WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is losing its top career diplomat in a setback to the State Department amid numerous crises.

The retirement of the department’s third-ranking official, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon, was announced Thursday at a time when the administration’s foreign policy and its treatment of veteran diplomats has come under heavy criticism.

While not a household name, Shannon is widely respected by his colleagues, lawmakers and others, and his departure in the coming months will leave another void in the top ranks. He holds the rank of “career ambassador” — the highest in the foreign service.

Shannon informed State Department staffers that he will retire as soon as a successor is chosen and ready to assume the job after receiving Senate confirmation. He has served under six presidents of both parties since 1984 and 10 secretaries of state and was seen as a symbol of diplomatic continuity and professionalism during last year’s tumultuous transition.

Shannon’s departure is sure to be seized on by critics of the administration who accuse Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of gutting the foreign service. Of five career ambassadors on the job when Tillerson arrived at the State Department a year ago Thursday, only one remains and that diplomat is on sabbatical. Of six undersecretary positions, only two, including Shannon’s, are currently occupied. The rest are vacant.

Shannon said he was retiring for personal and not political reasons.

Drivers: Train site’s safety arms malfunctioned day before crash

CROZET, Va. — The safety arms at a railroad crossing where a train carrying Republican lawmakers slammed into a garbage truck appeared to be malfunctioning the day before the deadly crash, drivers who regularly cross over the tracks at the crash scene said Thursday.

Gene Locke, who lives near the tracks in Crozet, said he pulled up to the crossing between 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. EST Tuesday and saw that the safety arms were down and the signal light was flashing, but there was no train approaching from either direction. After waiting a minute or so, he took a different route. Other drivers reported similar accounts.

Lawmakers were on their way to a strategy retreat in West Virginia when the crash occurred Wednesday. A worker of the trash company was killed; two others in the truck were injured.

Romney to announce Feb.15

if he will seek Utah Senate seat

SALT LAKE CITY — Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney plans to announce Feb. 15 if he’ll run for the Utah Senate seat held by longtime Republicans Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Romney, 70, said in a Twitter post Thursday that he’s looking forward to the announcement. The post included a link to his website, which offers visitors a form to sign up and “Join Team Mitt.”

Romney’s been considered a top candidate for the Senate seat after Hatch announced in January that he would not seek another term.

Hatch, who has served more than four decades in the Senate, is one of the longest-serving senators in U.S. history and began floating Romney’s name as his potential successor last year.

Romney is a former Massachusetts governor.

Polish Senate backs Holocaust speech bill, sends it to president

WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s Senate has backed legislation that will regulate Holocaust speech, a move that has already strained relations with both Israel and the United States.

The bill proposed by Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice party and voted for early Thursday could see individuals facing up to three years in prison for intentionally attempting to falsely attribute the crimes of Nazi Germany to the Polish nation as a whole.

It was approved by the lower house last week. The bill has yet to become law as it requires official approval from President Andrzej Duda, who has previously supported it.

Many in Israel argue that the move is an attempt to whitewash the role some Poles played in the killing of Jews during World War II.

Pompeo defends meeting with Russian spy chiefs

WASHINGTON — CIA Director Mike Pompeo said there was nothing “untoward” about his meeting with top Russian spy chiefs, saying that even though Moscow remains an adversary, ignoring chances to cooperate on security issues would endanger U.S. lives.

Pompeo sent a letter Thursday to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who had raised questions about the meeting. Schumer said it was suspicious because it came just days before the Trump administration decided not to issue new sanctions at this time against Russian politicians and oligarchs over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Pompeo told Schumer that U.S. officials meet periodically with their Russian counterparts to discuss various topics, including counterterrorismand preventing foreign fighters from returning to both nations.

EPA planning to clean up Superfund site near St. Louis

ST. LOUIS — The Environmental Protection Agency plans to clean up radioactive waste at a suburban St. Louis landfill by removing 70 percent of the Cold War-era nuclear material and capping the rest, the agency said Thursday.

The announcement of the $236 million project ends years of wrangling over what to do with radioactive material illegally dumped more than 40 years ago at West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, material that sits dangerously close to a smoldering underground fire at an adjacent landfill. An earlier remediation plan to cap the entire radioactive site with rock, clay and soil, announced a decade ago, was scrapped amid strong local opposition.

The project is expected to take about five years. The landfill has been on the EPA’s Superfund list since 1990.

The high court in Kenya ordered President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government to allow three major TV stations to continue broadcasting Thursday after they were shut down this week for showing scenes from an opposition rally. The order came amid concerns that Kenyatta was deepening a crackdown on Kenya’s press.

President Donald Trump said the 45.6 million viewers who tuned into his first State of the Union on Tuesday were “the highest number in history,” but Nielsen reported the rating is below President Barack Obama’s speech in 2010, 48 million; George W. Bush, 2002, 51.7 million; and Bill Clinton, 1994, 46.8 million.