周三发布的一份新报告称，美国总统伍迪·约翰逊唐纳德·特朗普美国驻英国大使联合王国和纽约喷气机的共同所有者，对话题发表了“不恰当或不敏感的评论”...如宗教、性别或肤色”作为大使。
在对美国驻英国使团的评估中，国务院监察长办公室——一个独立的、无党派的联邦监察机构——发现故障在约翰逊的领导下。但它并没有对约翰逊代表特朗普游说在他位于特恩贝里的度假胜地举行英国高尔夫公开赛，苏格兰。
新的OIG报告是以国务卿的身份发布的迈克·庞贝和他的高级助手们已经开始与办公室对抗前任监察长被解雇并在本周抢先发布另一份报告声称“完全”免责。
报道赞扬了约翰逊与工作人员接触的努力，并发现他的领导能力在前任使馆副馆长(使馆的二把手)离任后有所提高。
但在媒体报道中，约翰逊发表了性别歧视和种族主义言论，OIG表示，该公司“通过员工调查问卷和采访了解到，约翰逊大使有时会对通常被认为是平等就业机会(EEO)敏感的话题发表不恰当或不敏感的评论，如宗教、性别或肤色。”
该报告没有提供具体细节，但建议国务院民权办公室进一步调查。
更广泛地说，OIG说，约翰逊“并不总是塑造部门的领导和管理原则...关于沟通和自我意识。”它指责他将职业外交官的任何犹豫或退缩视为“抵抗”，有时质疑大使馆工作人员的动机，或默认威胁要替换他们。
该报告发现，“这导致员工对向他提供最佳判断越来越谨慎”，并补充了他“要求严格、努力驾驶的工作风格”...对士气有负面影响。”
但该报告指出，当2019年1月一位新的代表团副团长接任时，情况有所改善，他与约翰逊的合作比曾担任美国驻塞内加尔和几内亚比绍大使的高级外交官员卢·卢肯斯(Lew Lukens)更好。
报告还赞扬约翰逊努力接触工作人员，并“更好地了解他们，表达他对他们工作的赞赏，并继续熟悉他所领导的复杂的多机构特派团的许多方面。”
约翰逊本人在5月27日写给OIG的一封信中对该报告关于“不敏感”言论的调查结果提出了质疑，“如果我在履行职责时无意中冒犯了任何人，我对此深感遗憾，但我不接受我对员工不尊重或有任何歧视的说法。”
“我相信我们团队的凝聚力比以往任何时候都强，”他补充道，并指出员工“没有对我提出任何官方投诉。”
他和国务院领导都拒绝了OIG关于民权办公室评估的呼吁。美国负责欧洲事务的代理助理国务卿里克在7月1日的一份备忘录中对OIG说，约翰逊“非常清楚自己有责任为自己的使命定下正确的基调，我们相信他的行动证明了这一点。”
该部门表示，约翰逊观看了一段关于工作场所骚扰的视频，让大使馆高级职员也这样做，并鼓励员工接受无意识偏见培训。
但OIG对这一回应并不满意——在其最终报告中让这个问题“悬而未决”，并重申应该对约翰逊的行为进行独立评估。
而43页的报告它关注其他几个问题，从当地雇员的养老基金到领事办公室的布局，并没有触及约翰逊所谓的代表特朗普总统游说英国政府在他位于苏格兰的高尔夫球场和度假胜地举办英国公开赛。
据卢肯斯说，约翰逊告诉同事，特朗普亲自要求他这么做，卢肯斯当时在他的职位上，但后来被推了出去。卢肯斯告诉美国广播公司新闻，他建议约翰逊这是不道德的，但约翰逊还是这么做了，并向英国苏格兰事务大臣大卫·蒙代尔提出了这个问题。
特朗普否认这是真的，英国公开赛也没有在特朗普·特恩贝里举行。一名英国政府发言人告诉美国广播公司新闻，“约翰逊没有就英国公开赛或任何其他体育赛事向蒙代尔提出任何要求。”
《OIG报告》称，约翰的“国内拓展活动”被视为与他“发展当地关系和培养潜在领导人的职责”相一致，但尚不清楚这是否包括任何与特朗普·特恩贝里(Trump Turnberry)有关的所谓努力，也不清楚OIG方面是否在这份报告中对此事进行了调查。
Watchdog report faults Trump's UK envoy Woody Johnson for 'insensitive comments,' 'negative effect' on morale
A new report released Wednesday said that Woody Johnson, PresidentDonald Trump's envoy to theUnited Kingdomand the co-owner of the New York Jets, made "inappropriate or insensitive comments on topics... such as religion, sex, or color" as ambassador.
In an assessment of the U.S. mission to the U.K., the State Department's Office of the Inspector General -- an independent, nonpartisan federal watchdog --found faultswith Johnson's leadership. But it did not weigh in on allegations that Johnsonlobbied on Trump's behalfto have the British Open golf tournament played at his resort in Turnberry,Scotland.
The new OIG report comes as Secretary of StateMike Pompeoand his senior aides have gone to battle against the office, having theprevious inspector general firedin May and preempting another report's release this weekto claim "full" exoneration.
The report applauded Johnson's efforts to reach out to staff and found his leadership improved after the previous deputy chief of mission, an embassy's second-in-command, departed.
But amid media reports that Johnson made sexist and racist comments, the OIG said it "learned, through employee questionnaires and interviews, that the Ambassador sometimes made inappropriate or insensitive comments on topics generally considered Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)-sensitive, such as religion, sex, or color."
The report did not offer specifics, but it recommended that the State Department's Office of Civil Rights investigate further.
More broadly, the OIG said Johnson "did not always model the Department's leadership and management principles... regarding communication and self-awareness." It faults him for casting any hesitation or push back from career diplomats as "resistance" and at times questioning embassy staff's motives or tacitly threatening to have them replaced.
"This caused staff to grow wary of providing him with their best judgment," the report found, adding his "demanding, hard driving work style... had a negative effect on morale."
But the report notes that improved when a new deputy chief of mission took over in January 2019, who worked better with Johnson than Lew Lukens, a senior Foreign Service officer who had previously served as U.S. ambassador to Senegal and to Guinea-Bissau.
The report also commends applauds Johnson's effort to reach out to staff and get "to know them better, to convey his appreciation for their work, and to continue to familiarize himself with the many aspects of the complex, multi-agency mission he was leading."
Johnson himself took issue with the report's finding about "insensitive" remarks, writing in a May 27 letter to the OIG, "If I have unintentionally offended anyone in the execution of my duties, I deeply regret that, but I do not accept that I have treated employees with disrespect or discriminated in any."
"I believe that team cohesion in our mission is better than ever," he added, noting the "absence of any official complaints against me" by staffers.
Both he and State Department leadership rejected the OIG's call for an Office of Civil Rights assessment. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Phil Reeker told the OIG in a July 1 memo that Johnson is "well aware of his responsibility to set the right tone for his mission and we believe his actions demonstrate that."
The department said that Johnson watched a video on workplace harassment, had senior embassy staff do the same, and encouraged personnel to take unconscious bias training.
But the OIG was not satisfied with that response -- leaving the issue "unresolved" in its final report and reiterating that Johnson's behavior should be independently assessed.
While the43-page reportfocuses on several other issues, from locally employed staff's pension fund to consular office layout, it does not touch on Johnson's alleged outreach on behalf of President Trump to persuade the British government to hold the British Open at his golf course and resort in Scotland.
Johnson told colleagues that Trump personally asked him to do so, according to Lukens, who was in his role at the time but later pushed out. Lukens told ABC News that he counseled Johnson that it would be unethical, but that Johnson did it anyway and raised the issue with the U.K.'s secretary of state for Scotland, David Mundell.
Trump denied that was true, and the British Open has not been held at Trump Turnberry. A U.K. government spokesperson told ABC News, "Mr. Johnson made no request of Mr. Mundell regarding the British Open or any other sporting event."
The OIG report said Johnon's "in-country outreach activities" were deemed "consistent" with his "duties to develop local contacts and potential leaders," but it's unclear if that includes any alleged efforts related to Trump Turnberry or whether the OIG investigated the issue in this report.
