US Foreign Policy

Bureaucracies and the State Department

Michael Flynn

Professor

Department of Political Science

011C Calvin Hall

meflynn@ksu.edu

2025-10-21

Lecture Overview

  1. Historical Trends

  2. What are bureaucracies?

  3. Why do they matter?

  4. The State Department

Key Questions

  1. How did the foreign policy bureaucracy change between the pre- and post-War periods?

  2. Why/How might suboptimal policy outcomes result from otherwise good actors following organizational mandates?

  3. How are actors at different positions in a bureaucratic hierarchy able to exercise power and influence?

  4. How has the State Department’s role in foreign policymaking changed over time?

What Are Bureaucracies?

What Are Bureaucracies?

Executive bureaucracy before World War II

  • Very small

  • Creation of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) in 1939

  • Foreign policy activism spurs demand for personnel, expertise

  • Senior administrators up through World War II general had little government experience

  • Bureaucracy didn’t become a “career” until post-1940s

What Are Bureaucracies?

What they do:

  • Day-to-day management and operations of the government

  • Help to formulate policies

  • Provide expertise and advice in different policy areas

  • Coordinate actions of various bureaucratic actors

  • Execute and implement policies

What Are Bureaucracies?

Functional Differentiation:

  • The specialization of different governmental units

  • Works at different levels:

    • State Department vs Defense Department

    • Navy vs Army

    • Artillery vs Armor

What Are Bureaucracies?

Different bureaucratic agencies

  • State Department
  • Defense Department
  • Treasury Department
  • Department of Energy
  • Department of Homeland Security
  • Department of Commerce
  • Department of Agriculture
  • US Agency for International Development
  • Department of Labor
  • FBI
  • NSA
  • Army
  • Navy
  • Air Force
  • Marine Corps
  • Coast Guard
  • National Guard
  • CIA
  • DIA
  • Customs and Border Patrol
  • US Postal Service
  • NASA

Bureaucracy has a reputation for redundancy…

And waste…

Why Do Bureaucracies Matter?

Why Do Bureaucracies Matter?

They’re responsible for a lot…

  • Presidents make thousands of appointments after entering office

  • Hundreds of these relate to foreign policymaking

  • Direct presidential involvement varies

    • Personal taste

    • Big three: State, Defense, Treasury

    • Subordinates?

Why Do Bureaucracies Matter?

Robert Lovett:

  • Undersecretary of State

  • Deputy Secretary of Defense

  • Secretary of Defense

  • Lovett was given his choice of State, Defense, or Treasury by President Kennedy.

  • To right: Robert Lovett (a Republican) is sworn in as President Truman’s (a Democrat) Secretary of Defense on September 17, 1951.

Why Do Bureaucracies Matter?

Paul Nitze:

  • Secretary of the Navy

  • Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs

  • Director of State Department Policy Planning Staff

  • Deputy Secretary of Defense

  • Principal author of NSC-68

Why Do Bureaucracies Matter?

Power and influence

  • Principals

  • Deputies

  • Issue Area

  • Prestige

Position in bureaucratic hierarchy doesn’t always match influence

Paul Nitze

Paul Wolfowitz

George Kennan

Robert Kennedy

Chuck Hagel

Henry Kissinger

Why Do Bureaucracies Matter?

Organizational and individuals motivations and goals

  • Fulfill organization’s basic operational mandates/missions

  • Advance the interests of their organization

  • Fulfill basic responsibilities of individual position

  • Advance personal interests and power

Why Do Bureaucracies Matter?

Common Problems

  • Capture

  • Stove-piping

  • Groupthink

  • Turf battles

  • Slow adaptation

Leon Panetta

James Clapper

The State Department

The State Department

The Secretary of State is the chief diplomat of the Untied States

  • Supposed to be the principal adviser to the president on foreign affairs

  • Provides expertise and information on a variety of policy questions and geographic areas

  • Responsible for embassies and diplomats around the world

  • Also administers immigration and visa policies

The State Department

Secretary of State

Current Secretary: Marco Rubio - Former US Senator from Florida - Elected to Senate in 2010 - Ran for Republican presidential nomination in 2016 - Served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Marco Rubio

The State Department

Ambassadors

  • Position of ambassador is relatively new

  • Created in 1893

  • “Minister” was formerly the highest ranking diplomatic position for the United States

  • Ambassadorships awarded to country/region exports, but also to political allies

To right: Former US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Matthew Barzun. Barzun also worked on President Obama’s campaign.

Matthew Barzun

State Department Organization

The State Department

Historically the primary foreign policymaking body

Secretaries of State were very influential

Prominent officeholders include:

  • Thomas Jefferson (to right)
  • James Madison
  • James Monroe
  • John Quincy Adams
  • Martin Van Buren
  • James Buchanan

Thomas Jefferson

The State Department

Dean Acheson

  • Secretary of State Under President Truman

  • Epic Mustache

  • Targeted during the Red Scare by Congressional Republicans. The State Department was the subject of intense criticism by Republicans who claimed that communists had infiltrated the US government.

Dean Acheson

William Rogers

Henry Kissinger

Colin Powell

Donald Rumsfeld

The State Department

State in decline

  • Basic organizational mandate

  • Organizational structure

  • Emphasized qualities of Foreign Service Officers

  • Gaps between Washington and local offices

  • Growth of alternative organizations/offices

The State Department

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

  • Created by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961

  • Dismantled by Trump Administration DOGE cuts in 2025

  • Responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance

  • Consolidated previous existing foreign aid programs

The State Department

SEC. 101. [22 U.S.C. 2151] GENERAL POLICY.—(a):

The Congress finds that fundamental political, economic, and technological changes have resulted in the interdependence of nations. The Congress declares that the individual liberties, economic prosperity, and security of the people of the United States are best sustained and enhanced in a community of nations which respect individual civil and economic rights and freedoms and which work together to use wisely the world’s limited resources in an open and equitable international economic system. Furthermore, the Congress reaffirms the traditional humanitarian ideals of the American people and renews its commitment to assist people in developing countries to eliminate hunger, poverty, illness, and ignorance.

Therefore, the Congress declares that a principal objective of the foreign policy of the United States is the encouragement and sustained support of the people of developing countries in their ef- forts to acquire the knowledge and resources essential to development and to build the economic, political, and social institutions which will improve the quality of their lives.