US Foreign Affairs and Security Specialists Expulsion, Rubio State Department ‘Praises Communist Party Leaders’

US Foreign Affairs and Security Specialists Expulsion, Rubio State Department ‘Praises Communist Party Leaders’

As the expulsion of key professional bureaucrats from the US NSC and State Department begins, incoming Secretary of State Rubio criticized the Communist Party for the four-country ‘axis’ of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea that Republican conservatives have been building during his confirmation hearing, while praising the leader.
In his confirmation hearing on the 15th, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, the nominee for the next Secretary of State, focused on China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, saying, “They promote chaos and instability, ally with and fund radical terrorist groups, and hide behind the UN veto and the threat of nuclear war.”
The New York Times reported on the 15th that “Senator Rubio repeatedly singled out the Chinese Communist Party as a target of criticism, and unlike Trump, he did not spare praise for the dictators who rule the Chinese Communist Party.” The AP reported on the 15th that “senior Trump administration officials have begun asking career officials working on the White House National Security Council (NSC) about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that President-elect Donald Trump’s team could deem incriminating,” and that “at least some of the non-political staffers have begun packing up after being asked about their loyalty to Trump.”

The AP continued, “Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, has publicly stated in recent days that he intends to eliminate all non-political appointees and career intelligence officials working at the NSC by Inauguration Day, in order to ensure that the NSC is filled with people who support Trump’s agenda.” Reuters reported on the 15th that “President-elect Trump’s aides have asked three senior career diplomats who oversee the State Department’s human resources and internal coordination to step down,” and that “the ‘Agency Review Team,’ which oversees the State Department’s transition to the new administration, has asked Derek Hogan, Marcia Bernicat, and Alaina Teplitz to resign.”
Regarding the notice of dismissal of three key State Department officials, Hogan, Bernicat, and Teplitz, Reuters said, “The call for the officials to resign came during Secretary of State nominee Rubio’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing that day,” and “Trump laid out a 10-step plan on his campaign website on how he will ‘destroy the deep state’ and ‘fire rogue bureaucrats and career politicians.’”
The three diplomatic officials who were notified of their dismissal are key positions at the State Department.
Hogan is the State Department’s executive director, a professional bureaucrat who manages the flow of information between the State Department and the White House. As the State Department’s director of global talent, Burneycat leads the recruitment, placement, and career development of the State Department’s foreign affairs staff.
Deputy Secretary Teplitz has been with the State Department for more than 30 years, having worked overseas and now in Washington.
His most recent role was as “undersecretary for management,” overseeing more than a dozen departments that handle issues ranging from the State Department’s budget to recruiting, procurement, and human resources across the entire workforce.
“Choosing who to fill these three roles will allow Trump’s team to channel resources to the various departments, control intelligence collected by numerous bureaus and embassies, and manage personnel decisions,” Reuters reported. “The decision to ask the three to resign is reminiscent of a staff shakeup that led to the removal of several key officials from high-ranking positions at the State Department during the Trump administration.” Citing two separate sources familiar with Trump’s State Department plans, Reuters reported that “the Trump administration plans to appoint more political appointees to assistant secretary-level positions, which are a mix of career and political appointees,” and that “the Trump team wants to bring political appointees deeper into the State Department because there was a widespread feeling among his aides that his agenda was ‘derailed’ by career diplomats during his last term in office, from 2017 to 2021.” The “career diplomats” are a replacement for “political appointees,” the sources said. Trump’s agency review team is already interviewing candidates for such positions, the sources told Reuters. The administration’s official policy on Ukraine, he said, is to try to end the war started by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that leaders in Kiev and Moscow will have to make concessions. U.S. officials say Russia has drawn its allies and partners into the war by relying on North Korea for troops and weapons, Iran for weapons and training, and China to rebuild its defense industry.
Rubio’s stance on Israel and Gaza is firmly embedded in Washington’s foreign policy consensus.
Two hours after Rubio’s confirmation hearing for secretary of state, the Senate hearing committee chairman announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a temporary ceasefire and partial hostage release in Gaza.
But just hours after the announcement, Israel stepped up its attacks on Gaza.
“Israel stepped up its attacks on Gaza just hours after the ceasefire and hostage release agreements were announced,” Palestinian residents and authorities in the enclave said, adding that mediators were trying to quell the fighting ahead of a scheduled 19-day ceasefire agreement, Reuters reported on the 16th. The ceasefire agreement would see the hostages taken by Hamas in the initial six-week ceasefire that gradually withdrew Israeli troops from Gaza, where more than 40,000 people have already died, exchanged for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who announced the ceasefire agreement, said at a news conference in Doha on the 15th that the ceasefire would take effect on the 19th.
Rubio defended Israel’s actions in the Gaza war during the hearing and accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
He focused his concerns on the threat to Israel’s security, calling the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza “one of the horrors of war,” and making “pro-Israel” remarks, saying, “You cannot coexist with armed forces on your borders who seek to destroy and eliminate you as a nation. You cannot.” Senator Rubio avoided answering the question at the hearing, “Do you think Israel’s annexation of Palestinian territory would be detrimental to peace and security in the Middle East?” saying, “It’s a very complicated issue.”

He said the administration’s official policy on the “Ukraine ceasefire” is “to try to end a war that President Putin started, and that the leaders in Kiev and Moscow will have to make concessions.”

The New York Times acknowledged the gap by saying, “U.S. officials say that Russia has drawn its allies and partners into the war by relying on North Korea for troops and weapons, Iran for weapons and training, and China to rebuild its defense industrial base.”

The New York Times said, “Opponents see Rubio’s foreign policy record as dangerously interventionist,” adding, “Senator Rubio has long been a hawkish voice on national security issues, often in ways that clash with President Trump’s views.” Regarding opposition within the Republican Party, “In the past, Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul criticized Senator Rubio for advocating active U.S. engagement overseas,” and “Senator Paul has openly advocated for reducing the number of U.S. troops stationed overseas and is skeptical that economic sanctions can have positive results.” During the confirmation hearing, Senator Paul asked Senator Rubio, “Is there a way to cooperate with China instead of continuing to attack China?” and “I also questioned the feasibility of many U.S. and European policymakers who argue that Ukraine should join NATO,” the New York Times reported.