“beyond what is typical for political appointees”
See how they snuck that in?
Political appointees < bureaucrats.
Oh OK. So the agency employees have a higher status then a mere appointee, who apparently is just some figurehead who’s supposed to appear on TV or go to state dinner parties but otherwise not interfere with the Annointed Ones who actually own the government.
And these are the same people who rant about “protecting democracy”.
Good catch.