US Ambassador Douglas Kmiec decides to resign after State Department rebuke

The US press has reported that Douglas Kmiec, US. Ambassador to Malta, plans to resign from his post on the 15 August.

The day of his resignation is no coincidence. since it falls on the feast of Our Lady.  Kmiec is a devout Roman Catholic.  He was chosen to be ambassador for Malta, precisely because of his strong faith.  Malta is a Roman Catholic country where divorce and abortion are not legal.

Kmiec's resignation follows the release of a State Department report which criticized him for a number of alleged infractions, including spending, "an inordinate amount of time reviewing his writings, speeches, and other initiatives."

In a letter addressed to President Obama, dated 13 April, Kmiec wrote, "With the highest respect for your leadership and with some understanding of the difficulty and complexity of the challenges that you and Secretary Clinton face each day, I ask that you accept my resignation effective on the feast of the Assumption, 2011."

While his resignation does follow criticism from the State Department, Kmiec expressed in a statement to the people of Malta that his resignation is completely voluntary: "I know it is popular to think that all resignations are forced or motivated by some hidden reason.  Anyone who has ever played cards with me knows I cannot keep the happiness of an Ace quiet anymore than I can disguise the disappointment of an unneeded or disappointing deuce.  My resignation is not a product of force unless one means by force – the force of principle."

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dated 16 April, Kmiec defended the quality of his work at the Embassy and expresses his disappointment with the report from the inspector general's office (OIG): "An unfortunate OIG report published last week claims that high standard unmet on the unsupported speculation that someone doing as much writing as I have done could not have also been devoted to the embassy mission. The contrary proof, Madame Secretary, is in the strength of our embassy.  Our work is careful, thorough, and timely, and I am fully apprised of all of it, and of course, fully supported by men and women of great dedication and ability."

While Kmiec has already informed senior administration officials of his resignation, he plans to remain in the post until August to attend to a number of projects, including the planned opening of a new mega embassy compound on July 17 at Ta' Qali, Malta.