I talked to a high-up guy at the State Department off the record a couple of weeks ago. Last week I emailed his press person to get at least some of the information he shared with me on the record. I didn’t hear back, so I checked with her on Monday. The response came this morning:
He has been out of the office on travel and then became ill. I don't think we'll be able to get anything to you by your deadline.
Frustrated, I started calling other bureaus that deal with the issue. One of them said they could not answer the question, but that I should check with the sick Ambassador’s office. I told my interlocutor the situation. He called back half an hour, letting me know that the Ambassador was perfectly fine and that he instructed them to answer my question.
In fourth grade I thought the excuse that I was too sick to do my homework was ingenious. But in the State Department…
Update: I was later told by a friendly voice inside State that I was “being frozen out.” Hence the lame excuse.
