Tag: Rex Tillerson

Diplomats Sound the Alarm as They Are Pushed Out in Droves

The following article by Gardiner Harris was posted on the New York Times website November 24, 2017:

Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson at the White House on Monday. Mr. Tillerson has made no secret of his belief that the State Department is a bloated bureaucracy. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Of all the State Department employees who might have been vulnerable in the staff reductions that Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has initiated as he reshapes the department, the one person who seemed least likely to be a target was the chief of security, Bill A. Miller.

Republicans pilloried Hillary Clinton for what they claimed was her inadequate attention to security as secretary of state in the months before the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Congress even passed legislation mandating that the department’s top security official have unrestricted access to the secretary of state.

But in his first nine months in office, Mr. Tillerson turned down repeated and sometimes urgent requests from the department’s security staff to brief him, according to several former top officials in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Finally, Mr. Miller, the acting assistant secretary for diplomatic security, was forced to cite the law’s requirement that he be allowed to speak to Mr. Tillerson. Continue reading “Diplomats Sound the Alarm as They Are Pushed Out in Droves”

Foreign Service leadership being ‘decapitated’ and ‘depleted at a dizzying speed’

The following column by Joe Davidson was posted on the Washington Post  website November 17, 2017:

Credit: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

When President Trump reported on his trip to Asia, he heaped praise on himself and said the nation’s “standing in the world has never been stronger than it is right now.”

Using “I” 42 times in his 23-minute speech Wednesday, he declared “NATO, believe me, is very happy with Donald Trump and what I did,” as he touted previous accomplishments.

Trump’s unmatched self-adulation might cloud his view of the hard work by foreign service staffers and their increased difficulties because of his administration’s hiring freeze.

Noting a recent Time magazine cover “with its graphic of wrecking balls and warning of ‘dismantling government as we know it,’ ” American Foreign Service Association President Barbara Stephenson is cautioning against “mounting threats to our institution — and to the global leadership that depends on us.” Continue reading “Foreign Service leadership being ‘decapitated’ and ‘depleted at a dizzying speed’”

Trump on lack of nominees: ‘I am the only one that matters’

The following article by Jesse Byrnes was posted on the Hill website November 2, 2017:

President Trump pushed back Thursday on concerns about a lack of nominees for key positions at the State Department, arguing it wouldn’t affect his agenda.

“Let me tell you, the one that matters is me, I’m the only one that matters because when it comes to it that’s what the policy is going to be,” Trump said on Fox News when pressed about vacancies by Laura Ingraham. Continue reading “Trump on lack of nominees: ‘I am the only one that matters’”

Trump proposes ‘IQ tests’ faceoff with Tillerson after secretary of state calls him a ‘moron’

The following article by Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website October 10, 2017:

President Trump and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have been on shaky ground for weeks, and Trump’s challenge of an ‘IQ test’ face-off with Tillerson isn’t smoothing things over. Here’s a look back at where their relationship derailed. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

President Trump proposed an “IQ tests” faceoff with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after the nation’s top diplomat reportedly called the president a “moron” and disparaged his grasp of foreign policy.

In an interview with Forbes magazine published Tuesday, Trump fired a shot at Tillerson over the “moron” revelation, first reported by NBC News and confirmed by several other news organizations, including The Washington Post. Continue reading “Trump proposes ‘IQ tests’ faceoff with Tillerson after secretary of state calls him a ‘moron’”

For Tillerson, Diplomatic Breakthrough With Trump Proves Elusive

The following article by Peter Baker was posted on the New York Times website October 5, 2017:

Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson held a hastily called news conference on Wednesday to deny that he was thinking of resigning. Credit Cliff Owen/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — When Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson traveled to Saudi Arabia with President Trump last spring, he impressed hosts and visitors alike by swaying along with the traditional men’s dancers swathed in white robes and brandishing swords. “Not my first sword dance,” Mr. Tillerson deadpanned afterward.

Indeed, the calculation behind Mr. Tillerson’s appointment was that he could parlay decades of experience as an oil executive brokering deals in the Middle East and elsewhere into success in the nation’s top diplomatic post. But as Mr. Tillerson has discovered, the most important target of any secretary of state’s diplomacy is the president he serves. Continue reading “For Tillerson, Diplomatic Breakthrough With Trump Proves Elusive”

Tillerson flap puts spotlight on Trump’s foreign policy moves

The following article by Niall Stanage was posted on the Memo website October 5, 2017:

Credit: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

The furor this week over whether Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called President Trump a “moron” is the most dramatic example yet of an administration to which normal rules do not apply.

Tensions between Trump and Tillerson are an open secret in Washington, with the president seemingly undercutting his secretary of State on several issues, notably North Korea. Tillerson has bridled at his treatment, according to multiple reports, including from NBC News. Continue reading “Tillerson flap puts spotlight on Trump’s foreign policy moves”

Trump says Tillerson is ‘wasting his time’ trying to pursue negotiations with North Korea

The following article by David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website October 1, 2017:

President Trump tweeted Sunday, Oct. 1, saying he told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with North Korea. (Reuters)

BRANCHBURG, N.J. — President Trump signaled Sunday that he does not believe that attempts at direct communications with North Korea are worth the effort despite escalating tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.

A day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested that the United States maintains “lines of communications” with Kim Jong Un’s regime, Trump wrote on Twitter that Tillerson is “wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man” — his nickname for Kim. Continue reading “Trump says Tillerson is ‘wasting his time’ trying to pursue negotiations with North Korea”

Tillerson says Trump ‘speaks for himself’ on values

The following article by Anne Gearan was posted on the Washington Post website August 27, 2017:

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the State Department on Aug. 24. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

President Trump “speaks for himself” on his values, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday.

The U.S. commitment to tolerance and equality is unchanged, Tillerson said, in the wake of controversy over Trump’s response to racially tinged violence.

“We express America’s values from the State Department — our commitment to freedom, our commitment to equal treatment of people the world over,” Tillerson said on “Fox News Sunday,” adding: “And that message has never changed.”

A United Nations committee last week criticized Trump for what it deemed his failure to fully condemn hatred and bigotry in the wake of deadly violence at a white supremacist march in Charlottesville earlier this month. Continue reading “Tillerson says Trump ‘speaks for himself’ on values”