Tillerson on First Year at State: ‘Do We Have Any Wins to Put on the Board? No.’

The State Department has not had “any wins” this year under U.S. President Donald Trump, conceded Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday.

State is currently attempting to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, combating state sponsor of terrorism Iran’s nefarious behavior, and rallying up international support to pressure belligerent North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, among other things.

However, during a town hall discussion Tuesday at the State Department that was reportedly closed to the press, Tillerson declared, “I think we have had an incredibly active year. Do we have any wins to put on the board? No. That’s not the way this works. Diplomacy is not that simple,” reports a subsidiary of National Public Radio (NPR).

Last month, news reports surfaced claiming the White House was devising a plan to push Tillerson out.

“The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks, senior administration officials said on Thursday,” reported the New York Times.

President Trump dismissed the reports that he would soon fire Tillerson as “fake news.”

“I call the final shots,” he added, reportedly acknowledging his disagreements with his top diplomat.

Critics have accused Tillerson of hollowing out the State Department, but he has denied the allegations.

During the town hall, the secretary reportedly vowed to streamline security clearances, adding that he is canceling a hiring freeze for spouses of department employees.

“This is a talent pool that we should be using. We should be mining it more,” said Tillerson. “It’s going to make our work easier. It’s going to make our work more effective.”

Some critics argue it will be difficult for Tillerson to hire more people and keep his proposed budget cuts.

To the dismay of some lawmakers who believe now is not the time, the secretary has proposed slashing State’s budget to “the mid-$30 billion level” from its peak of $55 billion.

Although he has ruled out right out closing any U.S. embassy to save money, he is considering downsizing.

“I know London’s a great location. I know Paris is a great location and Rome is a great location,” he said on the town hall. “I’m not sure we need the footprints we have there because we don’t have the same issues of urgency necessarily that we have in other parts of the world where we really need talent deployed.”