Important Takeaways:
- President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has asked more than a dozen senior career diplomats to step down from their roles, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said, as the incoming president moved quickly to shape his foreign policy and the diplomatic corps.
- Among those stepping aside ahead of Trump’s Monday inauguration is the agency’s No. 3 official John Bass, who has been acting undersecretary for political affairs overseeing policy from Asia to Europe and the Middle East, sources said. His departure was first reported by the Washington Post.
- One of the sources said all undersecretary and assistant secretary level officials – effectively the entire two layers of officials under the secretary of state – were asked to step down.
- Reuters reported last week that the team overseeing the State Department’s transition to the new administration asked three other senior career diplomats who oversee the department’s workforce and internal coordination to resign from their posts.
- Trump has pledged to “clean out the deep state” by firing bureaucrats he deems disloyal – the staff changes appear to be in line with a broader effort reported to seize greater control of the federal government than any modern president.
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