They are not career appointments but of limited term.”

He continued, “Of the officers whose resignations were accepted, some will continue in the Foreign Service in other positions, and others will retire by choice or because they have exceeded the time limits of their grade in service.”

Greg Starr, director of diplomatic security, also followed through on his planned resignation. At least four senior officials at the State Department resigned Wednesday, leaving the critical agency devoid of most of its management-level personnel ahead of the expected confirmation of Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson…

The departures are just the latest wave in an ongoing mass exit from the State Department following President Trump’s electoral victory in November…CNN reported that the foursome was fired — and didn’t resign — by the Trump administration as part of an effort, officials said, meant to “clean house.”

…Resignees included Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy, assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond and Ambassador Gentry O. Smith and director of the Office of Foreign Missions. As it becomes increasingly likely that Rex Tillerson – Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State – will gain confirmation from the Senate, the State Department which Tillerson looks set to take over is witnessing a purge of its higher ranks.
Patrick F. Kennedy, Joyce Anne Barr, Michele Thoren Bond and Gentry O. Smith resign from the United States Department of State, after Victoria Nuland and Gregory B. Starr had declined to stay on in the Donald Trump administration.