America First Legal's Senior Counsel, James Rogers, is testifying today before the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence in Washington, D.C. The hearing focuses on "Deficient, Enfeebled, and Ineffective: The Consequences of The Biden Administration's Far-Left Priorities on U.S. Foreign Policy."
Rogers, reflecting on his tenure as a foreign service officer at the U.S. Department of State, will address policies during the Biden Administration, highlighting concerns over diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He intends to contrast these with past undertakings and future goals.
"Chairman Mills, Ranking Member Moskowitz, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to testify. I will be summarizing my written testimony," Rogers starts, attributing improvements to Secretary Rubio's leadership. He emphasizes that past challenges can be overcome with new approaches.
Rogers describes his experiences during President Trump's first term, noting what he perceives as a resistance to change within the Department. He shares an incident from 2017 in Brazil where consular practices under Trump's directive were ignored. Despite his whistleblowing, he claims to have faced retaliation, which allegedly cost him his career at the Department.
"My direct supervisors, Consular Chief David Franz and Deputy Chief Kelly Kopcial, also directly disobeyed Department directives... I blew the whistle about this," says Rogers, citing conflicts between Trump's policies and the established practices within the Department. Subsequent investigations reportedly proved Rogers correct, but he faced challenges in retaining his position.
He argues for the need to reassess promotion practices within the Department, citing that DEIA scores were employed ideologically to the detriment of White males. "In my current role as Senior Counsel at America First Legal, we have discovered more problems," Rogers asserts, suggesting systemic bias.
Rogers also highlights cases of alleged ideological bias and discrimination against certain employees. He offers solutions for reform, especially in protecting whistleblowers and reconsidering evaluations free from personal characteristic biases.
"President Trump's order removing DEIA from the government is already having a positive effect," Rogers concludes, urging for reevaluation of promotion decisions made under DEIA criterions and reforms in grievance systems to better support whistleblowers.
Discussion on these matters and their broader implications on U.S. foreign policy remains ongoing at the hearing.