Clientitis (also called clientism[1][2] or localitis[3][4][5]) is the alleged tendency of resident in-country staff of an organization to regard the officials and people of the host country as "clients".
Former USUN Ambassador John Bolton has used this term disparagingly to describe the culture of the US State Department,[6] but the available public record shows little genuine evidence of modern diplomatic clientitis.
[9] During the Nixon administration the State Department's Global Outlook Program (GLOP) attempted to combat clientitis by transferring FSOs to regions outside their area of specialization.
[11] In modern practice, with tight control from Washington or any other home office, and narrow advancement paths requiring deference to career interests, clientitis (as much as appeasement) is an obsolete label for diplomacy, and use of the stereotype may reflect an anti-elitist or unilateralist agenda.
"Their reporting must walk a line between loyally carrying out assignments from Washington, while making essential, sometimes contradictory, points to a foreign policy establishment that does not always want to hear them.