State Department staffers suspect Secretary of State Rex Tillerson didn’t stand up for them when the White House proposed cutting their budget by a third. | Getty Tillerson faces his toughest audience yet: The State Department Morale is plunging among the U.S. diplomats and civil servants who work for the secretary of state ahead of planned restructuring and cuts.

Rex Tillerson has some serious explaining to do.

Morale is plunging among the U.S. diplomats and civil servants who work for the secretary of state. Many are aghast at President Donald Trump’s desire to dramatically slash the State Department’s budget and Tillerson’s apparent agreement. Some State staffers are eyeing the exits as malaise grips the department—and before expected organizational restructuring. And just about everyone is seeking clarity from the new administration about its foreign policy objectives.


Few, however, are counting on Tillerson to offer much solace in a speech he’s scheduled to give to the department Wednesday morning — only his second address to the agency as a whole since Feb. 2, his first full day on the job. Stakeholders inside and outside State are particularly flummoxed that Tillerson is giving the speech, and planning to survey staffers, after he’s already decided to trim at least 2,300 positions. It’s a backward approach, they say.

“He’s dug such a big hole, it’s going to be hard to get out of,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former State Department official now with the Center for a New American Security. “If he really wanted to do things right, he would actually say, ‘Don’t believe the numbers and don’t believe the stories about the budget cuts. But I do believe we have to cut some fat, and before I decide on how much to cut or if anything to cut, I want to hear from you.’”

State Department officials would not say whether Tillerson will answer audience questions after he speaks Wednesday. On Monday night, he announced in an email that the department will conduct an online survey of employees, the “first phase” of a discussion about the “goals, priorities and the strategic direction of our organization.”

The survey, which goes live on Wednesday, will be up for nearly two weeks, the secretary wrote. Some 300 people from State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is also part of Tillerson’s purview, also will be separately interviewed.

“I have no pre-conceived notions about how the Department or USAID should be organized for the future,” Tillerson wrote in his email. “My regard for the men and women of the Department of State and USAID has only grown, as I experience every day the dedication and professionalism of our workforce.”

State Department staffers — all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to safeguard their jobs — were initially optimistic when Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, took over as America’s chief diplomat. They were pleased that he had international experience and knew how to run a large institution. Tillerson also impressed diplomats, when, in his Feb. 2 speech, he praised their work even while forecasting changes to improve efficiency.

But Tillerson’s image has taken a heavy beating in the three months since. State Department staffers suspect he didn’t stand up for them when the White House proposed cutting their budget by a third. They’re frustrated that he has yet to fill scores of leadership positions, and worried about his still-murky plans to restructure the department. They’re puzzled by his aversion to public appearances, although he has become more visible in recent days. And they’re annoyed by how isolated he seems to be from the 75,000 employees who work for him in Foggy Bottom and beyond.

One U.S. diplomat said people were “enraged” by a report that indicated Tillerson is unhappy with how much the U.S. spends on housing and schooling for the families of employees overseas, even though those diplomats often serve in tough conditions. The diplomat added that staffers were told they could not, for now, fill empty jobs with the qualified spouses of diplomats — a long-running State initiative — because Tillerson aides “think it’s a ‘jobs program.’”

“They’ve got it exactly backwards,” the diplomat said. “These are not jobs we’re creating to give spouses and partners work. They are jobs we desperately need filled, and we’re saving the U.S. government money and improving morale by hiring spouses.”

Some staffers were offended when R.C. Hammond, a Tillerson spokesman, compared the State Department to the remnants of the Titanic, the famed sunken ocean liner, in a separate report. Asked about his comments, Hammond told POLITICO: “I would urge people to think more about the discovery of a lost marvel.”

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The plans to cut 2,300 positions have also prompted many conversations among diplomats about whether it’s worth quitting now, especially if the department restructuring in the future lowers the chances for promotions.

The cuts are supposed to include 1,700 jobs eliminated through attrition and 600 through buyouts, according to a source familiar with the plan. And more cuts could come as Tillerson further evaluates his options.

Even if Congress fends off the administration's proposed budget cuts, as it is likely to do, Tillerson still has some leeway on hiring and restructuring. In any case, the signal sent to the diplomatic corps has been an ugly one, people interviewed said.

“What we have seen since the election campaign has been a disdain for foreign policy expertise and the department in general,” said a U.S. diplomat in the Middle East, adding: “What we need is to have a clear picture as to what America’s foreign policy is right now. If I can’t explain it clearly to a taxi driver in Mexico City, Amman, or Beijing, how can we expect our counterparts in governments around the world to understand it?”

Other State Department employees agreed that there’s been too much focus on the shape of the agency and not enough on policy-making.

“Tell us what the mission is. The mission can’t be: Reorganize the department,” one U.S. diplomat serving overseas said. “That’s like looking at a pile of bricks that should be turned into a house and identifying the mission as: Use a screwdriver.”

