PJ Crowley's Career at State Department Crashes After Comments About Wiki Leaker

PJ Crowley, former US State Department spokesperson resigned recently after his very public remarks about the treatment of Wiki Leaker, Private First Class Bradley Manning, left a few people at the Pentagon a little peeved.

Crowley, was speaking at Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he said that although Manning was in the right place, the treatment of Manning, who is being held in the brig at Quantico was "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." Crowley was then asked by a reporter if he was saying that on the record. Crowley answered, "Sure." That four-letter response put Crowley's statement in the news and ultimately ended his appointment as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. There seemed to be no option but for Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to accept his resignation

Fortunately for Crowley, since Japan's Sendai earthquake, subsequent tsunami and potential nuclear disaster dominated the airwaves, his resignation escaped major public scrutiny.

Crowley, it appears is another very public figure whose anxiety to share his opinion on practices in the US Department of Defense caused him to exercise poor judgment and put on the public record, what he probably should have shared in private.

PJ Crowley's resignation brought to mind another career that came crashing down recently. That was the career of General Stan McChrystal who resigned over unfortunate comments made to a reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine, doing an expose on the Afghanistan war.

This episode with PJ Crowly, as with the others, makes one wonder what drives these very public, high powered, professionals to exercise this kind of poor judgment that precipitates public career meltdown.

Unfortunately, sometimes no matter how committed PJ Crowley has been to his assignments, how stellar his professional reputation, or how solid his resume, people will remember him for this very public lapse in judgment.

This setback does not appear to have hampered Crowley's willingness to speak his mind. Crowley's Twitter page (http://twitter.com/PJCrowley) shows that resignation from the State Department has not stopped him from sharing his insights on global political issues.