Foreign Service Group Opposes Rooney Pick
AFSA is the professional association of the US Foreign Service and has 14,000 dues paying members.
Naland didn't comment on Rooney's nomination in particular, but stated his group's opposition to what Obama did on principle.
He responded in an e-mail today from Kuwait, which he's passing through after a ten day temporary assignment in Iraq.
"AFSA's position is that overseas diplomatic missions should almost always be headed by career Foreign Service members," Naland said.
"While some non-career ambassadors have served our nation well in the past, many more political ambassadors have lacked the skills and experience needed to properly represent our nation," he added.
"For that reason, AFSA supports ending the decades-old spoils system under which political activists are tapped for critical national security positions for which they are unqualified," said Naland.
"That is AFSA's general position," he continued. "We do not typically comment on the qualifications, or lack thereof, of specific nominees."
