[pm90]

This seems like a recipe for disaster.

I read "The Wise Men" and was under the impression that the State department was staffed with incredibly smart folks who served out of a sense of duty to the Country rather than as a job of last resort.

Makes me wonder: how do you think the State Department would have changed under the leadership of Tillerson and now Pompeo?

[fapjacks]

It wouldn't have. The culture of the organization (and by proxy the culture across all of those organizations -- including allied/FiveEyes nations) is seen as one of its greatest assets, and they go to great lengths to preserve that culture and boot outsiders. If I hadn't been part of a completely third party organization, there's no way I'd have been in those positions for as long as I was ("those positions" here not implying I performed the same function, but rather a job that was critical to their continued presence abroad, with my clearance under the control of that external third party -- sorry for the lack of specificity). No leader will have been able to change their culture, and any leader making headway into changing the culture will not have lasted very long.