Decades of Dissent

The State Department's history of encouraging dissent grew out of internal divisions over wartime policy and efforts to better manage the organization. In the late 1960s, Secretary of State Dean Rusk granted official status to the Open Forum Panel, a committee to bring "new or alternative policy recommendations" to the attention of the secretary and other senior leaders. In 1969, Rusk's successor, William Rogers, affirmed his commitment to "well thought out dissent," and as part of a sweeping management reform plan, he asked for ideas on how to kindle dialogue at the department.

A special task force charged with the "stimulation of creativity" found that channels for employees to transmit policy ideas to top decision-makers were inadequate. Foreign Service officers and other policy officials said their views on U.S. military action in Vietnam were not being heard. Some feared reprisals if they spoke out.

The department needed a new channel for airing "adversary" viewpoints, the task force concluded. In the following few years, the dissent channel was enshrined as means of communicating privately and directly with the secretary.

Use of the dissent channel has waxed and waned. Today, the Policy Planning Office, which receives the dissents and passes them on to the secretary, receives an average of eight to 10 messages a year, says a department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In February and March, when three career Foreign Service officers resigned in protest over the Bush administration's policy on Iraq, State received four dissents, the official says. In all of 2002, the department received only six.

The official wouldn't comment on the nature of the dissents or whether they were lodged against the Iraq policy. The department keeps the channel confidential, but individual dissenters are free to share their communications publicly. State Department employees are urged to use the channel only for communications of last resort, after they've discussed their opinions with their managers.

Secretary Colin Powell "has taken a particular interest in dissent channels," the official says, noting that all secretaries have personally reviewed messages that have come through the channel.