State Department spent more than $52,000 on curtains for US ambassador to the UN

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The State Department spent more than $52,000 (£40,000) last year on mechanised curtains for the residence of the US ambassador to the UN.

The purchase, which a spokesperson for current ambassador Nikki Haley said was approved by the Obama administration, included a $29,900 (£23,000) set of curtains and $22,800 (£17,000) in hardware to open and close them automatically, according to government contracts.

The total – $52,700 (£40,000) – was almost as much as the government pays for Ms Haley’s $58,000-a-month (£44,000) apartment on Manhattan’s First Avenue, according to the New York Times.

A spokesperson for Ms Haley’s office told The Independent that the curtains were suggested by the State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations in July of 2016, as part of a plan to outfit the new ambassador's residence. Ms Haley did not have any say in the decision, the spokesperson said.

An Obama-era official defended the purchase, telling the Times it was necessary for security and entertaining purposes.

“All she’s got is a part-time maid, and the ability to open and close the curtains quickly is important,” said Patrick Kennedy, the top management official at the State Department under President Barack Obama.

The purchase occurred in March of last year, at the same time the White House announced a proposal to slash State Department’s budget by approximately 30 per cent, with deep cuts to foreign aid and climate-change initiatives. The plan was eventually overruled by Congress.

The department was also in the midst of a hiring freeze, which left dozens of top positions unfilled. The next month, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson floated a plan to cut 2,300 jobs from the department – a proposal that Congress also nixed.

American Foreign Service Association President Barbara Stephenson wrote later that year that the department’s leadership was “being depleted at a dizzying speed.”

“The rapid loss of so many senior officers has a serious, immediate, and tangible effect on the capacity of the United States to shape world events,” the ambassador added.

The State Department is not the government agency to face scrutiny for its spending in recent months. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned last September amid outcry over his liberal use of taxpayer-funded private flights.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson sparked backlash after his office ordered him a $31,000 (£24,000) dining table set, and the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, faced scrutiny after ordering a government jet to take him on his honeymoon.