My hunch is there is much more to this than being reported.
Not to be argumentative, but I think the simple answer us provided here.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3513627/posts?page=137#137
Posts end at a president’s term end.
Note how Obama had to reappoint him in 2009.
This is an automatic event.
That’s my take on it at this point.
This may be a completely non-event in reality.