Tillerson Tells State Department Employees Budget Cut Reflects New Priorities by Carlo Morello, Washington Post
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told agency employees in a letter Thursday morning that next year’s budget proposal, marked by deep funding cuts, is an “unmistakable restatement” of the country’s needs and a harbinger of new priorities.
The nine-sentence letter, emailed to State employees as Tillerson was traveling in Asia, came shortly after the administration released a blueprint of plans to cut more than $10 billion, or 28 percent, out of the core budget for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. If approved by Congress, the plan would slash foreign aid, eliminate contributions to international climate change funds and reduce many cultural and educational exchange programs.
At a brief news conference in Tokyo on Thursday, Tillerson said the current level of spending — more than $50 billion — was “simply not sustainable.”
The proposed budget would slice spending to $37.6 billion, including $12 billion for operations in war-torn areas. Tillerson said the lower budget reflects the administration’s expectations that the United States will be engaged in fewer foreign wars, and that other countries will contribute more to development and disaster aid.
He expanded on that theme in his letter to the State Department’s 75,000 employees…
Comments
President Trump seems to endorse the idea that only defense -- and not diplomacy and development also -- are needed to provide for U.S. national security needs and interests; today and going forward.
Explanation:
President Trumps seems to reject either (or both) (a) the "Weak, Failed and/or Failing States as Problem" thesis and/or (b) the "Westernization as Cure" thesis.
Herein, the President actually appearing to believe that he can:
a. Handle/reduce the ills emanating from weak, failed and/or failing states (to wit: genocide; civil, ethnic and international war; insurgency; terrorism; disease; crime; corruption; human trafficking; loose nukes; etc., etc., etc.). Ills which:
b. Tend to "bleed over to" and adversely effect the more-modern world. This,
c. By way of a defense-oriented/defense-in-the-lead "whack-a-mole" approach alone.
(Herein, "modernization" of these outlying states and societies -- as necessary lead, as necessary compliment and/or as necessary "cure"-- being effectively "taken off the table" by the President re: his rejection of both significant U.S. "diplomacy" and "development" efforts/involvement?)
Thus, to suggest that what Secretary Tillerson actually may be saying -- re: his "new priorities" comment -- is that U.S. national security, per se, is no longer a priority of the Trump Administration.
This, at least as this applies to:
a. The ills (genocide; civil, ethnic and international war; insurgency; terrorism; disease; crime; corruption; human trafficking; loose nukes; etc., etc., etc.) that
b. Emanate from weak, failed and/or failing states and which
c. Tend to "bleed over to" and adversely effect the more-modern states and societies of the world?
Let's see if the DoS and SoS even exist in a few months....
1. Tillerson has not fll critical management positions
2. large number of Ambassadors have not be appointed
3. he basically has no contact with DoS employees when he is even in DC
4. he basically does not hold press conferences and does not have a formal press spokeperson
5. he is largely kept out of the foreign visitor meetings and Kushner and Bannon take over as well as does Preibus
6. he does not like to take reporters along on any of his overseas trips
7. when in Japan he failed to even visit the US Embassy and say hello to the employees there
NOW this......South Korean officials say Tillerson declined to dine with the country's leaders because of his "fatigue."
http://m.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170317000859#cb
Appears that the US really no longer has a either a DoS nor a SoS....all being handled out of the Trump WH by Trump...Bannon and Kuschner...