WASHINGTON _ In a bid to boost morale in the dispirited headquarters of American diplomacy, the No. 2 at the State Department told employees that the Trump administration's goal is not to destroy the agency but to streamline it.
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan held an hourlong town hall Tuesday with more than 450 foreign and civil service officers, as well as hundreds more tuning in via satellite from around the world.
They peppered him with pointed questions about the future of their agencies, diplomatic postings and jobs.
State Department officials acknowledged that Sullivan's goal in part was to reassure and clarify the objectives and procedures of an ongoing review and reorganization of the vast bureaucracy that oversees foreign policy, much of U.S. international aid and the promotion of American values abroad.
President Donald Trump has proposed slashing the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development budget by nearly 30 percent.
Speaking later to reporters, Sullivan also sought to dispel what he said were mistaken interpretations of some of the steps being taken in the review and redesign.
Suggestions that the State Department is being "hollowed out," he said, were "counter-factual." Hundreds of senior positions remain unfilled, but it does not mean they will never be filled, he said. Around 50 percent of the positions at the level of assistant secretary of state have been confirmed, nominated or are in the process of getting security clearances, he said.
"We ... are working on all cylinders, even though we don't have a full complement of political officers," Sullivan said.
Of the top 130 State Department posts that require Senate confirmation, 44 had been nominated and 23 confirmed by late Thursday, when Congress went on a monthlong break, according to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that tracks government hiring.
Sullivan said reports that the State Department was revising its mission statement to exclude the word "democracy" were untrue. He said a preliminary draft had been made by a group of officers, but it did not reflect senior department thinking.
He also said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's decision to "rescind" so-called "delegations of authority" was part of the review and did not represent final decisions.
The State Department told the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau last week that Tillerson had rescinded three "delegations of authority" out of hundreds under review. That included, for example, the authority to make numerous management decisions, review congressional reports and related matters, powers delegated years ago to the office Sullivan holds; it was rescinded but immediately replaced with other similar authorities, Sullivan said.
Tillerson's goal, his aides say, is to make the chain of command and decision-making more clear and transparent.
Sullivan also said a hold that had been placed on hiring spouses for embassy positions where their mates are stationed was partially lifted. Tillerson was refusing to sign off on such hires, which are commonly used in hardship posts, such as the embassies in Afghanistan or Iraq, to be able to encourage diplomats to go and satisfy the demands of secondary positions without having to pay to support other American staffing separately.
"We are trying to organize better, use our people better, help them do their jobs more effectively and efficiently," Sullivan said.
