger than it is today because that is the only option left to you. —Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in his opening statement at a SFOPS hearing on the FY20 Budget Request for USAID, on April 30. Bipartisan Support for Soft Power I believe in our strong power by ultimately believing in our soft power. I think General Mattis said it best when he testified before this committee and at least one other by say- ing that if you want to cut our foreign aid bud- get, buy me more bullets. It is not directed at you, Mr. Green. I’ve known you a long time. I know your feelings; you are here to represent the administration’s budget, but I think we have a number of things we are going to want to say about that budget as we go forward. One of the things Senator Graham and I have done, and before him Senator McConnell and I, is try to get this bill out with strong bipar- tisan support because USAID and our soft power should not be a partisan issue; it should be an American issue, and we are going to try to keep it that way. —Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in his opening statement at the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the FY20 Budget Request for USAID, on April 30. Heard on the Hill JOSH