The department also issues the occasional comment under Tillerson’s name, including congratulations to other countries on their national days. 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. 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. 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. “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. 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. Still, it was not surprising, given the way the State Department has been diminished by the consolidation of power within the White House. Instead, the department briefed reporters over the phone, providing only a “senior administration official” on background. 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. 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.
– 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."