One has to wonder if they are slimy clinton holdovers or simply "lets get the French to like us" State Department types...
Um, both?
I believe that this group is much more insidious than clinton holdovers. I believe this group answers to no president and simply manipulates whatever politicians happen to be "in-charge" at the moment.
If they can't manipulate them, then they destroy them.
These would be the career federal employees. They start out with good intentions and over the years they become corrupted and cynical.
The State Department is a lost cause and, infact, seems to infect anyone who goes there to work. CIA seems not far behind that group.