United States of America eSeries: 'We're Americans'

'We're Americans'

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May 10, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'We're Americans'

Nowhere has the pandemic-era clash between politics and science been more intense than Florida.

Now, a new state law that prohibits companies from asking whether employees or customers are vaccinated threatens to sink the return of the cruising industry, which once brought millions of passengers and billions of dollars to the Sunshine State every year.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set strict rules for the resumption of the cruise industry — a notorious super spreader of Covid-19 at the start of the pandemic. Cruise ships can plan trial cruises with volunteer passengers who must clear strict health hurdles to prove they can operate without triggering mini-epidemics. Or, they can ply more normal trade if they can prove 98% of crew and 95% of passengers are fully vaccinated.

But Florida's rising star Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and some fellow Republicans are fighting to ensure that people who refuse to get vaccinated (most often conservatives) get treated just like anyone else -- including having access to cruise ships' floating all-inclusive vacation packages, if they want.

It's not yet clear whether Florida has the power to override the CDC, but as Frank Del Rio, the CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line, pointed out, cruise companies that wish to maintain their vaccination requirements can always look for a friendlier port: "Cruise ships have motors, propellers and rudders, and God forbid we can't operate in the state of Florida for whatever reason, then there are other states that we do operate from, and we can operate from the Caribbean."

As with other issues, like gun control for example, this boils down to a question that underlies much of US life: When does one American's exercise of their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness infringe on those of another? Should the desire to own an assault rifle take precedence over the rights of others not to live in fear of becoming a mass shooting victim at a school or mall (both common targets), for example? And can a potential cruiser demand peace of mind about their safety when taking the high seas, if it means requiring Covid-19 tests for all aboard?

However the legal battle turns out, DeSantis, who is pretty transparently laying the groundwork for a future run for president, probably won't lose. If cruise lines fold, he'll win. If the CDC prevails, he will still have stood up to the Washington scientific establishment and pleased Trump voters.

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The world and America

China's Long March 5B rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.

At least 50 people were killed in an explosion near a girls' school in Kabul.

And former Libyan dictator Moamar Gadhafi's private jet is back on the move -- in France.

Meanwhile in America, the winners of this year's Diversity Visa lottery have been announced.

Trump's Department of Justice secretly obtained journalists' phone records.

And a cyberattack shut down one of the country's biggest fuel pipelines.

Russia's annual Victory Day Parade took place in Moscow on Sunday with a show of over 190 pieces of military hardware and nearly 80 military aircraft. (Russia 24)

'We're Americans'

The US government spends up to $480,000 per foreign diplomat for two years of language training in what the State Department inspector general calls "super hard languages" -- Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean -- so why don't they just assign Asian American diplomats who already speak those languages?

CNN's Nicole Gaouette reports that Asian American diplomats say they face disproportionate hurdles in the form of extremely drawn-out security clearance waits, restrictions on where they can serve -- sometimes based on incorrect information -- and a flawed appeals process. Diplomats told CNN they have heard anecdotally that colleagues of Russian or Eastern European descent and some colleagues married to Israeli citizens may also have been restricted from certain assignments. But current and former diplomats, lawmakers and others say Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders appear to be more impacted than any other group.

US Rep. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat and former diplomat, had top-secret security clearance as a State Department adviser to Gen. David Petraeus in Afghanistan but was banned from working in or even on issues pertaining to Korea. "It felt like a very clear signal from the government and my workplace that they didn't trust me fully," the Boston-born Kim told CNN. It was, he said, "a painful and hurtful experience."

The State Department's Foreign Affairs Manual says it applies assignment restrictions "to prevent potential targeting and harassment by foreign intelligence services as well as to lessen foreign influence and/or foreign preference security concerns," for instance, if an employee or close family members maintain dual citizenship with that country or have substantial financial interests or foreign contacts there. Carol Perez, the director general of the foreign service who oversees personnel issues, told a House committee in September that "the question is for countries in which there are critical intelligence threats ... what are the family connections that you might have that would make you susceptible to some sort of foreign influence?"

But the experiences of current and former diplomats CNN spoke with demonstrate that critical intelligence threats aren't always a factor. Restrictions are applied against diplomats going to close US allies, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

As the US focuses more intently on the strategic importance of Asia, great power competition with China and North Korea's nuclear threat, Democrats and Republicans have written legislation to address some of the issues, a reflection of concern about the potential loss of cultural and linguistic knowledge that could give the US an edge in global competition. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has begun an ambitious effort to improve diversity and racial equity at the department, is expected to make an announcement about it in the coming months.

"We're starting to wake up and think, wait a minute, should we be putting up with this anymore, this 'Where are you really from?' attitude," one diplomat serving overseas said. "We're Americans."

Read Nicole's full report here.

Thanks for reading and welcome to a new week.

Europe's Foreign Affairs Council meets. Leaders of the 'Bucharest Nine' -- Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia -- also meet. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Azerbaijan.