U.S. Commercial Service suffers internal woes

U.S. Commercial Service suffers internal woes    A congressional watchdog agency said the Commerce Department's Commercial Service requires better management controls if it's going to successfully help the White House achieve its goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next five years.
   The Government Accountability Office found the Commercial Service's workforce has declined about 14 percent from its peak in 2004 through attrition — 'affecting the mix and distribution of personnel.'
   President Obama's 2011 budget requested $321 million for the Commercial Service, $63 million more than its 2010 appropriation. The agency is allocating $5.2 million of its 2010 appropriation to begin recruiting staff.
   The Commercial Service plays an important role in U.S. export promotion, especially for small and mid-sized companies. The agency has about 300 staff in Export Assistance Centers throughout the country and another 1,000 field staff located in overseas embassies.
   However, the GAO said it found the Commercial Service 'lacked key planning elements, including a clear sense of strategic direction and in analysis to determine its workforce needs,' and further warned that 'adding more staff could be delayed because CS's human resources office is itself understaffed and because CS requires up to two years to hire and train new foreign service officers.'