Mainecat Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Now I am concerned about national security....... Josh Rogin The State Department’s entire senior management team just resigned By Josh Rogin January 26 at 11:02 AM Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s job running the State Department just got considerably more difficult. 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. Tillerson was actually inside the State Department’s headquarters in Foggy Bottom on Wednesday, taking meetings and getting the lay of the land. I reported Wednesday morning that the Trump team was narrowing its search for his No. 2, and that it was looking to replace the State Department’s long-serving undersecretary for management, Patrick Kennedy. Kennedy, who has been in that job for nine years, was actively involved in the transition and was angling to keep that job under Tillerson, three State Department officials told me. Then suddenly on Wednesday afternoon, Kennedy and three of his top officials resigned unexpectedly, four State Department officials confirmed. Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond and Ambassador Gentry O. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Missions, followed him out the door. All are career foreign service officers who have served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Kennedy will retire from the foreign service at the end of the month, officials said. The other officials could be given assignments elsewhere in the foreign service. In addition, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Gregory Starr retired Jan. 20, and the director of the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, Lydia Muniz, departed the same day. That amounts to a near-complete housecleaning of all the senior officials that deal with managing the State Department, its overseas posts and its people. “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.” Addressing a crowd of diplomats at a dinner event Jan. 17, Donald Trump joked that secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson is finding his Senate confirmation tougher than anticipated. (AP) Several senior foreign service officers in the State Department’s regional bureaus have also left their posts or resigned since the election. But the emptying of leadership in the management bureaus is more disruptive because those offices need to be led by people who know the department and have experience running its complicated bureaucracies. There’s no easy way to replace that via the private sector, said Wade. “Diplomatic security, consular affairs, there’s just not a corollary that exists outside the department, and you can least afford a learning curve in these areas where issues can quickly become matters of life and death,” he said. “The muscle memory is critical. These retirements are a big loss. They leave a void. These are very difficult people to replace.” Whether Kennedy left on his own volition or was pushed out by the incoming Trump team is a matter of dispute inside the department. Just days before he resigned, Kennedy was taking on more responsibility inside the department and working closely with the transition. His departure was a surprise to other State Department officials who were working with him. [‘They never saw this coming’: A Q&A with Kellyanne Conway] One senior State Department official who responded to my requests for comment said that all the officials had previously submitted their letters of resignation, as was required for all positions that are appointed by the president and that require confirmation by the Senate, known as PAS positions. “No officer accepts a PAS position with the expectation that it is unlimited. And all officers understand that the President may choose to replace them at any time,” this official said. “These officers have served admirably and well. Their departure offers a moment to consider their accomplishments and thank them for their service. These are the patterns and rhythms of the career service.” Ambassador Richard Boucher, who served as State Department spokesman for Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, said that while there’s always a lot of turnover around the time a new administration takes office, traditionally senior officials work with the new team to see who should stay on in their roles and what other jobs might be available. But that’s not what happened this time. The officials who manage the building and thousands of overseas diplomatic posts are charged with taking care of Americans overseas and protecting U.S. diplomats risking their lives abroad. The career foreign service officers are crucial to those functions as well as to implementing the new president’s agenda, whatever it may be, Boucher said. “You don’t run foreign policy by making statements, you run it with thousands of people working to implement programs every day,” Boucher said. “To undercut that is to undercut the institution.” By itself, the sudden departure of the State Department’s entire senior management team is disruptive enough. But in the context of a president who railed against the U.S. foreign policy establishment during his campaign and secretary of state with no government experience, the vacancies are much more concerning. Tillerson’s job No. 1 must be to find qualified and experienced career officials to manage the State Department’s vital offices. His second job should be to reach out to and reassure a State Department workforce that is panicked about what the Trump administration means for them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/26/the-state-departments-entire-senior-management-team-just-resigned/?postshare=1341485447378534&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.bcdb31d19612 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICEMAN! Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Clown Show as predicted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted January 26, 2017 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 26, 2017 (edited) Awesome! 4 people quite and the world is coming to an end. GMAFB Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. If this was happening to an incoming Dem from a Rep admin you would be complaining about how they are not patriotic and being childish. You know you would. Edited January 26, 2017 by Highmark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spin_dry Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 there's a lot of out of work, billionaire CEO's ready to step in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racer254 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Drain the swamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 When is the best time to launch an attack on the US? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted January 26, 2017 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 26, 2017 (edited) Just now, Mainecat said: When is the best time to launch an attack on the US? Holy fuck you didn't really just imply that did you. 4 desk jockey DoS officials are going to stop an impending attack. Dude you have completely lost it. Edited January 26, 2017 by Highmark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anler Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Its a good start... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racer254 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 1 minute ago, Highmark said: Holy fuck you didn't really just imply that did you. This is the type of shit that makes guys like mc happy. Think about that for just a second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anler Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 2 minutes ago, Mainecat said: When is the best time to launch an attack on the US? Do you think the Brits are gonna give it another go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICEMAN! Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 2 minutes ago, Anler said: Do you think the Brits are gonna give it another go? Watch your fuckin mouth Analer or we'll burn your White House down again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 (edited) 4 minutes ago, racer254 said: This is the type of shit that makes guys like mc happy. Think about that for just a second. really? My concern is national security Edited January 26, 2017 by Mainecat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted January 26, 2017 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 26, 2017 (edited) 5 minutes ago, racer254 said: This is the type of shit that makes guys like mc happy. Think about that for just a second. What a trash article trying to make it look one way. The first 3 I looked up are in their 60's. One guy (Kennedy who is 68) was lobbying to keep his job. He probably got fucking fired. Edited January 26, 2017 by Highmark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momorider Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 5 minutes ago, Anler said: Its a good start... Second Best News I heard today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Skidooski Posted January 26, 2017 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 26, 2017 3 minutes ago, Mainecat said: really? My concern is national security They used private email servers stashed in their bathrooms also? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 Trump is becoming a magnet for crazies all over the world. We will pay for his illness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted January 26, 2017 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 26, 2017 Just now, Mainecat said: Trump is becoming a magnet for crazies all over the world. We will pay for his illness. Better eat a bullet before the commies get you MC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racer254 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 5 minutes ago, Mainecat said: really? My concern is national security Bullshit, you want to trash trump under the false guise of acting like you care about something else. It doesn't take much to figure that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiSledder Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 6 minutes ago, Mainecat said: really? My concern is national security Im going to sleep fantastic tonight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 I dont control the doomsday clock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XCR1250 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 CNN said they were fired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Contributing Member Highmark Posted January 26, 2017 Platinum Contributing Member Share Posted January 26, 2017 Just now, XCR1250 said: CNN said they were fired. This is what happens when libs want to keep their cushy govt job and Trump has the swamp drain plug pulled. They go crying to lib reporters and people like MC actually fall for this shit. What a fucking retard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEFF Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 18 minutes ago, Mainecat said: When is the best time to launch an attack on the US? Maybe when Obama call all of our aircraft carriers to home port at the same time? The week before the end of his presidency? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecat Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 2 minutes ago, racer254 said: Bullshit, you want to trash trump under the false guise of acting like you care about something else. It doesn't take much to figure that out. Trump is and always has been an imbecile. Hes a narcissistic phony and a horrible multi time failed businessman. He hooked you like he hooked other used car buyers here. You bought a lemon....and you know it you just wont admit it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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