State Department Interview The following is a transcript of an interview between a new political appointee named Till, interviewing a career foreign service officer named Neverbright. Political appointee (Till) :Good Morning, thanks for coming. Help us understand what you do: State career employee (Neverbright): I am deputy undersecretary second secretariat peace negotiator for the Middle and Near East. I negotiate our peace treaties with our peace partners in the region. Till: And what are those agreements you have negotiated? Nerverbright: I negotiated the landmark Bilateral Peace Agreement between the USA and Durka Durkastan. Till: And what does that agreement do? Neverbright: That agreement ensures that the government of Durka Durkastan does not support terrorism and remains in the US's sphere of influence. In return for not supporting terrorism, we provide 20 billion a year in aid. Till: Have they supported terrorism in the past? Neverbright: Yes, we have intelligence reports going back 25 years indicating that they have supported radical Islamists groups engaging in various Middle Eastern conflicts with money or weapons which were sourced from Russia. Till: And how do they finance this support? Neverbright: From oil revenues. The country has the 12th largest known supply of oil reserves in the world. Till: And the government structure? Neverbright: They are an Islamic Republic ruled by the same Mullah for 50 years. Till: A republic? How? Neverbright: The people elect a powerless legislative body every 5 years. The legislature approves the Mullah's edicts, incorporating them into law and regulation. They are a very advance society of laws. Till: I see. And the treaty you negotiated, how long did you have to negotiate? Neverbright: Only 12 years. Till: I see. And once signed, how was compliance? Neverbright: Well, we have mixed signals. Through the Durk Durkastan self monitoring program, they have been in full compliance now for the10 years since signing the agreement. Through covert intelligence monitoring, they violated the agreement in the first three minutes after signing. Till: I see. Was the aid stopped? Neverbright: No of course not, the US honors its agreements. Where would we be of we sacrificed our influence in the world by dishonoring our agreements? We went right back to the table with the Durka Durkastanies and negotiated with the threat of sanction if they failed to negotiate. Till: And how did that go? Neverbright: Well we have continued to productively negotiate for 8 years now. Till: And the support for terrorism? Neverbright: Well, we have had mixed results. The CIA provided us with an analysis showing the support for terrorism has gone up when the price of oil is high, but gone down when the price of oil is low. Additionally, their trade deficit with Russia seems to go up when the price of oil is low. We think this causes internal economic stress. A secondary conclusion to our analysis was Russian weapons merchants like to be paid. Till: I see. And going forward where do you see yourself in the state department? Neverbright: No one in this agency has the in-depth knowledge of the Middle and Near East terrorism financing or supporting mechanisms than me. I would like to keep supporting my country by negotiating agreements or the resulting non-compliance agreements that support American influence in the region. Till: I see. Just two more questions. What kind of car do you drive? Neverbright: A Prieus. Till: How is the electricity to your home supplied?? Nevebright: I reduce my DC Power and Light bills with renewable clean energy. I got a good deal on some Solyndra solar panels a few years back. My carbon foot print is amongst the lowest at State. It would be even better if I could afford the current solar panels offered in the market at that time, but for some reason the Solyndra panels were a steel. I am a great negotiator. Till: Well, thank you for talking to us. We will get back to you.