EVEN with the diminished influence of the US over global affairs, many of its agencies have to be organized and structured to effectively attend to its continents — spanning, sprawling concerns, the US State Department in particular. The State Department's vast bureaucracy is a dictate of the agency's many functions in a world roiled by turmoil and uncertainty, the flexible and ever-changing nature of diplomacy, the requirements of diplomatic outposts in both the old democracies and troubled nations led by unpredictable tin-pot dictators.