--- title: State Department's Senior Diplomats Resign: Officials description: At least three senior U.S. diplomats at the State Department have left their posts, State Department officials told Reuters on Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/4650481/state-department-officials-resign/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-26T17:15:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T12:38:02.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: At Least 2 Senior State Department Diplomats Resign og:description: It's unclear why the staffers left og:url: https://time.com/4650481/state-department-officials-resign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7dc607068a35542/6988b76c0a4a227ee59ccb5e/rex-tillerson-state-department.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senate Confirmation Hearing Held For Rex Tillerson To Become Secretary Of State og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: At Least 2 Senior State Department Diplomats Resign twitter:description: It's unclear why the staffers left twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7dc607068a35542/6988b76c0a4a227ee59ccb5e/rex-tillerson-state-department.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # At Least 2 Senior State Department Diplomats Resign > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Reuters](https://time.com/author/reuters/) ## Reuters Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:38 PM UTCPublished: Jan 26, 2017 5:15 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 11: Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of State, testifies during his confirmation hearing before Senate Foreign Relations Committee January 11, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Tillerson is expected to face tough questions regarding his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 11: Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of State, testifies during his confirmation hearing before Senate Foreign Relations Committee January 11, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Tillerson is expected to face tough questions regarding his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)Alex Wong±Getty Images by [Reuters](https://time.com/author/reuters/) ## Reuters Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:38 PM UTCPublished: Jan 26, 2017 5:15 PM UTC (WASHINGTON) – At least two senior U.S. diplomats at the State Department have left their posts, State Department officials told Reuters on Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether their departure was part of the normal transition process when a new administration starts or whether it was a coordinated walkout by diplomats who had served in Democrat Barack Obama’s administration. A week ago, Republican President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman Rex Tillerson, was confirmed by the Senate foreign relations committee. He has yet to be confirmed by the full Senate. The departures will put more pressure on Tillerson to fill these senior posts. Among those whom Reuters has confirmed are leaving, are Gregory Starr, Assistant Secretary forState for Diplomatic Security and Michele Bond, Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs. Tom Countryman, the acting undersecretary for arms control and international security, was asked to leave by Friday, U.S. officials said. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; editing by Grant McCool) **Correction:** The original version of this story misstated the number of officials who resigned. 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