Entire Senior Staff of State Department Resign En Masse

By Jeralyn, Section Obama Administration
Posted on Thu Jan 26, 2017 at 04:04:08 PM EST
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Not a good day for Donald Trump or Rex Tillerson, his choice for Secretary of State.

The entire senior staff of the State Department just resigned.

The entire senior level of management officials resigned Wednesday, part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior foreign service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era.

...“It’s the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember, and that’s incredibly difficult to replicate,” said David Wade, who served as State Department chief of staff under Secretary of State John Kerry. “Department expertise in security, management, administrative and consular positions in particular are very difficult to replicate and particularly difficult to find in the private sector.”

Will there be a similar exodus at DOJ when Jeff Sessions takes over?

Update: The Washington Post has two reporters working on the story. The first reported as above. The second, a few hours later, writes that Team Trump requested the resignations of several "senior State Department diplomats."

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Entire Senior Staff of State Department Resign En Masse | 22 comments (22 topical)

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And the head of (none / 0) (#1)
by jbindc on Thu Jan 26, 2017 at 04:50:07 PM EST

Border Patrol

: You're there (none / 0) (#2)
by Ga6thDem on Thu Jan 26, 2017 at 06:00:10 PM EST

in the DC area. Has the entire town gone insane along with Trump?

Civil service means they cannot be fired (none / 0) (#3)
by Towanda on Thu Jan 26, 2017 at 08:22:58 PM EST

but they were, I would bet.

That is, they were "allowed to resign." They routinely provide resignation letters at the end of a presidential administration, and the letters were accepted.

: Nope Towanda (none / 0) (#29)
by Militarytracy on Sun Jan 29, 2017 at 10:18:15 PM EST

Based on a friend at State, they left of their volition. They want nothing to do with what is going to happen now. They want none of their fingerprints on any of it.

Could we not say that the first (none / 0) (#4)
by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jan 27, 2017 at 06:30:43 PM EST

report was fake news as the result of the reporter jumping to conclusions??????????????

I haven't seen that many (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by jondee on Fri Jan 27, 2017 at 11:18:36 PM EST

question marks since the Riddler made his appearence in Batman II.

The sort of fake news that adults have been discussing recently aren't rough, approximate reports of actual events, but stories made up out of whole cloth with no basis in reality, like Trump's 3 million illegal voters and the Clinton pizza parlour scandal.


: These next four years are gonna stink on ice (none / 0) (#8)
by Mr Natural on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 09:28:05 AM EST

- as Mel Brooks said, once, somewhere.

Nothing fake with Trump (none / 0) (#5)
by MKS on Fri Jan 27, 2017 at 06:45:53 PM EST

getting rid of career employees--regardless of the technical mechanism used.

Trump will make up facts; what Kellyanne Conway referred to as "alternate facts."

Now, Trump is making sure only "yes" men surround him.


So "resigned" isn't "resigned" (none / 0) (#6)
by Towanda on Fri Jan 27, 2017 at 10:52:49 PM EST

to you, boyo? Resignations "requested" are still resignations. Real resignations, if forced. Not fake resignations.

And here's a tip for you, which most of us figure out by the time that we can read media: Real reporting always is based on the sources to date. When sources change their story, reporters change their stories.

The problem in the Trump administration is that the sources are liars. But that's why you voted for them.


Now Towo (none / 0) (#12)
by jimakaPPJ on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 01:17:20 PM EST

don't be nasty.

Real reporting always is based on the sources to date. When sources change their story, reporters change their stories.

Kellyanne used that excuse on Spicer's claim re the number of attendees at the inauguration. His first source was Metro's first estimate, then it changed.......

But isn't the issue in this case, as it often is, that the reporter didn't wait long enough and didn't try to verify the story?? We've seen that on several big breaking news stories, particularly mass shootings, etc.

And, as Lora points out below, political appointees submit their resignations when a new president comes in. In some cases, as in Clinton's firing of 96 AG's, they get accepted. ;-)


: Jim your next comment on this (none / 0) (#26)
by Jeralyn on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 11:52:13 PM EST

was deleted. It was racially inappropriate and filled with false facts. Move on. One more and you are in time out.
How U.S. Attorneys are appointed (this post is about the State Dept, not U.S. Attorneys.)
The LA Times: Reagan replaced 89 of the 93 U.S. attorneys in his first two years in office. President Clinton had 89 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years, and President Bush had 88 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years.
U.S. Attorneys are always replaced, with a few exceptions.

Lets look at actual facts (none / 0) (#9)
by Lora on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 10:17:33 AM EST

From thehill.com:

(emphasis added)

In a statement, acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner said all of the politically appointed officers were asked to submit letters of resignation, something he said was typical in a transition.

They were asked to submit letters of resignation. They did not suddenly wake up and say "I'm quitting."

Usually this is not (none / 0) (#10)
by Ga6thDem on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 10:37:06 AM EST

done. Usually these kinds of people are kept on in the state department. However I understand why Trump wanted them to resign. He doesn't want anybody experienced there and someone who would go public with the Putin agenda.


You mean like Clinton firing 93?? (none / 0) (#14)
by jimakaPPJ on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 04:01:57 PM EST

U.S. Attorneys (none / 0) (#15)
by MKS on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 04:51:42 PM EST

all of whom are political appointees.

A far cry from getting rid of career staffers. We will now have a Secretary of State with no experience, and now his top deputies have just been fired.

Cleaning house in favor of "Yes" men.

Every (none / 0) (#16)
by Ga6thDem on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 06:37:33 PM EST

president fires all those attorneys. They are political appointees. These were career people with knowledge and experience but they would have interfered in the Putin agenda.


Sigh (none / 0) (#18)
by jimakaPPJ on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 07:16:11 PM EST

These were political appointees.

Presidents are entitled to have people they believe will follow their guidance.

Obviously these 4 Democrats were suspect.

They had to offer. He said okie doikie, you're outta here!


: As you have seen (5.00 / 2) (#22)
by Repack Rider on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 08:29:14 PM EST

...in only a week, US foreign policy is now a disaster.
Those 4 professional were good enough for George W. Bush. What is about experienced, smart people that Tr*mp doesn't like? In the presence of experience and intelligence he looks like a clueless buffoon.
I suspect that's why he wanted them out. He wants to be the smartest person in the room, but everyone else is older than six years old, which makes it difficult.
And it only took a week. Now AMERICAN CITIZENS are no longer welcome in countries all over the world.
The 20% tariff taxes AMERICANS for "the wall," even though he said Mexico would pay for it.
Help me here, how do you make another country pay for something here? Invade the capital and take hostages.
You have to admit, there is absolutely no thought given to the consequences of stupidity in foreign policy, and it ONLY TOOK A WEEK.

Yet another attempt to distract ... (none / 0) (#21)
by Erehwon on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 08:22:52 PM EST

from the real set of lawsuits that are and will be needed against the most corrupt, most bigoted, most crooked, ... ad nauseam administration (what an accomplishment within a week!) ever.

: Yes it was and it was deleted (none / 0) (#27)
by Jeralyn on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 11:53:23 PM EST

Jim get your own blog if you want to pick the topic of discussion. You don't get to do that here.

Jim, as much as I've tried (none / 0) (#24)
by fishcamp on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 09:37:36 PM EST

to get along with you, and you know I have, please don't challenge me to a game of marbles, since you've obviously lost yours.

: Jims comments were deleted (none / 0) (#28)
by Jeralyn on Sat Jan 28, 2017 at 11:54:57 PM EST

and he's close to being in time out or banned. Please don't take his bait.