Washington, Jan 22 (IANS ) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said in his first remarks after taking office that he wants the department to be "relevant" and at the "centre" of how America engages the world and not be relegated to a secondary position.
Rubio has taken over as the 72nd Secretary of State after being confirmed unanimously by the US Senate on Monday. He was administered the oath of office on Tuesday morning by Vice President J.D. Vance, erstwhile colleagues from their days in the Senate.
Rubio told the employees of the State Department in remarks that were streamed live to embassies and missions abroad, that he wants the department "to be relevant" and the centerpiece of US diplomacy.
"I don't mean that it's irrelevant now, but I want it to be where it belongs," he said.
"I want the Department of State to be at the centre of how America and Great gage the world, not just how we execute on it, but how we formulate it."
To that end, he explained that he wants to ensure that the Department has an environment here that's conducive to creativity, boldness, and new ideas, to recognise the dynamic world in which we live, one that is changing faster than it has ever changed before, and we need to be ahead of it.
"When the time comes for the principals to gather or even deputies," Rubio said referring to a meeting of key Cabinet members or their deputies, "I want the Department of State to have the best ideas and the best options available for the President, and then I want us to be able to execute them better than any agency in our government. That will also be a task of mine."
As a member of the US Senate and member of a committee interacting with the State Department, he said he has "watched from the Congressional side from time to time, administrations in both parties, in which sometimes the Department of State has been sort of relegated to a secondary role because some other agency can move faster or seems to be bolder or more creative".
Rubio did not name the agencies that have competed with the State Department without intending to. Such as the National Security Council which works out of the White House and has the advantage of physical proximity and familiarity with the President.
The National Security Council, headed by a National Security Adviser to the President, has emerged as a competing centre of US foreign policy.
He added: "We're going to change that. 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, and I know we have the right team to do it. There's no other agency in our government that I'd rather lead because of the talent that's collected here in this room and those watching around the world, that will be our mission, and I hope you'll be able to do it together."
The new Secretary of State reminded the employees that the Department will be implementing President Donald Trump's vision of foreign policy, which he "defined through his campaign, as anything that makes us stronger or safer or more prosperous, and that will be our mission, that will be our job across the world, is to ensure that we have a foreign policy that advances the national interest of the US".
Courtesy Media Group: IANS