FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “When President Donald Trump travels to Southeast Asia this fall, he will likely be going without the help of one key adviser: a chief of protocol.
Vice President Mike Pence announced Thursday that the President will attend two summits in the Philippines and one in Vietnam this November, and before that, he has trips planned to Brussels, Italy and Germany this spring and summer. But since January 20, there has been no one officially in the important diplomatic position — and once someone is named it takes months, or even more than a year, for a nominee to be confirmed by the Senate…
Chiefs of protocol work at the State Department, and since 1961, they have all held the rank of ambassador. They are sometimes former ambassadors themselves and are well-versed in foreign relations and etiquette. They accompany presidents on foreign trips and coordinate visits of foreign dignitaries to the US, they greet newly installed ambassadors moving to Washington, they help select gifts for foreign leaders and they run Blair House, the historic guesthouse across the street from the White House.”
-Kate Anderson Brower, “Trump wings it without chief of protocol,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 21, 2017 7:43am