Exodus From State Department Legal Office Could Heighten Risk Of Trump Admin Breaking The Law

The office tackles global issues such as the administration’s deadly strikes in the Caribbean, which lawmakers and experts say could involve war crimes. Dozens of officials have left this year.

The Trump administration has spurred a professional exodus at the State Department office focused on international law, which could make it harder for the government to assess if the administration is breaking the law or committing war crimes, former department officials told HuffPost.

The Office of the Legal Adviser at State, known as “L,” is the U.S.’s core instrument for considering whether government policies and actions comply with international law. But that office has shriveled under President Donald Trump, meaning such expertise may now play a smaller role in decision-making about major international issues — like the administration’s lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea, which lawmakers and experts are increasingly expressing alarm about, calling the campaign illegal and an abuse of power.

This year, more than 60 staff members have left the office, whose ranks usually comprise between 200 and 300 people, according to Christina Sanford, who was among them. She concluded her service there in November after nine years as an assistant legal adviser, which meant she oversaw one of L’s 23 sections covering various State Department branches. She told HuffPost the losses include seven of L’s senior executives, five of whom were at her senior level — at which there were already some vacancies — and two of whom were at the more senior rank of deputy legal adviser, which only four officials hold. Two additional staffers moved on from L just this week, she said.

HuffPost spoke with six former U.S. government officials about the departures and how they might affect whether policymaking includes a thorough consideration of international law.

Staff have felt increasingly overwhelmed by their workload as a result of the departures, Sanford said, and political appointees in the Trump administration have wielded an unusual level of power.