The staff have worked there under numerous administrations.
See below.
Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy was part of the Bush cabinet, and has been in public service since 1973. That is a ****load of experience.
Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr entered public service 1979. She was Bush's ambassador to Namibia.
Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond joined the foreign service in 1977. Spent a large chunk of her career in Eastern Europe.
Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, Ambassador Gentry O. Smith started out as a police officer in North Carolina.
"Draining the swamp" does not mean randomly letting all the experienced people go. That leaves the swamp, and adds a quagmire that all of State will have to wade through, as response times and experience is significantly lower...
To both of you,
whoever said drain the swamp ONLY applied to Clinton/Obama cronies? I believe the term I used was "Especially," not "Specifically:"
...Maybe this is another opportunity to "drain the swamp?" (Especially of Clinton/Obama cronies.)
Ah yes, one can clearly see that I did. :yes:
Now, while your arguments appear to be in support of "old boy" networks being important if not necessary to the smooth running of a ship of State; I beg to differ.
Yes, it can be helpful to have people of vast experience in positions of advice.
However, it can also be problematic in that
old ideas and ways of thinking may no longer be suitable in an ever changing political climate.
Old boys advised President's to ignore the entreaties of popular revolutionaries like Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro, who both came to us first for aid against colonial and corrupt governments. But we turned them away, leaving them to the Commies and decades of problems including the Vietnam War, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Blockade, etc.
Old boys advised President's to prop up dictator's like the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein. That led us to the ongoing political difficulties with Iran and the wars and problems with Iraq and ISIS.
Meanwhile,
what new President who faced open ridicule and dissention not only from rival political organizations, but from members of his own political Party (i.e. all those "open letters")
would not want to ensure that only those who were loyal to his goals and willing to work actively to achieve them replaced untrustworthy "old guard" bureaucrats if the opportunity came?
I see nothing wrong with his accepting all the resignations and cleaning house.
He did run on a "Change" platform, and unlike his predecessors it looks like he fully intends to act on that policy. :shrug:
It is too early for all you chicken littles with your "sky is falling" rhetoric.
Of course this may very well entail some confusion and upset...but like any major change things well eventually sort themselves out again. :coffeepap:
