fbpx

Comment and Opinion

Haaretz: Can Mike Pompeo Fix Trump? by Daniel B. Shapiro

[ssba]

Rex Tillerson was a titan of American industry, a man who ran a company with virtually its own foreign policy. But as U.S. secretary of state, the job that is supposed to come with vast influence over the nation’s foreign policy, he left nary a trace. On the U.S.-Israel relationship, his impact was nonexistent.

Though a man of obvious patriotism, talent and decency, his tenure was marked by several fatal flaws. He cut himself off from the State Department’s talent pool, the professional foreign service, declining their advice or even to hear it presented, and cloistering himself behind a small team of gatekeepers. He further squandered the goodwill of the agency he led by refusing to defend it from draconian budget cuts and allowing consultants to monopolize vast amounts of people’s time pursuing obvious or pointless management reforms.

Read the full story on Haaretz.