RE: I imagine he is just being transferred back to the Pentagon. It would take a lot more to kick him out and take away his salary.
That’s what I thought. The moment you work for the Federal government, it looks like you have a job and salary for life no matter how corrupt and incompetent you are. Some Cases in point:
1) Marie Yovanovich: Fired from her ambassadorship to Ukraine. She was still in the Diplomatic corp and still has a teaching job at at Georgetown. She announced her retirement a few weeks ago, probably with full retirement benefits.
2) So-called whistleblower ( for the dems of course ), Eric Ciaramela, left the CIA to work for the NSC, and then was kicked out for leaking sensitive information to the media. NO PUNISHMENT. He was simply transferred back to the CIA and eventually worked in the Obama White House. This man became the leaker that caused the entire impeachment hoax. He’s still in government last I heard.
3) Lois Lerner — the infamous IRS director who was caught using the agency to target conservatives. She was formally charged with contempt of Congress ( what does that even mean? ). Result: She got to keep her job till retirement. Her retirement included a 6 figure a year pension.
What about Gordon Sondland? He was fired too. Is he still in government?
The rules for military are different, because they fall under the UCMJ and can be court-martialed.
But yeah, it takes a lot of work to get someone in the federal government kicked out - even when they are corrupt or incompetent.
No. He was a political ambassador, not career State Department. His government career began and ended with the EU post.