Posted: 12:52 am EDT
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Wendy Sherman, Obama’s chief negotiator for #Iran talks plans to depart after June 30 deadline via @SangerNYT: http://t.co/Gzxp3jZTt1
— FAS (@FAScientists) May 28, 2015
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Top State Department official Wendy Sherman will depart after the Iran nuclear talks are done http://t.co/VnnYJVJ9Ya pic.twitter.com/70nqHlDBK2
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 28, 2015
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Chief U.S. negotiator in Iran talks to leave State Department: NYT http://t.co/ybu8RWaUnQ
— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) May 28, 2015
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In Wendy Sherman, couldn’t have had a better partner. Lots of work left for her, inc w/ Iran, but wishing her well on the next chapter.
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) May 28, 2015
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Wendy Sherman has been a stellar leader @StateDept. She’ll be much missed! http://t.co/IKkq35NQJd
— Tamara Cofman Wittes (@tcwittes) May 28, 2015
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Wendy Sherman to resign @state. AFSA monitoring, expects career FSO to replace her, the tradition for this position. http://t.co/kCptDQIILP
— Robert Silverman (@silverrj99) May 28, 2015
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Via NYT:
Ms. Sherman, the No. 3 official at the State Department, said she did not expect to take another post in the administration, and she has not announced any plans. But she is close to Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose presidential campaign she supported in 2008, and who is running again for the Democratic nomination.
It was Mrs. Clinton who brought Ms. Sherman back into the government to handle Iran and other issues. Previously, she had worked as a social worker in Boston, a Senate campaign aide, and a counselor to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright during the Clinton administration, handling North Korea. Her congressional critics often cited that credential in critiquing her negotiations with Iran.
She’s actually No.4 (Kerry, Blinken, Higginbottom) and depending on what happens with the Iran Talks and 2016, we might see her again. Is this the start of the exodus from the 7th Floor?
We don’t think this position will be too attractive for a political appointee at this point. Counting the vetting, nomination and confirmation, the wait could be anywhere between a couple of months to half a year. If that happens, that’ll give the new “P” barely a year on the job before the 2016 election, and the traditional resignation required when the new administration takes office in January 2017. That would be like 6 months to transition to the new job, and 6 months looking for a new job. Any political appointee who takes this on would appear desperate. We could be wrong, of course, but we anticipate that a career diplomat will succeed Ms. Sherman as “P.” This position has traditionally been assigned to a career diplomat, and that’s the most logical step right now.
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