11/13/13

Who are the State Dept's Special 100?

Earlier this year, Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin drew scrutiny for a special arrangement that allowed her to work part time at the State Department while simultaneously maintaining a side gig working for a corporate consulting firm. Under the arrangement, first reported by Politico, Abedin was a “special government employee,” a category created decades ago designed to allow experts to serve in government while keeping outside jobs. So who else is a special government employee at the State Department? The department won’t say -- even as eight other federal agencies readily sent ProPublica  lists of their own special government employees. A State Department spokeswoman did confirm to that there are “about 100” such employees. But asked for a list, she added that, “As general policy, [the department] does not disclose employee information of this nature.” More.   [BJS]