From Embassies to Command Posts

A report prepared by the Republican staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has concluded that military personnel are effectively taking over at some U.S. diplomatic posts overseas, the New York Times reports today. The shift isn't just happening in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, but in remote parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. At one small (and unnamed) embassy in Africa, the ambassador told committee staffers that military personnel might outnumber diplomats within a year. Military experts say the trend results from the fact that some U.S. outposts have been reduced to a skeleton staff of civilians.