State Dept. senior management team resigns: report

The State Department’s entire senior level of management has resigned less than a week into Donald Trump’s administration.

The resignations, reported by the The Washington Post, included Patrick Kennedy, the agency’s undersecretary for management who had served in the role for nine years.

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, resigned as well, the Post reported.

{mosads}It is not clear whether the officials were forced out by the incoming Trump administration, but the changes shook up Washington — where Trump’s approach to the foreign service had already raised eyebrows.

“It’s the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember, and that’s incredibly difficult to replicate,” David Wade, who served as State Department chief of staff under Secretary of State John Kerry, told The Post.

Earlier this year, it emerged that Trump’s team had asked all politically-appointed U.S. ambassadors to clear out of their posts by Inauguration Day, in what was seen as a break with precedent. 

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.

“Of the officers whose resignations were accepted, some will continue in the Foreign Service in other positions, and others will retire by choice or because they have exceeded the time limits of their grade in service,” Toner said in the statement.

“No officer accepts a political appointment with the expectation that it is unlimited,” he continued. “And all offers that the president may choose to replace them at any time.”

All four had previously served presidents in both parties.

The American Foreign Service Association, the professional association and labor union of the Foreign Service, said it was aware of the media coverage of changes in the management team.

“While this appears to be a large turnover in a short period of time, a change of administration always brings personnel changes, and there is nothing unusual about rotations or retirements in the Foreign Service,” it said in a statement.

The exiting officials join a number of others who have departed since President Trump took office last week.