Exclusive: Trump team asks three US senior career diplomats to resign, sources say [View all]

Source: Reuters

January 15, 2025 4:36 PM EST Updated 12 hours ago


WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Aides to President-elect Donald Trump have asked three senior career diplomats who oversee the U.S. State Department's workforce and internal coordination to step down from their roles, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said, in a possible signal of deeper changes ahead for the diplomatic corps.

The team overseeing the State Department's transition to the new administration, the Agency Review Team, has requested that Dereck Hogan, Marcia Bernicat and Alaina Teplitz leave their posts, the sources said.

While political appointees typically submit their resignations when a new president takes office, most career foreign service officers continue from one administration to the next. All three officials have worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations throughout the years, including as ambassadors.

Trump, who will be inaugurated Jan. 20, pledged during his presidential campaign to "clean out the deep state" by firing bureaucrats that he deems as disloyal. There's a little bit of a concern that this might be setting the stage for something worse," one of the U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-team-asks-three-us-senior-career-diplomats-resign-sources-say-2025-01-15/