In the last week, I’ve spoken with a dozen current and recently departed State Department employees, all of whom asked for anonymity either because they were not authorized to speak to the press and feared retribution by an administration on the prowl for leakers, or did not want to burn their former colleagues. None of these sources were political appointees. Rather, they were career foreign service officers or career civil servants, most of whom have served both Republican and Democratic administrations—and many of whom do not know each other. They painted a picture of a State Department adrift and listless. 
 
 Sometimes, the deconstruction of the administrative state is quite literal. After about two dozen career staff on the seventh floor—the State Department’s equivalent of a C suite—were told to find other jobs, some with just 12 hours’ notice, construction teams came in over Presidents’ Day weekend and began rebuilding the office space for a new team and a new concept of how State’s nerve center would function. (This concept hasn’t been shared with most of the people who are still there.) The space on Mahogany Row, the line of wood-paneled offices including that of the secretary of state, is now a mysterious construction zone behind blue tarp. 
 
 With the State Department demonstratively shut out of meetings with foreign leaders, key State posts left unfilled, and the White House not soliciting many department staffers for their policy advice, there is little left to do. “If I left before 10 p.m., that was a good day,” said the State staffer of the old days, which used to start at 6:30 in the morning. “Now, I come in at 9, 9:15, and leave by 5:30.” The seeming hostility from the White House, the decades of American foreign-policy tradition being turned on its head, and the days of listlessness are taking a toll on people who are used to channeling their ambition and idealism into the detail-oriented, highly regimented busywork that greases the infinite wheels of a massive bureaucracy. Without it, anxiety has spiked. People aren’t sleeping well. Over a long impromptu lunch one afternoon—“I can meet tomorrow or today, whenever! Do you want to meet right now?”—the staffer told me she too has trouble sleeping now, kept awake by her worries about her job and America’s fading role in the world. 
 
 “I used to love my job,” she said. “Now, it feels like coming to the hospital to take care of a terminally ill family member. You come in every day, you bring flowers, you brush their hair, paint their nails, even though you know there’s no point. But you do it out of love.” 
 
 Some try to conduct policy meetings just to retain the muscle memory and focus, but, said another department employee, “in the last couple months, it’s been a lot more sitting around and going home earlier than usual.” Some wander around the streets of Foggy Bottom, going for long, aimless lunches. “I’m used to going to three or four interagency policy meetings a week,” the employee added, referring to the meetings in which policy is developed in coordination with other government departments. “I’ve had exactly one of those meetings in the last five weeks.” Even the torrent of inter-department email has slowed to a trickle. The State Department staffer told me that where she once used to get two hundred emails a day, it’s down to two dozen now. “Not since I began at the department a decade ago has it been so quiet,” she said. “Colleagues tell me it’s the same for them.” ||||| "Clearly no one below Tillerson is making any decisions, and people are trying to figure out what he wants," said the representative of an advocacy group who also asked not to be identified because the group is partially funded by the State Department. ||||| In any other year, the secretary of state would hold a press conference this week to mark the State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, which was released Friday. If, for some reason, the secretary could not attend the event, he or she might send another high-ranking official or deputy to observe the release of the document, which details human rights advances and abuses around the world. But these are not ordinary times. Former ExxonMobil C.E.O. Rex Tillerson, who was confirmed to lead the State Department last month, did not hold any press conference at all. Instead, the department briefed reporters over the phone, providing only a “senior administration official” on background. 
 
 The decision to skip the usual pomp and circumstance of the report’s unveiling did not go unnoticed in Washington. Still, it was not surprising, given the way the State Department has been diminished by the consolidation of power within the White House. Donald Trump and his small circle of loyalists have taken over many of the roles usually played by top diplomats, leaving Foggy Bottom without much to do. Dozens of key posts and managerial positions remain unfilled. As Julia Ioffe reported for The Atlantic this week, the Harry S. Truman building, usually the busy, beating heart of the nation’s foreign policy establishment, has grown idle and aimless. The cafeteria is filled with people taking long lunches and extended coffee breaks. Those who used to work into the night are now leaving at five P.M. One staffer told Ioffe that where she used to get 200 e-mails each day, she now gets about two dozen. 
 
 This week, reports emerged that the president intends to present a budget that would slash the State Department budget by at least 37 percent, likely necessitating mass layoffs among the agency’s nearly 70,000 staff. 
 
 While the president sharpens his axe, Tillerson has been largely absent, mostly voiceless, and effectively neutered in his new job. Since he was sworn in earlier this year, the longtime Exxon executive has made only a single speech—the one welcoming his staff at State headquarters—and has offered only one short readout about his first month on the job. By comparison, The Washington Post notes, John Kerry had given two speeches and 15 readouts by the end of his first month in office. Tillerson’s State Department, meanwhile, hasn’t even held a daily press briefing—a tradition the agency has upheld since the 1950s. (It has said it will start back up with them on Monday, nearly halfway through Trump’s first 100 days in office.) 
 
 That’s not to say that Tillerson hasn’t been working. As I reported earlier this week, Tillerson has been involved in key meetings with foreign leaders, including a dinner with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a trip to Mexico last week to meet with the country’s highest-ranking officials during a particularly tense time between the two nations. But he has also repeatedly been left out of key decisions and meetings. He was absent when Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau visited Washington. And, according to Politico, he hadn’t known that the White House was backing away from its support of a two-state solution in the Middle East until Trump and Netanyahu briefed the media in a press conference from the East Room. While Trump was walking back decades of U.S. foreign policy, Tillerson was on a plane to meet with G20 leaders in Germany. 
 
 Tillerson, unlike his predecessors of state, also appears to have more than one boss. As sources told me, Tillerson has been mitigated in part by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, who has become something of a mini secretary of state within the White House and the primary point of contact for a number of foreign leaders, including Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and Netanyahu. “People are coming to [Jared and Ivanka Trump] because they know at the end of the day, they’ve been there for 20 years before and they’ll be there for 20 years after,” one source familiar with the situation told me, explaining that Kushner’s stability within Trump’s orbit is seen as a unique asset in administration that is notoriously unpredictable. Tillerson, the source told me, checks in with Kushner before meeting with the president, because he knows Trump will ask his son-in-law for his opinion anyway. The two have worked together on a number of initiatives, including planning Tillerson’s trip to Mexico last week, presenting the play-by-play to Trump together as a team. Before the unceremonious publication of State’s Human Rights Report, Kushner's wife, Ivanka, called for her own meeting at the White House on the issue. 
 
 Tillerson’s department may feel cut off and listless as a result, but there may be an upside for the secretary himself. The growing scandal surrounding Trumpworld’s connections to Russia has enveloped an increasing number of Trump associates. First there was former Lieutenant General Mike Flynn, who resigned after it became clear that he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. This week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from a federal investigation into Russia’s campaign to tip the outcome of the 2016 presidential race when it became clear that he, too, had not been entirely forthcoming about his own interactions with Kislyak in the months leading up to the election. Even Kushner, who has managed to steer clear of most West Wing scandals so far, sat down with Flynn and Kislyak in December, according to The New York Times, making it harder to defend Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s claim that the White House did not know that Flynn had met with the ambassador. 
 
 Of all the various reports tying members of Trump’s orbit to the Kremlin, it is a wonder that few in Washington are talking about Tillerson. The former oil executive spent years doing business in Russia, and in 2013 was personally awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin for negotiating a $500 billion deal with Rosneft, Russia’s largest, and state-controlled, oil company. When the imposition of sanctions derailed the plan the following year, ExxonMobil reportedly lobbied the U.S. government to have them removed. (During his Senate confirmation hearing, Tillerson said he didn’t know whether his company had lobbied for or against the sanctions.) Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Marco Rubio all expressed concerns with his close ties to Russia during the process, though all three eventually decided to support his nomination. 
 
 Yet Tillerson has remained unburdened by the stench of scandal hanging over the White House. While the Russian intrigues swirling around the president continues to ensnare more members of his administration, the one man who knows Putin best has managed to stay off the radar by remaining off the grid. It may just be that his diminished role role might be what allows him to walk away the least scathed in the end. ||||| The State Department resumes its formal press briefing this week — an event that offers Secretary of State Rex Tillerson an ideal setting to appear before the public, assert to the world that America remains a diplomatic force and reassure his jittery employees that their work matters to the new administration. 
 
 But Tillerson is not likely to show up, according to acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 America’s chief diplomat so far appears allergic to the spotlight. His aloof approach to his job is eroding confidence in him at the State Department, multiple sources told POLITICO, where staffers are upset about President Donald Trump’s mixed foreign policy messages and his plans to significantly cut the agency’s budget. 
 
 “It’s making me anxious,” said one State Department official who, like most others serving, requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. 
 
 Tillerson’s relative silence has been further compounded by the fact that the State Department’s traditional daily press briefing has been on hiatus since Trump took office. It was supposed to resume Monday, but it was postponed until Tuesday because of developments involving a newly revised executive order on immigration issued by Trump. 
 
 The briefing is monitored carefully by other governments seeking a sense of U.S. foreign policy priorities. The long silence has irritated American diplomats who have watched other foreign ministry spokesmen, including those representing U.S. rivals such as Russia, try to seize control of narratives without State being able to respond. 
 
 Early indications are that the format of the briefing will change in notable ways during Tillerson's tenure. Toner confirmed he’ll handle the briefings for the time being. For the first week, at least, reporters will be briefed Monday through Thursday, but on two of those days the session will be done via telephone instead of the traditional in-person gathering. 
 
 In the past, the briefing has been held every business day, with some exceptions, and the secretary of state has used it to make an occasional appearance to talk to reporters. 
 
 Toner is a career member of the Foreign Service with plenty of experience dealing with reporters. But he'll face an unusually tough task explaining the Trump administration's foreign policy given the president's shifting positions on everything from NATO to how the U.S. should deal with Russia. 
 
 The department spokesman’s role is expected to eventually go to a political appointee. Bloomberg News reported over the weekend that Fox News anchor Heather Nauert has been selected for the job. State officials did not respond when asked to confirm the story. 
 
 Last week, the Trump administration unveiled a budget proposal that it said would boost defense spending by $54 billion while cutting other federal agencies. A source familiar with the issue told POLITICO the plans included a 37 percent cut to the combined budget of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development. 
 
 Many State staffers had expected a restructuring, especially as word filtered out that Trump aides want the department to focus more on counterterrorism and less on softer subjects. In generally well-received remarks to State Department employees after he was confirmed, Tillerson himself predicted there would be changes, saying "we cannot sustain ineffective traditions over optimal outcomes.” 
 
 But the size of the proposed budget reductions has been a gut punch, and some fear the reorganization could be more extensive than they’d imagined. 
 
 The Associated Press reported that Tillerson has agreed in principle to the cuts, but wants to spread them out over three years to soften the impact, which nonetheless would still be dramatic. State Department press aides sidestepped questions about Tillerson’s views on the proposed cuts. 
 
 Tillerson may be playing a long game. The former CEO of ExxonMobil has little diplomatic experience and is still learning about the composition of a department with more than 75,000 employees across the world. He's also been in the job for only a few weeks. He also knows that both Republicans and Democrats in Congress will likely push back on Trump’s proposed budget cuts, whether or not he speaks up. 
 
 But to some, Tillerson's outward silence implies consent. Amid the confusion and rumors, some State staffers say they wish Tillerson would hold a town hall or similar forum simply to clarify things. “It’s an outrageous cut,” one U.S. diplomat said. “It doesn’t speak to [Tillerson’s] having much heft within the administration.” 
 
 Some say that Tillerson's behind the scenes approach doesn’t necessarily indicate a lack of influence. It’s more in line with how he dealt with issues while at ExxonMobil. Considering how erratic the president himself can be on certain foreign policy topics, Tillerson may deem it safer not to say things in public that might end up contradicting his boss and further confusing foreign capitals carefully watching for infighting in the administration. 
 
 “I’m rooting for him,” one State Department official said of Tillerson, noting that the people who remain the most zen about the situation are those who have served in multiple administrations. “Colleagues who have briefed him are impressed. They find him thoughtful, inquisitive and professional,” the official added. 
 
 State sources say, however, that career staffers seem to have a shrinking amount of access to the secretary. Seventh-floor offices near Tillerson that used to belong to career employees — including that of the State Department counselor, a position Tillerson may not fill — have been emptied and retrofitted with cubicles expected to go to political appointees. 
 
 So far, it appears the White House has tremendous sway over who surrounds Tillerson. Trump vetoed Tillerson’s choice for deputy secretary of state, former George W. Bush administration official Elliott Abrams, because of his past criticism of the president. 
 
 According to State’s press division, Tillerson is making his presence felt behind the scenes. He “has had 32 separate phone conversations with representatives of various countries, 15 in-person meetings with foreign interlocutors here in the United States, as well as calls and meetings with U.S. government personnel, showing a deep commitment to coordinating with the White House and other federal agencies and obtaining a diversity of perspectives on issues of public concern,” a spokesman said. The department also issues the occasional comment under Tillerson’s name, including congratulations to other countries on their national days. 
 
 When Tillerson does speak publicly, he usually sticks to a script and ignores questions. On Thursday, during an appearance alongside Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tillerson smiled but said nothing as NBC’s Andrea Mitchell lobbed several questions at him before being escorted out of the room, a moment caught on a widely circulated video. 
 
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 Tillerson’s decision not to participate in Friday’s roll-out of the department’s annual Human Rights Report was another high-profile opportunity lost, some critics said. It broke with a long-standing tradition of secretaries of state unveiling the report during an on-camera press conference, and it vexed staffers and human rights activists who considered it an unnecessary snub of one of the most high-profile documents produced by State. 
 
 A State official told POLITICO in February that Tillerson has asked others at the department for guidance on how to deal with the media, an indication he was concerned about his image. Department spokesmen ignored repeated initial requests for comment on the February account. When asked again about the matter on Saturday, a spokesman said, “The secretary has not asked for any recommendations,” but did not elaborate or clarify further. 
 
 Critics of Tillerson's quiet approach argue that being America’s chief diplomat requires literally speaking up now and then. 
 
 “He needs to communicate his vision, which has been sorely lacking both within the building and publicly,” said Dan Feldman, who served as the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan during the presidency of Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. “And he needs to be open to the voices of experience, rather than surrounding himself primarily with political advisers.” ||||| Amidst the public speculation of a State Department possibly in disarray, I know that officers at State are still hard at work. One example: I recently received in my email inbox Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s statement celebrating Saint Lucia’s National Day. That means that the Office of Caribbean Affairs in the bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs drafted the statement, ran it through the clearance process (which requires that other bureaus with equities approve the statement), and then most likely someone with authorization from the secretary’s office approved it. 
 
 Sure, this is hardly high-stakes stuff, but it does indicate that the crucial daily work of U.S. diplomats – helping Americans in trouble across the world, tackling nuclear proliferation, fighting terrorism, issuing visas, running exchange programs, to name a few – is continuing during this particularly tumultuous beginning of a new presidential administration. 
 
 But there are signs — budgetary and otherwise — that suggest the State Department is under threat of being sidelined by the Trump White House. For example, there have been no press briefings since Trump took office. Tillerson has been absent from summit meetings between Trump and foreign leaders, and he has made no substantive public remarks during his first three weeks. On top of all of this, the White House has signaled it’s going to make major cuts to the State Department budget to offset a $54 billion increase in defense spending (a boost that is more than the combined 2017 budget request for the State Department and U.S. AID). 
 
 State’s new low profile begs an important question: What’s happening to the State Department? Is it being sidelined on purpose (as part of the “deconstruction of the administrative state”) or is Tillerson just getting up to speed, and in due time, State will play its proper role in the shaping of U.S. foreign policy? 
 
 Quiet Hallways 
 
 Like other agencies and departments across the government, the Trump administration is off to a very slow start in filling senior ranks at the State Department. The Pentagon is also waiting on a number of key leadership positions to be filled, but it did not face the same kind of management purge that happened at State. It’s normal for senior officials – especially political appointees – to leave their posts when a new administration takes office, leaving at least a temporary gap. It’s also natural that foreign service officers serving in senior positions are eventually replaced with people chosen by the new team. What isn’t normal – and has happened very quickly at State – is the letting go of a large number of foreign service officers who are meant to keep the ship afloat during transitions like this. 
 
 First, the senior team of career officers running the administrative side of the department – budgets, staffing, visas – were asked to resign. These are the people who make sure that the State Department functions properly, similar to the role of a company’s chief operating officer. When Americans get into trouble abroad, it’s this team that helps. Former State Department Chief of Staff Jon Finer has made clear the important role these dismissed officials play, and how damaging a leadership vacuum can be in these offices. 
 
 Second, it appears as though a number of career officers serving as assistant secretaries of state had to leave before replacements were even nominated. These officials shape the vast majority of policy and U.S. engagement with the world. When crises erupt, they’re the ones who make recommendations for the secretary and the White House.When senior foreign officials come to town (which happens a lot), assistant secretaries meet them and convey to them U.S. priorities.They also travel most frequently, serving as a central link between what’s happening abroad and the policymaking process at home. 
 
 Finally, the seventh floor – where the secretary and the senior team sits – is basically empty after a series of layoffs. For the last eight years, in addition to the secretary there was a deputy secretary and a deputy secretary for management and resources, an undersecretary for political affairs, and a counselor. This is the secretary’s starting lineup, the folks who represent him within the department and at critical White House meetings where big decisions are hashed out. These are the people who provide some of the most important daily advice to the secretary. As of now, however, there is no nominee for deputy secretary. The undersecretary for political affairs – Tom Shannon, a career foreign service officer – has had to fill in as acting deputy. And just recently the counselor, who takes on special projects at the direction of the secretary, and her staff were moved out of their positions, leaving the office vacant. There are reports that Tillerson may not name a replacement for her. 
 
 While many of the above positions have officers in acting roles, those people are often performing two jobs at once. Removing all of these officials upon entering office is damaging not only to U.S. national security, but also for the ability of the new secretary to do his job until new appointees are confirmed. 
 
 No Public Communications 
 
 With all of these empty positions (plus the Trump administration’s hostile attitude toward the press), it might not seem so surprising that the State Department’s level of communication with the public has also dropped precipitously. 
 
 The most conspicuous absence has been the lack of daily press briefings, which stopped the day Trump took office. Traditionally State is the only U.S. government entity other than the White House that conducts a daily briefing. While the White House press secretary will handle a small number of foreign policy questions, the press briefing at Foggy Bottom covers everything from the big issues like North Korea to the nitty gritty of Haitian politics, thanks to questions from reporters from around the world. You can get a sense of issues covered here. 
 
 The press briefing is how the United States gets its message out to the world, and the transcripts are pored over in foreign capitals. It’s a critical foreign policy tool that sends signals to friends and adversaries alike. State will apparently be re-starting the press briefings in March, but it’s still unclear whether they will happen daily. 
 
 Meanwhile, Tillerson has also shied away from the cameras. Other than his welcome remarks to State Department employees on his first day and a Feb. 23 press conference in Mexico, which strangely did not involve questions from reporters,Tillerson hasn’t given any speeches, hosted any press conferences, or even the regular camera spray remarks. He did make a perfunctory statement after meeting with the Russian foreign minister in Germany. 
 
 State’s silence in recent weeks is a vacuum that others are filling. Most countries are out there speaking to the press to shape narratives on issues concerning U.S. foreign policy, leaving the United States playing catch up. 
 
 What role is Rex Tillerson playing? 
 
 While Tillerson wasn’t confirmed until week two of the new administration, he doesn’t appear to be working hard to make his presence known now that he’s in office. Beyond the lack of public remarks, Tillerson missed the first three summit meetings between Trump and foreign leaders: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (though he met with Netanyahu separately). 
 
 While his acting deputy Tom Shannon substituted for him in these meetings, it’s very odd for a brand new secretary to miss these key meetings, especially for someone who has no foreign policy experience and most likely does not have prior relationships with these leaders. Plus,being present at a meeting with the president shows foreign leaders – and the public and the State Department staff – that the president trusts and listens to you. While the White House and State Department will often tussle over who gets to attend meetings with the president, repeated absences by the Secretary of State – whatever the reason – is not good for the secretary, or for the State Department. 
 
 It may very well be the case that Tillerson is a cautious leader, and that his lack of experience is causing him to lay low until he’s fully up to speed and well versed in the issues. His trips to Bonn for the G20 foreign ministers meeting and to Mexico with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly show that he’s getting out there to do the job. But his low profile so far won’t help him in the rough and tumble interagency politics of the U.S. government – not to mention the bruising battles that are sure to ensue with the press. 
 
 Sidelined by the White House? 
 
 Each of the above problems, while concerning, could theoretically be explained. Each one on its own poses a challenge for conducting U.S. foreign policy, but isn’t necessarily devastating. It’s the combination of all of these together that provoke the question: Is the White House trying to sideline the State Department? 
 
 There are strong signs this could be the case. 
 
 Donald Trump’s disdain for diplomacy is no secret. He’s just about the least “diplomatic” person you could imagine and has repeatedly said that the United States has the wrong people negotiating on behalf of the country. Trump has, on numerous occasions, derided President Barack Obama’s engagement with countries like Cuba and Iran. Now, Trump tweets out the equivalent of diplomatic grenades on a regular basis with little consideration for how they will impact U.S. interests, let alone with input from his secretary of state. 
 
 Trump too seems enamored of the military, surrounding himself with generals in his cabinet and to lead the National Security Council. This compounds a problem years in the making in which U.S. foreign policy is increasingly being militarized – from providing its own foreign military assistance to governments to rebuilding war-torn countries to press-savvy generals spinning public narratives on their own. 
 
 Unlike the Defense Department, where Secretary Jim Mattis was allowed to keep an Obama appointee as deputy secretary until a replacement is confirmed, that hasn’t been the case at the State Department. There have been zero nominations for state department positions. That includes Trump reportedly nixing Tillerson’s choice for his deputy, Elliot Abrams, supposedly for criticizing Trump during the campaign. There have been no announcements of appointments to senior positions like director of policy planning, spokesperson, or counselor, none of which require Senate confirmation. 
 
 And then there’s the dissent memo incident. When a formal, internal state department memo – signed by a thousand diplomats – criticizing Trump’s immigration executive order became public, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer notoriously said, “These career bureaucrats have a problem with it? I think they should either get with the program or they can go.” This attitude seemed to reinforce an earlier report that Tillerson had not been aware of the executive order on immigration before the president signed it. 
 
 These are all distressing signs of a State Department that is at best rarely being consulted on major issues. At worst, it’s a sign that State is being intentionally excluded and hamstrung. 
 
 “Deconstruction of the Administrative State” at State? 
 
 There’s one final possibility to explain what we’ve seen at State so far, and it’s the most disturbing, and possibly likely,explanation: the Trump administration wants to gut it, like the rest of the federal government, minus the military. 
 
 This would seem like an extreme accusation if one of the president’s top advisors hadn’t made the argument publicly last week. At this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon said one of the administration’s goals was the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” He proceeded to make clear that, “If you look at these cabinet appointees, they were selected for a reason and that is the deconstruction.” 
 
 While Tillerson’s lack of foreign policy experience makes it difficult to know his own views on this, his opening remarks to State Department employees included a conspicuous section talking about the need to make “changes to how things are traditionally done in this department.” Talking about “what processes should be reformed” sounds more like a CEO being brought in to re-organize (or downsize) a company than the nation’s top diplomat outlining his vision for U.S. foreign policy. 
 
 The desire by some to reduce the size and influence of the State Department is not new. The State Department (along with its sister agency, USAID) has long been a primary target for conservatives and deficit hawks railing against supposedly wasteful spending on foreign assistance. It’s an easy target in Congress largely because its budget has no obvious constituency that can complain when it’s cut. If President Trump wants to take aim at the size of the State Department’s bureaucracy (which is tiny compared to the Defense Department), it would not be much of a leap from where many Republicans already are. 
 
 It’s always worthwhile to try to make the department more efficient, as many past secretaries have, including Secretaries Hillary Clinton and John Kerry with the newly established Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Reviews. But gutting the agency would deal a massive blow to U.S. national security in more ways than one can comprehend. As Mattis once said, “If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition.” Massive budget cuts would also mean Tillerson would immediately lose credibility in the building and hamstring his own ability to get things done. 
 
 It’s very early in Tillerson’s tenure, but the early signals aren’t encouraging, and starting out in the hole means it will be that much more difficult to climb out. 
 
 Image: Getty/Mark Wilson ||||| Washington (CNN) The State Department released its annual report on the state of human rights across the globe Friday with markedly less fanfare than in previous years. 
 
 Secretary of State Rex Tillerson chose not to hold the traditional press conference that has accompanied the release of the report for decades across both Democratic and Republican administrations. 
 
 Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican member of the Foreign Relations Committee who was initially critical of Tillerson's nomination as secretary of state before ultimately voting to confirm him, blasted the move. 
 
 "For 1st time in a long time @StateDept #humanrights report will not be presented by Secretary of State," Rubio tweeted Thursday evening. "I hope they reconsider." 
 
 Tillerson did write a brief preface to the report, in which he stated, "standing up for human rights and democracy is not just a moral imperative but is in the best interests of the United States in making the world more stable and secure." 
 
 The State Department has released the congressionally mandated report on countries' human rights practices since the mid-1970s. For decades, the release has been accompanied by an on-camera press briefing from senior officials within the department, as well as introductory remarks by the secretary of state. 
 
 When the secretaries haven't been present, as happened twice under President George W. Bush, their absence has coincided with trips abroad. 
 
 Tillerson, for his part, was in Washington Friday for a meeting with his Indian counterpart at the State Department. 
 
 In a conference call with reporters Friday morning, a senior administration official who did not want to be named publicly refuted the suggestion by critics that Tillerson's absence reflects a change in the United States' commitment to promoting human rights. 
 
 "The report speaks for itself," the official said. "We're very, very proud of it. The facts should really be the story here." 
 
 The official also quoted Tillerson's statement in his confirmation hearing that the administration's approach to human rights "begins by acknowledging that American leadership requires moral clarity." 
 
 "We do not face an either-or choice on defending global human rights -- our values or our interests -- when it comes to human rights and humanitarian assistance," he said at the time. 
 
 During that hearing, Tillerson was questioned about his stance on human rights issues at length by lawmakers, including Rubio, who clashed with Tillerson over the latter's cautious answers about human rights abuses in Russia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. 
 
 Asked whether extrajudicial killings in the Philippines represent human rights violations, Tillerson answered, "If confirmed ... it's an area that I'd want to understand in greater detail in terms of the facts on the ground." 
 
 Tillerson told Rubio: "I'm not disputing anything you're saying because I know you have access to information that I do not have." 
 
 Rubio responded, "This is from The Los Angeles Times." 
 
 The government of the Philippines was taken to task in Friday's report, cited for "killings allegedly undertaken by vigilantes, security forces and insurgents" as well as corruption and allegations of torture by security forces. 
 
 It wasn't the only ally to face criticism. 
 
 In Turkey, the report pointed to "inconsistent access to due process" and "government interference with freedom of expression" as significant human rights problems. 
 
 Tillerson's decision not to speak publicly about the report, and the State Department's decision not to hold an on-the-record press conference, was criticized Friday by human rights groups. 
 
 Rob Berschinski of Human Rights First and a former deputy assistant secretary for human rights said in a statement that Tillerson's decision "is yet another troubling indication that the Trump administration intends to abandon US leadership on human rights and universal values." 
 
 "Such a decision sends an unmistakable signal to human rights defenders that the United States may no longer have their back, a message that won't be lost on abusive governments," he added. 
 
 According to former State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley, the more subdued rollout is likely the result of a combination of factors, including the fact that Tillerson is still adapting to his new position. 
 
 "It's a matter of not having a full team in place, it's a matter of timing, and it's also a matter of hitting him when he's still getting comfortable as the secretary of state, and everything that comes along with that," said Crowley. 
 
 But he acknowledged the administration could also be signaling a change in policy when it comes to promoting human rights abroad. 
 
 "Certainly by some of President Trump's rhetoric both in the campaign and as president, he does not see the role of his administration as telling other countries how to function, or certainly not to intervene to remake countries," said Crowley. "He's made clear that he's not going to be in the nation-building business and whether this is a reflection of that, I think we'll have to wait and see."
– A word that has been dogging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: absence. Absence from the spotlight, from a high-profile human rights event Friday, and from the press, though that's set to change, somewhat, as of Monday. A rep for the State department attempted to answer the question of where, exactly, Tillerson has been, noting 32 phone calls with representatives of foreign countries and 15 in-person meetings on US soil with "foreign interlocutors" (plus two trips abroad), per Politico. The latest: The State Department has historically held a daily press briefing on each business day; under Tillerson, there have been none. That's set to change Monday, though the approach has been tweaked: There won't be briefings on Fridays, and two of the weekly briefings will be conducted over the phone. Politico's take on the lack of briefings thus far: "The long silence has irritated American diplomats who have watched other foreign ministry spokesmen ... try to seize control of narratives without State being able to respond." Another absence that irritated and confused some: Tillerson didn't attend Friday's release of the department's annual report on human rights around the world. CNN reports that for decades the secretary has given the introduction at the high-profile event, and points out that during two exceptions under George W. Bush, the secretary was on a trip abroad; that wasn't true of Tillerson. He's also been absent from President Trump's first three summit meetings with his foreign counterparts: Canada's Justin Trudeau, Japan's Shinzo Abe and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, though Tillerson has met with Netanyahu. Just Security sees this as "very odd ... especially for someone who has no foreign policy experience and most likely does not have prior relationships with these leaders. Plus, being present at a meeting with the president shows foreign leaders—and the public and the State Department staff—that the president trusts and listens to you." Some say it's just Tillerson doing what made him so successful as CEO of Exxon: "He's an engineer and engineers learn the facts and follow where they lead. He's a systems guy, a step-by-step guy ... He's starting out slow as he learns the job," a former national security adviser for George W. Bush tells the Los Angeles Times. We may see what Tillerson is made of soon enough, though. The White House has indicated it plans to slash the State Department's budget. Tillerson has yet to publicly comment on the news (the LAT points out Mitch McConnell has, saying the Senate isn't likely to greenlight extreme cuts). But this after "he lost ... his first battle with the president," as one State employee tells the Atlantic: Tillerson's choice of (past Trump critic) Elliott Abrams as his No. 2 was vetoed by the president. The position remains open. At Vanity Fair, Emily Jane Fox sees a "curious silver lining" for Tillerson. "While the Russian intrigues swirling around the president continues to ensnare more members of his administration, the one man who knows Putin best has managed to stay off the radar by remaining off the grid. It may just be that his diminished role role might be what allows him to walk away the least scathed in the end."