Don't be so certain. Is he the chief spokesman, or one of lower rank? Is he a poltical appointee, or a civil servant?
To answer my own question, he's a "Press officer" who works in the office of Press Relations, under Chief Press Relations Serv. Julie Reside, who in turn works for the Director of Press Relations Tom Casey, who works for either one of the Deputy Assistant Press Secretaries or the Deputy Press Secretaries, who in turn work for the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Robert A. Tappan, who works for Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Department Spokesman Sean McCormack, who reports through Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Huges (A name you might recognize) who reports to Secretary Rice .
So most likely he's far enough down the pecking order to be a civil servant, and thus only nominally responsible to Secreatry Rice. In any event, he's far from the spokesman for the State Department, at best he's a spokesman for a small subsection of it.
See the State Department Directory and the State Department Organzation Chart.
Are you implying he was so far down in the spokespeeple pecking order that no one in the world would pay attention to what critical things he was saying because he's a nobody?
Or are you implying that he was a rogue low-level spokesman shooting off his mouth without authorization from above?
Funny, I've seen no reprimand to him for saying what he said. I've seen no denials from the State Dept. or the White House in contradiction to what he said.
Obviously, then, this spokesman spoke on the issue with permission from the highest level.
More than likely he may have been low enough on the totem pole to be assigned the task of outlining the U.S. policy while at the same time charitably serving as the Administration's lightning rod for incoming flack from outraged citizens.
There is very little that is not planned ahead of time in the political Big Leagues.
Leni