International: Rifted, Bumped & Slotted

Ten thousand Americans in Paris were using—with wry distaste—a new verb last week. The word is riffed. It means to be fired for economy, and it comes from the bureaucratic phrase Reduction In Force, the new Dulles-Stassen program to cut down expenses in the agencies that hand out U.S. aid overseas. Last June Congress directed Foreign Operations Director Harold Stassen to 1) fire 10% of the old Mutual Security Agency staff; 2) slash by a third the number of jobholders getting $12,000 a year or more.

Paris, which a year ago had four U.S....