Seven of Nine Top Jobs at State Department Are Now Vacant

Tom Shannon, longtime State Department diplomat and current undersecretary for political affairs, announced Thursday that he plans to leave the department “for personal reasons.” With Shannon leaving, seven of the nine top positions at the State Department are now vacant, including positions dealing with “U.S. trade policy, stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, refugee issues and efforts to counter human trafficking,” Bloomberg reported. Shannon spent the majority of his career focusing on Latin America, but as an Obama holdover, many felt he was blocking vital change to Washington’s stance on Cuba and Venezuela. This comes as 60 percent of top-ranking State Department officials have left and new applications to join the Foreign Service have fallen 50 percent.