Shaun, I am writng due o an inciden ha happened on one of our imporan Sae Deparmen briengs. Access o he press and communicatng our policies is he mos imporan hing ha I do in my role as Spokesperson. Today, we decided o roll ou an incredibly imporan policy on designatng more Chinese propaganda oules as foreign missions. I always gh o have he Sae Deparmen bullpen briefed rs, especially on incredibly complicaed sories like his one, as no one in own is more experienced han all of you in covering foreign policy.Unforunaely, insead of focusing on his imporan policy, reporers decided o ask questons, make commens, and wee abou a newly published book, as opposed o keeping he brieng on opic. Furher, some compared he simple reques o say on opic, o he actons of he Chinese Communis Pary. Beyond being inappropriae, hese o opic questons, commens, and wees feign ignorance for reporers who I know are exremely experienced in covering Asia, and cerainly undersand wha life is like while living in China and covering he CCP. In an open exchange of ideas, one may cerainly debae he correcness of our actons oday, o designae CCP-backed propaganda oules as foreign missions. In our policy focused briengs, I obain he mos senior Sae Dep ocials possible, o give our bullpen access o ask questons regarding hese highly imporan policy rollous. Questons unrelaed o he briengs can be asked a any tme hrough emails and phone calls, or in he weekly briengs wih he Secreary. I have direced my entre press eam in he building o be responsive o reporers, o mee deadlines, o allow for briengs, and o exude professionalism in our ineractons. In he year and a half ha I have been Spokesperson, I have never experienced he issues ha we experienced oday, boh during and especially aer he call. Despie he consan churn and hostliy in Washingon, we have managed o keep our daily briengs non-politcal and focused on foreign policy a Sae. In his era of combatveness, I am proud ha we have been able o mainain professionalism in our briengs. Las week we held ve new briengs for a oal of 181 briengs since Sepember 22, 2019, an average of almos one brieng per every workday for 39 weeks in a row, despie a global pandemic!Unforunaely, oday’s actons (no only during he call, bu again aerwards) reinforce he highly politcal environmen ha I srove o avoid in our foreign policy briengs. I is my hope ha we can evenually go back o imporan policy briengs a Sae, focused on foreign aairs, a some poin in he fuure. Sincerely,
Morgan D. OrtagusSpokespersonU.S. Dept of State