By Felicia Schwartz
WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Exxon
Mobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, sending him to
the State Department as career officials mount a formal protest
against President Donald Trump's immigration initiative and the
U.S. faces a complex set of foreign-policy challenges.
Mr. Tillerson won over skeptical Republicans, including Sens.
John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida, but continued to
face Democratic opposition. He was confirmed on a 56-43 vote.
Senators had voiced concern about the close relationship Mr.
Tillerson forged with Russian President Vladimir Putin while he was
at Exxon and his unwillingness in testimony to recommit the U.S. to
Russia sanctions. Democrats also were critical of his views on
climate change.
Mr. Tillerson's confirmation was the most contentious for
secretary of state in at least 50 years, coming with the support of
only three Democrats -- Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D., N.D.), Joe
Manchin (D., W.Va.), Mark Warner (D., Va.) -- and Angus King, a
Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats. The second
closest vote in recent memory, by comparison, was for Condoleezza
Rice, who won confirmation 85-13 in 2005.
Now, the former business executive, 64 years old, will have to
move quickly to get senior staff in place, calm hundreds of
officials who have registered concerns about Mr. Trump's
immigration and refugee policies, and carve out a place for himself
in the Trump administration's foreign-policy apparatus, which so
far has been dominated by White House aides Steve Bannon and Jared
Kushner.
The immediate challenges Mr. Tillerson will confrontwhen he
enters office, according to current and former U.S. officials
working on foreign policy, include addressing the rift with Mexico
over Mr. Trump's plans to build a border wall; implementing and
dealing with a temporary immigration ban on seven Muslim-majority
countries intended to protect against terrorism; and possibly
implementing Mr. Trump's suggestion to relocate the U.S. embassy in
Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
In the longer term, Mr. Tillerson will be asked to make good on
Mr. Trump's pledge to recast U.S. relations with major global
powers Russia and China, to help intensify the war against the
terrorist organization Islamic State, and revisit the nuclear
agreement that the Obama administration forged with Iran in
2015.
Mr. Tillerson was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence at a
White House ceremony Wednesday evening and was expected to go to
the State Department on Thursday.
Mr. Tillerson has begun the process of setting up his own State
Department team.
He is expected to name Margaret Peterlin, a former Navy officer
and senior official at the Patent and Trademark Office during the
Bush administration, as his chief of staff, according to people
familiar with the deliberations.
Paula Dobriansky, a former senior State Department official in
the George W. Bush administration, and Elliott Abrams, a former
National Security Council aide to Mr. Bush, are among candidates to
be deputy secretary of state.
Michael Dougherty, who has worked at Raytheon Co. and at the
Department of Homeland Security, is expected to be nominated to
take the helm of the Consular Affairs Bureau. Rob Wasinger, a
former Republican Virginia congressional candidate in 2014, is
expected to take on a senior role, the people familiar with the
deliberations said.
Jennifer Hazelton, who led Mr. Trump's campaign communications
in Georgia and had previously worked at CNN and Fox before moving
to politics, is expected to be Mr. Tillerson's press secretary.
The staffing decisions aren't yet final and could change, the
people familiar with the deliberations said.
The 40-year Exxon veteran has been at the State Department
several times for briefings over the past two weeks and had lunch
with Mr. Trump on Wednesday.
Republicans welcomed Mr. Tillerson's confirmation and said they
looked forward to working with him.
"Mr. Tillerson led a global enterprise with 75,000 employees,
possesses deep relationships around the world and understands the
critical role of U.S. leadership. He has expressed a commitment to
defend American values and to restore U.S. credibility by
strengthening old alliances and building new ones," said Sen. Bob
Corker (R., Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
Most Democrats said they remained unconvinced Mr. Tillerson was
right for the job, citing concerns over his record at Exxon and his
ties to Russia.
"Mr. Tillerson's lack of transparency, history of working
against our national interests, close ties to Russia and
indifference to Israel's future make him unfit to serve as the
secretary of state," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.).
Differences between career State Department employees and the
White House over national policies isn't new, said current and
former U.S. officials. A number of American diplomats quit their
posts following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 to protest the
George W. Bush administration's Middle East policy. But the numbers
were low, the officials said, and overall morale at the State
Department eventually rebounded.
Former officials said Mr. Tillerson must demonstrate that he
speaks for Mr. Trump if he is going to successfully navigate the
State Department and dealings with foreign officials, a complicated
task given Mr. Trump's skepticism toward U.S. foreign-policy
norms.
"If he wants to succeed at State, he's got to be White House man
at the State Department," said Aaron David Miller, a long time
State Department official who advised Republicans and Democrats and
is now at the Wilson Center.
--Jay Solomon contributed to this article.
Write to Felicia Schwartz at Felicia.Schwartz@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 01, 2017 19:55 ET (00:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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