3 Big Questions for Rex Tillerson

Michael H. Fuchs and Ken Gude raise key foreign policy questions that Rex Tillerson must answer before being confirmed as secretary of state.

The United States is poised to have the least experienced foreign policy leadership in the history of the country: President-elect Donald Trump will be the first U.S. president to have never served in government or the military, while his Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson would be the first secretary of state to have never held any government office before. For this reason, Tillerson’s confirmation process, which starts Wednesday, must begin to make clear the views of the incoming Trump administration.

First, senators on the Foreign Relations Committee should ask Tillerson: What is the Trump administration’s Russia policy? Trump’s controversial views on Russia have filled headlines throughout his campaign, from his adoration of Russian President Vladimir Putin to his apparent willingness to accept Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to a persistent refusal to believe that Russia helped him during the 2016 election.

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