Exodus from State Dept. Who doesn't want whom?

Resignees included Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy, 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.

Senior State Department officials resign after Rex Tillerson visit

"At least four senior officials at the State Department resigned Wednesday, leaving the critical agency devoid of most of its management-level personnel ahead of the expected confirmation of Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson, according to reports.

"The departures are just the latest wave in an ongoing mass exit from the State Department following President Trump’s electoral victory in November, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

"CNN reported that the foursome was fired — and didn’t resign — by the Trump administration as part of an effort, officials said, meant to “clean house.” . . .

The American Foreign Service Association, the labor union for the U.S. Foreign Service, however, said in a statement Thursday that while news of the personnel moves "appears to be a large turnover in a short period of time, a change of administration always bring personnel changes, and there is nothing unusual about rotations or retirements."

Bloomberg Politics: House cleaning at State
"A wave of top U.S. State Department officials have resigned as President Donald Trump’s administration exerts control over the agency with an eye toward purging an old guard seen as representing the establishment he railed against during the campaign." . . .

"While those who are leaving are mostly career foreign service officers, they were in posts that require a presidential appointment and Senate confirmation. Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner said a Trump administration request that politically appointed officers submit letters of resignation is “standard with every transition,” suggesting the changes weren’t unusual.

"That view isn’t shared by other current and former officials." . . .

At the same time, the Trump administration is eager to shake up the department’s bureaucracy and make a break with what the president sees as decades of failed foreign policy, according to a transition official who asked not to be identified.
That push has created tension between Trump’s team and the State Department.