Relief over Tillerson fades at State Department
Chief embracing cuts to mission
WASHINGTON — U.S. diplomats were relieved three months ago when President Donald Trump chose Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, welcoming the oilman as a seasoned manager who would shield them from ideologues ready to gut America’s foreign policy machinery.
Yet that comfort is now giving way to unease, as the former Exxon Mobil Corp. chief embraces Trump’s vision.
Tillerson supports the president’s goal to cut the State Department budget and shift its mission away from existing initiatives such as climate change, global health and development assistance beyond key allies, according to half a dozen people familiar with his thinking who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters.
“The issue isn’t a lack of resources, it’s how do we refocus the department on its core priorities, and this is a way of getting at that,” said Brett Schaefer, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who has advocated a restructuring of the department but says he isn’t advising Tillerson. “It’s sort of a pressure exercise to force the people in the State Department and at USAID to rethink how budgets have been allocated and focus on critical priorities.”
That doesn’t mean Tillerson will rubber-stamp the Office of Management and Budget’s proposal to slash 37% of the combined $50 billion budget for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to free up money for the military, but he supports the sentiment behind it, the people said.
Tillerson, according to the people interviewed, wants a slimmed-down department that serves Trump’s goal — a national security strategy more narrowly focused on backing U.S. allies in the Middle East and Europe to advance his “America First” theme. That means largely doing away with the global promotion of democracy and other “soft power” initiatives.
It marks a sharp departure from the era of President Barack Obama, who oversaw an expansion of the State Department’s mandate, staff and budget.
The swings of sentiment inside the State Department were described by several current and former officials who said staffers were initially encouraged that Trump chose Tillerson and not former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani or other candidates they saw as hostile to the department’s goals. Their concerns crystallized later after career diplomats were let go without protest from Tillerson and appointees seen as loyal to Trump but lacking foreign policy experience were installed, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
Unlike his predecessors — from Republican Henry Kissinger to Democrat Hillary Clinton — Tillerson has cultivated a low public profile. He hasn’t held a single news conference and isn’t taking reporters with him on a trip to Japan, South Korea and China this week.