February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
But Ambassador Mitchell Reiss had to scramble to secure quarters for his meeting with visiting SDLP leader Mark Durkan, who briefed him on the crime.
The State Department had officially announced that Reiss would continue as special envoy by the time Durkan arrived in Washington. However, it also emerged that Reiss would not be operating from an office in the nation’s capital.
The lack of such a facility was highlighted during Durkan’s visit. Officials admitted they had difficulty finding a venue where Reiss and Durkan could meet.
Reiss recently stepped down as the head of policy planning at the State Department but was allowed continue as special envoy at his own request.
The envoy post alone does not come with an office. So as hotel rooms, or a borrowed office on Capitol Hill, were being considered for the Reiss-Durkan meeting, the State Department stepped in at the last minute and offered an office for its duration.
After the meeting, Durkan walked the halls of the U.S. House of Representatives determined to convince members that lawmakers had mislaid their confidence by believing in the word of Sinn F