Story highlights The protest memo was sent a top aide to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson through an internal dissent channel

In the memo, the employees object to the exclusion of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Myanmar from the list

(CNN) A group of State Department employees penned a memo accusing the agency's leadership of violating US law by refusing to call out three countries for not doing more to stop the recruitment of child soldiers.

Reuters was first to report on the memo, and obtained other documents appearing to support the argument that several bureaus within the State Department recommended the three countries be listed.

CNN has not independently obtained the memo, but a senior State Department official familiar with the document confirmed its authenticity. It was sent to Brian Hook -- a top aide to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- through an internal dissent channel within the department.

In the memo, the employees object to the exclusion of Afghanistan, Iraq and Myanmar from the list, "despite the clearance of the Office of Legal Adviser and relevant regional and functional bureaus that there were sufficient facts demonstrating that all three governments either had governmental armed forces or supported armed groups that recruited and used child soldiers in 2016 and therefore met the legal requirements for a listing."

"Beyond contravening U.S. law," they add, "this decision risks marring the credibility of a broad range of State Department reports and analyses and has weakened one of the U.S. government's primary diplomatic tools to deter governmental armed forces and government-supported armed groups from recruiting and using children in combat and support roles around the world."

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