Still bleeding important staff

A Foreign Service officer whose resignation took effect Thursday penned an op-ed saying he stepped down from his post because he “can no longer justify” being part of what he called President Trump's “Complacent State.”

Chuck Park wrote in an op-ed published by The Washington Post that he was "more than a little idealistic" when as a 26-year-old more than a decade ago he left for his first diplomatic assignment as a U.S. Foreign Service officer.

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“Over three tours abroad, I worked to spread what I believed were American values: freedom, fairness and tolerance,” he continued. “But more and more I found myself in a defensive stance, struggling to explain to foreign peoples the blatant contradictions at home.”

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"I have seen Trump assert the moral equivalence of violent white nationalists and those who oppose them, denigrate immigrants from ‘shithole countries’ and separate children from their parents at the border, only to place them in squalid detention centers,” Park wrote. “But almost three years since his election, what I have not seen is organized resistance from within.”

"Instead, I am part of the Complacent State," he wrote.

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“I can no longer justify to him, or to myself, my complicity in the actions of this administration,” Park wrote. “That’s why I choose to resign.”

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"We should be named and shamed," he wrote, adding that those who fall into the category should either serve the president or quit.

“I’m ashamed of how long it took me to make this decision,” Park wrote.

  The Hill

Late Thursday, the No. 2 official in the office of the director of national intelligence, Sue Gordon, offered a more subtle protest of Trump’s decisions — and a potential warning sign of what lay ahead.

In a note accompanying the letter announcing her resignation, Gordon let it be known that she was not leaving by choice:

Mr. President –

I offer this letter as an act of respect & patriotism, not preference. You should have your team.

Godspeed,

Sue

  WaPo

Respect for what? She's obviously saing she's not on his team.

Top government officials often resign voluntarily when the president no longer desires their service, but they generally don’t let it be known that they were forced out. It’s possible this is just Gordon’s personal disappointment boiling over, but you don’t write a note like that unless you’re trying to convey something. And it’s an especially conspicuous decision for a career intelligence officer, a job that is big on deference to authority and where notoriety is seen as something to be avoided.

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The top official there, former senator Daniel Coats (R-Ind.), recently announced his resignation effective next week. Coats occasionally clashed with Trump and made it clear he wasn’t exactly happy with some of Trump’s actions and comments about the intelligence community.

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In contrast to Coats, Trump soon tapped Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Tex.), a political loyalist with a thin intelligence resume, to take over, but Ratcliffe quickly withdrew after multiple reports involving alleged resume-inflation. With Trump having made his political intentions clear and the job in flux, there were increasing questions about whether Gordon, the logical pick to lead the DNI in at least an acting capacity, would be allowed to do so. Many leading lawmakers — from both parties — reportedly urged Trump to promote Gordon. A career intelligence official who served a quarter-century in the CIA, she appeared eminently qualified.

But not for a position in a Trump administration where the ONLY qualification is sycophancy.

Now Trump has gone in a different direction, tapping Joseph Maguire, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as acting DNI.

Another position filled by an acting director.

The Post’s Shane Harris and Ellen Nakashima report Gordon was “heartbroken” by being passed over.

But perhaps not surprised.