Secretary of State Marco Rubio began his tenure as the top US diplomat on Tuesday by pledging to keep his department at the heart of US foreign policymaking and execute what he said was President Donald Trump's aim of promoting peace through strength.
Ending Russia's war in Ukraine would be official US policy, the former US senator said earlier on Tuesday, before he addressed hundreds of clapping and cheering State Department staff filling the building's lobby.
"We want to be at the centerpiece, we want to be at the core of how we formulate foreign policy, because we're going to have the best ideas of any agency, and because we're going to execute it better and faster and more effectively than any other agency in our government," Rubio told State Department staff.
He was proud to lead "the most effective, the most talented, the most experienced" diplomatic corps in the history of the world, he said.
His flattering comments drew applause, but it remains to be seen whether Rubio can deliver on his promise to make the department instrumental in policymaking given Trump's unconventional style that often involves bypassing institutions and conducting personal diplomacy.
Trump aides since last week have asked dozens of senior career diplomats at the department to step down from their roles, replacing key bureaucratic and policy positions with officials that they deem more aligned with their agenda.
“There will be changes, but the changes are not meant to be destructive. They're not meant to be punitive," Rubio said. "The changes will be because we need to be a 21st century agency that can move ... at the speed of relevance."
Rubio, 53, a China hawk and staunch backer of Israel, was the first of Trump's cabinet nominees to be sworn into office on Tuesday, and pledged to carry out Trump's foreign policy of "furthering the national interest of this country."
Rubio was a long-time member of the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees and is now the first Latino US secretary of state. The son of immigrants from Cuba, he has also pushed for tough measures against the Communist-ruled island and its allies, especially the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
'PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH'
During his confirmation hearing last week, the new top US diplomat said both Moscow and Kyiv would have to give concessions to end the war and suggested Ukraine would have to give up its goal of regaining all the territory Russia has taken in the last decade.
Rubio echoed those comments to NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday ahead of his swearing-in.
"It’s going to be the official policy of the United States that the war has to end and we’re going to do everything possible to bring that about," he said.
Former President Joe Biden, who sent billions of dollars of US weapons to Ukraine after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, insisted it was up to Ukraine to decide if and when to enter peace talks with Russia.
Trump, while campaigning for president, said he would quickly end the war, without saying how he would do so.
Rubio said it would be "complicated ... because every side's going to have to give something."
"The only way conflicts like this end is ... not in public pronouncements," Rubio said. "They end in hard, vibrant diplomacy that the US seeks to engage in, in the hopes of bringing an end to this conflict that’s sustainable, in a way that assures the security of Ukraine and our partners in the region, but that stops the killing and the dying and the destruction that we’ve been seeing for quite a while now."
Speaking at the White House after he was sworn in, Rubio promised he would carry out Trump's foreign policy of "furthering the national interest of this country."
He added that another foreign policy goal under Trump will be "the promotion of peace. Of course, peace through strength, peace and always without abandoning our values."
