Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Bush Has Met Goal on Envoys, Aide Says

President Bush, despite criticism from Democrats about ambassadorships going to major Republican donors, has met his goal of putting career diplomats in charge of two-thirds of the embassies, White House Personnel Director Charles G. Untermeyer said. For the next three years of Bush’s term, “close to 100%” of ambassadorial appointments will go to career foreign-service officers in order to maintain that balance of two-thirds career officers, one-third outside appointees, he said. By Untermeyer’s count, 97 of the 145 ambassadorships have gone to career diplomats, or 67%. Forty-eight ambassadorships have gone or will go to non-career people. Of those 48, Untermeyer said that “10 or less were what you could call major donors.”