State Department’s $40M Evacuation Spending Exposes Chronic Crisis Mismanagement

The recent announcement that the State Department has authorized up to $40 million in emergency funds for evacuation flights out of the Middle East should prompt serious questions: Why did it take this long for Washington to act decisively, and why is taxpayer money now footing the bill for a crisis that could have been better managed? Since the onset of hostilities involving Iran, transportation disruptions have stranded thousands of Americans across 14 Middle Eastern countries. While more than 40,000 Americans have returned home since February 28, the bulk did so via commercial means, not government assistance. The department’s own...