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Undated: The United States Department of State (DOS),[3] often referred to as the State Department, is the United States federal executive department that advises the President and represents the country in international affairs and foreign policy issues.[4] Equivalent to the foreign ministry of other countries, it was established in 1789 as the nation's first executive department.[5]

The State Department's duties include implementing the foreign policy of the United States, operating the nation's diplomatic missions abroad, negotiating treaties and agreements with foreign entities, and representing the United States at the United Nations. It is led by the Secretary of State, a member of the Cabinet who is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. In addition to administering the Department, the Secretary of State serves as the nation's chief diplomat and representative abroad. The Secretary of State is the first Cabinet official in the order of precedence and in the presidential line of succession, after the Vice President of the United States, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President pro tempore of the Senate.

The State Department headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building, a few blocks away from the White House, in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.; "Foggy Bottom" is thus sometimes used as a metonym.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State

-- 2017 --

 
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January 29: Trump's state department purge sparks worries of 'know-nothing approach' to foreign policy

The sudden dismissal of several senior officials has left a gaping hole at the heart of US diplomacy: ‘The machinery is still there, but no one’s in the cockpit’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/29/state-department-purge-trump-foreign-policy

February 20: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has reassigned a majority of the staff meant to work most closely with the top US diplomat in what career officials at the State Department fear is the start of a major reorganization.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/17/politics/tillerson-state-department-shakeup/

February 21: State Department silent while other countries shape the message ... For more than a month, as the US has tangled with China, floated new terms for Middle East peace, watched North Korea test a ballistic missile and proposed an overhaul of ties with Russia, the State Department has been quiet.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/21/politics/state-department-tillerson-press-silence/

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April 24: An article on a State Department website about President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort has been removed after criticism that it was an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds.

Critics complained that resources were being used to tout the for-profit club, which Trump refers to as the Winter White House. The club, in Palm Beach, Fla., is held in Trump's trust, of which he is the sole beneficiary.
http://www.npr.org/2017/04/24/525444099/state-department-website-features-trumps-for-profit-club-mar-a-lago

July 31: How the Trump Administration broke the State Department.

Morale has hit rock bottom at Foggy Bottom, as American foreign service officers languish and Rex Tillerson builds a mini-empire.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/31/how-the-trump-administration-broke-the-state-department/

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September 15: State Department officials briefed Senate staff on Friday on plans to cut up to $10 billion from the department’s budget over five years, but offered few specifics to ease concerns that the administration risked weakening U.S. standing in the world.

The plan is the result of an ongoing assessment of the department ordered by President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-diplomacy/state-department-describes-plans-for-cuts-offers-few-specifics-sources-idUSKCN1BQ2WR

November 7: 'I'm the only one that matters': Trump disregards State Department's unfilled positions

"So we don't need all the people that they want," Trump said. "Don't forget, I'm a businessperson and I tell my people, 'Where you don't need to fill slots don't fill them.' But we have some people that I'm not happy with there."

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"The one that matters is me," Trump continued Thursday night. "I'm the only one that matters because when it comes to it, that's what the policy is going to be. You've seen that, you've seen it strongly."

"It's called cost saving," Trump said. "I want my vision, but my vision is my vision anyway. It's called cost saving. There's nothing wrong with cost saving."
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-state-department-tillerson-only-one-that-matters-2017-11

November 9: State Department senior ranks being depleted at 'dizzying speed': Ambassador

The U.S.’s ranks of diplomats are losing key leaders at a “dizzying speed” as the State Department struggles to recruit talent amid a hiring freeze and sinking morale in the Trump administration, according to a new essay from a top ambassador.

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Three of the agency’s five career ambassadors, the highest rank for diplomats, have retired or quit since January. Nearly half of career ministers — the next level down and equivalent to the military’s three-star generals — are gone too, down to 19 from 33. The next-level minister counselors have seen their numbers drop by 62 diplomats, to 369, since Labor Day “and are still falling,” writes Ambassador Barbara Stephenson, the president of the American Foreign Service Association union.

Without these leaders, the U.S. could face a diminished role on the world stage, unable to keep up with the increasingly aggressive foreign policies of rising countries like China, she argues.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-accused-decapitating-leadership-state-department/story?id=51006690

-- 2018 --

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January 13: Morale disintegrates at State Department as diplomats wonder who will quit next to escape Trump
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article194607714.html


January 17: Trump's State Department is Desperate to Escape President, With 60 Percent Of Diplomats Having Already Left
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-state-department-staff-leaving-783506

February 11: The Hollowing Out of the State Department Continues

The agency lost 12 percent of its foreign-affairs specialists in the first eight months of the Trump administration.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/tillerson-trump-state-foreign-service/553034/

March 13: The State Department is riddled with key vacancies as Trump seeks nuclear talks with North Korea
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/the-state-department-is-riddled-with-key-vacancies.html

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March 13: Read the State Department's Response to President Trump Replacing Rex Tillerson With Mike Pompeo
http://fortune.com/2018/03/13/trump-rex-tillerson-mike-pompeo-state-department/

March 13: Donald Trump has fired Steve Goldstein, the State Department official who challenged his account of firing Rex Tillerson.

The latest dismissal came in the midst of chaos in the White House after the President decided he would sack Mr Tillerson, who had served as his Secretary of State.

Following that firing, Under Secretary of State Steve Goldstein released a statement that appeared to contradict Mr Trump's account of the sacking. In it, he said that Mr Tillerson hadn't heard about being fired until the President sent a tweet announcing it.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/steve-goldstein-fired-trump-rex-tillerson-us-state-department-white-house-a8254151.html

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March 16: At Trump’s State Department, Tillerson Is Out, Pompeo In
https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/political-scene/at-trumps-state-department-tillerson-is-out-pompeo-in

April 19: The State Department’s collapse, as explained by Rex Tillerson

The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow interviewed the former secretary of state. The results were revealing.
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/4/19/17257158/trump-state-department-tillerson-new-yorker

April 21: Trump’s State Department no longer calls West Bank ‘occupied’ in annual report

In first ... document on human rights abuses refers simply to ‘Israel, Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza,’ with no comment on the status of the territories

Last December, it was reported that US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman asked the State Department to stop calling the West Bank occupied, which would mark a noted departure in US policy.

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State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert, however, later told reporters his comments indicated no shift in the US position. Before his confirmation to the diplomatic role, Friedman was a staunch settlements supporter and columnist for right-wing Israeli publications.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trumps-state-department-no-longer-calls-west-bank-occupied-in-annual-report/

April 23: Trump’s State Department Erases Reproductive Rights From Human Rights Report

“Reproductive rights are human rights, and omitting the issue signals the Trump Administration’s latest retreat from global leadership on human rights."

The report, titled “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017,” is meant to “document the status of human rights and worker rights in nearly 200 countries and territories” and is “used by a variety of actors, including the U.S. Congress, the executive branch, and the judicial branch as a factual resource for decision making in matters ranging from assistance to asylum.”

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This year’s iteration of the human rights report eliminated sections on “reproductive rights,”
which, according to the Washington Post, had been introduced during the Obama administration in the 2011 report that was released the following year.
https://rewire.news/article/2018/04/23/trumps-state-department-erases-reproductive-rights-human-rights-report/

May 2: Trump touts renewed 'spirit' at State Dept. under Pompeo
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/02/trump-state-department-mike-pompeo-565612

May 2: Trump visits State Department for the first time for Pompeo’s swearing-in
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/president-trump-visits-state-department-for-the-first-time-for-pompeos-swearing-in/2018/05/02/ee0b385c-dcbb-4712-b959-a5d7a7fe8ba4_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f0c3be77365c

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May 7: State Dept.: Giuliani doesn’t speak for US on foreign policy

The Trump administration sought to distance itself Monday from Rudy Giuliani’s dramatic public statements about Iran and North Korea, saying that President Donald Trump’s new lawyer does not speak for the president on matters of foreign policy.

Since joining Trump’s legal team last month and becoming its public face, Giuliani has raised eyebrows for a series of startling assertions not only about his legal strategy and the special counsel investigation, but also about global affairs and Trump’s policies. That spurred widespread confusion over whether the former New York mayor, now on Trump’s payroll, was disclosing information he’d been told by the president, stating U.S. government policy or merely describing his own impression of events.
https://apnews.com/5e9abd42a1aa45c7be3a70f66042952b

June 12: Trump’s State Dept thinks Singapore is in Malaysia

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In posting the transcript of a press briefing that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave on Monday, the venue was described as “JW Marriott, Singapore, Malaysia” on the department’s official website.

As of 1.45pm Tuesday, the mistake had yet to be rectified.

Singapore joined with Malaya and the two Borneo states to form the new federation of Malaysia under the terms of the Malaysia Agreement in 1963.

However, it left in 1965 to form the independent Republic of Singapore.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/06/12/trumps-state-dept-thinks-singapore-is-in-malaysia/

June 25: “Be Careful What You Wish For”: How Mike Pompeo Trumpified the State Department

Insiders praise Pompeo as a vast improvement over Tillerson. Behind the scenes, however, sources say Pompeo is remaking American diplomacy in Trump’s image—and cracking down on dissent. “It has really sent chills through people,” a former foreign-service officer says. “They are using diplomatic security to try to, quite frankly, intimidate people.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/how-mike-pompeo-trumpified-the-state-department

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July 11: U.S. State Department warns Americans in London ahead of Trump visit

Some accuse the State Department of scaremongering and organizers of London's protest say that they are in solidarity with Americans.
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/07/11/u-s-state-department-warns-americans-in-london-ahead-of-trump-visit/

July 14: Trump’s war on the State Department

President Trump is seeking to radically remodel the State Department in an unprecedented way, according to former officials from administrations of both political parties. 

Past GOP presidents have also sought to cut the State Department down to size, and even current employees have acknowledged bureaucratic problems at Foggy Bottom.

But some former officials describe Trump's efforts as something unseen before — a war of sorts on the State Department that if carried out would leave it hobbling. 
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/341923-trumps-war-on-the-state-department

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July 18: The White House and the State Department are at odds over Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to allow the U.S. access to Russians accused of election meddling in return for interviews of Americans accused by the Kremlin of unspecified crimes.

Even as the White House said the offer, made by Putin to President Donald Trump at their summit in Helsinki on Monday, was under consideration, the State Department called Russia's allegations against the Americans "absurd," suggesting that any questioning of them would not be countenanced by the U.S. The Russian claims against the Americans, including former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, relate to allegations of fraud and corruption.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-state-department-putin-proposal-20180718-story.html

July 26: What it’s really like to work in the State Department under Trump
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/594dvq/what-its-really-like-to-work-in-the-state-department-under-trump

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August 22: At a Senate hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut questioned the State Department’s work to counter Russian propaganda and disinformation while President Trump attacks U.S. media outlets.

Murphy, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, pressed U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell about the discrepancy between Trump’s tweets and state department policy, prompting this response from Mitchell.

“I just want to push back on this idea that there is a strategy that’s separate from the views of the President. This is the President’s administration, this is his foreign policy,” Mitchell said.

Murphy was not convinced.
http://www.wshu.org/post/murphy-pushes-state-department-trump-tweets#stream/0

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August 24: Trump's latest North Korea gamble blindsides State Department
https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/trump-s-latest-north-korea-gamble-blindsides-state-department-1306033219765?v=railb&

August 31: Under Pompeo, the State Department Is Getting Its Groove Back
https://www.weeklystandard.com/jenna-lifhits/pompeos-challenge-working-with-trump-while-empowering-state-department

September 10: There’s a lot unsaid in the State Department statement about closing the Palestinian office in D.C.

The announcement says that the Palestinian Liberation Organization has "refused to engage with the U.S." on peace efforts.
https://thinkprogress.org/state-dept-close-palestinian-office-condemning-trumps-peace-plan-a1a0eab58168/


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September 11: State Department And Immigration Law Contradict Trump Speech
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2018/09/11/state-department-and-immigration-law-contradict-trump-speech/#35c6d76c257a

September 14: Pompeo fills State Department gaps as he vows Trump-like swagger
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/pompeo-fills-state-department-gaps-as-he-vows-trump-like-swagger-1.547464

September 17: White and Male: Trump’s Ambassadors Don’t Look Like the Rest of America

The diversity problem predates this administration, but some State Department officials fear it’s getting worse.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/17/white-male-trump-ambassadors-dont-look-like-america-us-state-department/

September 19: Why Is Trump’s State Department Stealing Ideas from Old Spice Commercials?

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Mike Pompeo’s #Swagger hashtag diplomacy is an international embarrassment.

On Monday, coupled with the launch of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Instagram account, the State Department launched a campaign rebranding itself the “Department of Swagger.”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/09/13/state-department-mike-pompeo-swagger-donald-trump-219867

September 21: Trump's State Department lacks money, clear mandate to fight Russian disinformation, 'fake news'
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/09/21/trump-administration-lacks-resources-fight-russian-fake-news/1292089002/

October 3: Pompeo: Senate Democrats Holding Up 65 Trump State Department Nominees
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/10/03/pompeo_senate_democrats_holding_up_65_trump_state_department_nominees.html

October 18:

Trump State Department Among Most Diverse in History

Pompeo undertakes effort to promote diversity hires amid media criticism
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-state-department-among-diverse-history/

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October 26: State Department: No Plans to Change Passport Policy Despite Trump Anti-Trans Memo

Advocates for the transgender community have been keeping a close eye on the passport process amid fear of changes by the Trump administration.
https://rewire.news/article/2018/10/26/state-department-no-plans-to-change-passport-policy-despite-trump-anti-trans-memo/

October 28: Fox Business drops guest who blamed migrant caravan on 'Soros-occupied State Department'
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/413542-fox-business-exec-condemns-rhetoric-of-guest-who-blamed-migrant-caravan-on

October 29: Trump met State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert about replacing Nikki Haley at UN
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-met-state-department-spokeswoman-heather-nauert-about-replacing-nikki-haley-at-un

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October 29: By sending US troops to the Mexico border, Trump repeats a costly Obama mistake

Donald Trump plans to send 5,000 US troops to the country’s southern border, a massive increase from the 800 originally planned, in order to secure legal ports of entry, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The troops are expected to remain there through mid-December, as a caravan of migrants seeking asylum from Central America works its way to the US border with Mexico.

In fact, both presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush tried it.

Both times, US diplomats, local business people, and lawmakers called it an expensive failure (paywall).

... State Department officials worried the operations would hamper their cooperation with Mexican law enforcement authorities, the report said.
https://qz.com/1441730/trump-sends-troops-to-the-border-repeating-obamas-mistake/


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October 30: Could State Department spokeswoman replace Haley?

President Trump reportedly meets Heather Nauert in connection with the post of United Nations ambassador.

Nauert, 48, would be an unorthodox choice for the UN role given that she had little experience in government or foreign policy before joining the administration in April 2017 after several years as an anchor and correspondent for Fox News.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253968

October 30: The Atlantic is reporting that the FBI is looking into a matter sent to them by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller about an anonymous woman who is alleging she was offered $20,000 to make a false allegation of sexual harassment against Mueller. The woman had initially spoken to at least ten reporters from a variety of news outlets, who were unable to verify her account. In a letter to a reporter, she claimed, a man “offered to pay off all of my credit card debt, plus bring me a check for $20,000 if I would do.” She added, “He knew exactly how much credit card debt I had, right down to the dollar, which sort of freaked me out.”

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The woman named GOP operative John Burkman, who also hosts a talk radio show and frequently promotes conspiracy theories, as being part of the operation.
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/151959/fbi-investigating-report-plot-discredit-robert-mueller-sexual-harassment-accusations

November 4: Trump's empty State Department

Almost Half the Top Jobs in Trump’s State Department Are Still Empty

n 18 countries, the White House has yet to designate a U.S. ambassador. That includes Australia, a close ally to America that is beginning to look to China instead.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/state-department-empty-ambassador-to-australi/574831/

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November 7: House Dems to Turn the Screws on Trump’s State Department

The new Congress will flex its oversight muscles on everything from mismanagement at the State Department to questions about Trump’s finances.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/07/house-dems-to-turn-the-screws-on-trumps-state-department/

December 31: Brett McGurk Says State Department Facing ‘Extremely Difficult Circumstances’ In Farewell Tweet

A top State Department official who resigned in protest of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops in Syria wished his colleagues well in a tweet Monday as they face what he called “extremely difficult circumstances.”

Brett McGurk, the outgoing U.S. envoy to the global coalition fighting the self-described Islamic State, submitted his letter of resignation to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Dec. 21. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis submitted a searing letter of resignation to the president a day earlier.

“Today was my last day at the State Department,” McGurk tweeted Monday. “I wish my former civilian and military colleagues well as they work under extremely difficult circumstances to protect the interests of our great country.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-mcgurk-farewell-tweet_us_5c2a7099e4b0407e9085167d

-- 2019 --

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