Ex-diplomats warn of looming crisis: 'Something is going to come back and bite them'

The Trump administration is aggressively working to force out the State Department’s most senior foreign service officers while promoting staffers seen as more politically loyal, according to nine current and former employees.Those sources told the Washington Sun the department has shrunk the number of senior roles by freezing positions or downgrading them, and they said the intention seems clear.“The State Department is trying to get people to quit,” one current foreign service officer said.Top political appointees have directly asked some veteran personnel to retire. Others have been reassigned to the Administration Bureau, which employees describe as a “purgatory” where careers “go to die.”“It’s like musical chairs but taking chairs away faster so people wind up with nowhere to go,” said one employee who recently left.Last year the State Department laid off more than 1,300 employees, which disproportionately hit senior diplomats. About 3,500 foreign service employees have left since President Donald...