US State Department's senior management team resigns

Washington

SECRETARY of State Rex Tillerson's job running the State Department just got considerably more difficult. The entire senior level of management officials resigned on Wednesday, part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior foreign service officers who don't want to stick around for the Trump era.

Mr Tillerson was actually inside the State Department's headquarters in Foggy Bottom on Wednesday, taking meetings and getting the lay of the land. It was reported on Wednesday morning that the Trump team was narrowing its search for his No 2, and that it was looking to replace the State Department's long-serving undersecretary for management, Patrick Kennedy. Mr Kennedy, who has been in that job for nine years, was actively involved in the transition and was angling to keep that job under Mr Tillerson, three State Department officials told The Washington Post (WP).