By Anne Gearan, The Washington Post
Several career Foreign Service officers were informed this week that they will not be asked to stay on in senior or sensitive posts that are under direct White House control. Officials at the level of assistant secretary and above were affected, State Department officials said.
When Rex Tillerson is confirmed as secretary of state next week, he will face an unusual leadership vacuum among senior ranks of the State Department, the result of resignations and a Trump administration decision not to ask career diplomats to remain in top-level posts.
Although the diplomats were not technically fired, the Trump administration opted to remove a number of top officials in charge of the State Departmentap 13 divisions responsible for policy, security and other matters. Those positions may be filled either by Foreign Service officers or outside policy experts. In past administrations, many have remained in their posts when the White House changed hands.
All career diplomats running those offices, called bureaus, had submitted pro forma resignations that were effective upon the end of the Obama administration, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
“These positions are political appointments, and require the president to nominate and the Senate to confirm them in these roles. They are not career appointments, but of limited term,” Toner said.
“No officer accepts a political appointment with the expectation that it is unlimited. And all officers understand that the president may choose to replace them at any time.”
It was not immediately clear how many people were affected, but officials said the White House had accepted a “handful” of resignations this week, while deferring action on others.
In some cases, top diplomats are retiring rather than seek new assignments elsewhere at the State Department.
Patrick J. Kennedy, the undersecretary for management at the State Department across several presidential administrations, announced that his last day will be Friday. The 44-year veteran of the State Department is retiring, following veteran diplomats overseeing the departmentap operations in the Mideast and Europe, among other places.