4 ms·

sounds believable until the Alaska part

• GhettoMaestro 7y ago
  Being "sent to Alaska" is really just a saying that the organization is super-super-super pissed at you, and desires to send you to the crappiest location (job) possible in an effort to make you leave the organization. EG: He fucked up so bad, he will be manning a remote radar station in Alaska for the rest of his military career.
• dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  "Demoted and sent to Alaska" is shorthand for "some non-specific shitty assignment" in this context. Nobody thinks he was literally sent to Alaska.
• equalunique 7y ago
  I have no idea what actually happened to the former administrator, but I'm told that this hyperbole is method for forcing Special Executive Service employees to resign. There are many hoops to jump through if the intent is to fire them, but part of being an SES includes not having much leeway when it comes to where you are assigned. So by forcing the person to work in some unwanted location, they tend to almost always submit their resignation instead. Where they were reassigned to I don't know for certain, but that's the tactic I'm told was used. I suppose "forced to resign" might have been a more belivable way to end the story, but supposedly the mechanism by which that happens involves reassignment to some unwanted location.
  • mirimir 7y ago
    The first EPA assessment of dioxins started under the Carter administration, but wasn't completed until the first or second year of the Reagan administration. The lead author ended up reassigned to a tiny branch office, and working in basically a broom closet. Or at least, that's what he said, when I tracked him down to ask questions.