I have long had a great deal of respect for the State Department. Unlike other federal agencies, that twist and turn with the political winds, the DOS seemed to have a remarkable consistency of professionalism and competence. At least that's how it looked from the outside. The people I have dealt with in the State Department have always been smart and well-educated (probably because the foreign service exam is tough). My respect for the agency did not wane even when I was butting my head against the DOS bureaucracy during my year in Kazakhstan.
So I found this article about how the Trump administration is hollowing out the organization to be really depressing-- and that's before the draconian cuts Trump gets to impose the draconian cuts to the agency that he has in his budget.
