Incoming administrations typically name their own candidates for these senior positions, but the Trump administration has been unusually slow in this regard.

“Political appointees in agencies are always selected through a delicate dance between the White House and the Cabinet secretary,” Kelly Magsamen, who was the acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs in the Obama administration, told me. “Sometimes it is a White House pick and sometimes it is a SecDef or SecState pick. It’s not uniform. But usually both have to have some kind of agreement on who is put in those jobs.”

At the U.S. State Department, for example, there have been no nominees for 96 out of 141 senior positions that require Senate confirmation, according to a database maintained by the Partnership for Public Service—the highest number of vacancies for any Cabinet-level department. The corresponding figures for the Defense Department are 26 out of 53.

Bannon’s remarks are surprising given that he’s publicly claiming say over key appointments.

“I think it’s striking that he would publicly claim such a strong role on personnel, especially given reports that both Secretary [Rex] Tillerson and [James] Mattis [the defense secretary] have been frustrated with the slow progress of appointments, which are usually their domain,” Abraham Denmark, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia who is now director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, told me. “The people currently acting in those positions ... I certainly can’t speak to their positions on these issues, but I’ve known them to be consummate professionals and dedicated civil servants who are driven by mission to defend the United States and implement the policies of the leadership.”

The naming of Thornton, in particular, is likely to rankle the State Department where morale is said to be low because of what many employees view as its diminished role in the Trump administration.

The State Department’s 96 vacancies, including key ambassadorships, notwithstanding, the department is also being reorganized, with the secretary of state having brought in two consulting firms to make recommendations. Tillerson himself has been described as aloof, and news reports have described the department as directionless. (Tillerson has rejected these claims.)

Thornton has been at the center of U.S. diplomacy with North Korea and China during recent tensions on the Korean Peninsula and has traveled with Tillerson to the region. Earlier this month, Tillerson singled her out for praise “for her help in advancing” understanding of issues related to the U.S. and China.

“Susan Thornton also has been key to our relationship with China, and I think it’s important that everyone understand that North Korea does not define the relationship with China,” Tillerson said.