America First Agenda at State Department as Secretary Rubio Promises Change
The Trump Administration is setting forth new policies at the State Department, as Marco Rubio was sworn in as the nation’s 72nd Secretary of State on Tuesday, January 21.
The former Florida Senator was confirmed 99-0 in the Senate, the first Trump cabinet nominee to be confirmed.
In his opening address to State Department employees, Secretary Rubio said the State Department will once again be the heart of foreign policy, which the president has directed will always put America first.
"We want to be at the centerpiece, we want to be at the core of how we formulate foreign policy, because we're going to have the best ideas of any agency, and because we're going to execute it better and faster and more effectively than any other agency in our government," said Secretary Rubio.
Some of the Secretary’s first actions were to pause refugee resettlement operations, ramp up vetting of visas from certain parts of the world, and halt the distribution of foreign aid in conjunction with President Trump’s executive orders.
The new Secretary's first foreign trip will reportedly be to Panama in late January, along with Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. President Trump has made waves calling for ownership of the Panama Canal to be restored to the United States.
Personnel Changes
On the personnel front, the new secretary said change is coming in the way business is conducted at Foggy Bottom.
“There will be changes, but the changes are not meant to be destructive. They're not meant to be punitive," said Secretary Rubio. "The changes will be because we need to be a 21st century agency that can move ... at the speed of relevance.”
Meanwhile, a large number of senior career diplomats are leaving their jobs at the demand of the Trump Administration. Officials called a number of career senior diplomats on Monday asking them to resign immediately. While there is always turnover with a change in administration, the number of requests for resignations was greater than expected.
Designating Cartels as Terrorists
Also presenting a possible diplomatic challenge: the president issued an executive order designating drug cartels and other criminal groups from Latin America as foreign terrorist organizations.
While the designation expands the tools available to U.S. law enforcement to take on the cartels, it could also lead to U.S. military incursions into Mexico.
Mexico fired back, saying it will defend its sovereignty and independence.
“We all want to fight the drug cartels,” said Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum. The U.S. “in their territory, us in our territory.”