Tillerson Tries to Centralize State Dept. Decision-Making

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in the process of centralizing power within the State Department that essentially boxes out veteran [career] diplomats, Politico reported.

A leaked document obtained by Politico shows a decision-making process that bubbles up power to an inner circle of senior aides to Tillerson over a bottom-up approach to a wider group of diplomats.

Those career staffers are wary of the approach that gives aide Brian Hook - not confirmed by the Senate - and the Policy Planning Staff an unusual amount of power and influence, Politico reported.

"This says to me that they are developing a new foreign policy structure that is designed to largely ignore those who know these regions and who know these issues," Brett Bruen, a former State Department official under President George W. Bush, told Politico.

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