Laura Rozen at ForeignPolicy.com writes about the question being asked around Washington’s "increasingly impatient foreign policy community" — what is taking the administration so long to make appointments?
"A lot of people waiting to hear about assignments have remarked they are being handled with greater secrecy than usual," remarked one U.S. official, on condition of anonymity. "It’s a very deliberative, close-held process. I’m not sure if that’s because they don’t want it to leak out incorrectly, as with the Zinni stuff. We have all been told to be patient and not to get worried."
Rozen reports that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not even been forwarded under secretary of state nominees yet, let alone assistant secretaries and ambassadorships. But she also notes that people may be a little too anxious.
Echoing the widespread perception by foreign policy hands of impatience with appointments by the new administration, one Hill source said that someone said to him the other day it already feels like Obama has been president for two years. "But it’s only been one month."
