Clinton wants retired diplomats back

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a rare public appeal to retired American diplomats on Friday to return to work for short-term assignments to help stabilize and rebuild conflict-torn countries.

Speaking to State Department employees as they marked Foreign Affairs Day, Mrs. Clinton said the Obama administration has “a full agenda,” adding, “and frankly, we could use your help.”

“We need our retired foreign service and civil service employees to assist us, and we actually have a program called WAE When Actually Employed,” she said. “Our coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization, Ambassador John Herbst, is looking for WAEs who are willing to deploy on short notice to work on critical conflict-prevention and post-conflict stabilization missions.”

The State Department has been temporarily employing retired diplomats for years. Significant budget cuts in the 1990s left many positions in the Foreign Service vacant, and recalling retirees was a quick and less expensive solution.

More recently, former department employees have been deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chad and Haiti.

“I hope all of you will think hard about taking advantage of this opportunity, because we have more work than we can say grace over,” Mrs. Clinton said. “We are fully engaged every minute of the day, and we need your experience and expertise for these kind of short-term assignments.”