U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, will testify earlier than the U.S. Senate International Relations Committee as a part of his affirmation course of on Jan. 15, 2025.
Rubio’s nomination is outstanding for a number of causes, together with the truth that Rubio has been a harsh critic of Trump.
However the relationship between Trump and Rubio has improved lately, a lot in order that Rubio was a finalist to function Trump’s working mate in 2024. Rubio would even be the primary Latino to serve on this essential function.
The secretary of state is among the most essential U.S. authorities Cupboard positions, and the secretary of state is fourth in line for the presidency.
In my work as a scholar of worldwide affairs, I’ve seen how secretaries of state have had lasting influence on U.S. overseas coverage and the way the remainder of the world perceives the U.S.
Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, speaks to reporters in Washington, D.C., in December 2024.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photographs
Secretaries of state who left their mark
Thomas Jefferson, who served as the primary U.S. secretary of state from 1790 by way of 1793, laid the groundwork for U.S. diplomacy. He helped set up the U.S. as a sovereign nation and advocated for neutrality throughout European conflicts. This allowed the nascent nation to develop its pursuits with out overseas entanglements.
Jefferson additionally advocated for diplomacy over warfare and thought that negotiations needs to be used to resolve battle. Jefferson wrote in a 1799 letter, “I am for free commerce with all nations, political connection with none, & little or no diplomatic establishment: and I am not for linking ourselves, by new treaties with the quarrels of Europe, entering that field of slaughter to preserve their balance.”
Centuries later, World Conflict II elevated one other secretary of state, George C. Marshall, who served from January 1947 by way of January 1949.
Marshall designed the technique – aptly known as the Marshall Plan – that rebuilt and stabilized Europe after World Conflict II, blunting communism’s unfold and solidifying an alliance between a Western bloc of nations. Because of his work, Marshall acquired the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.
U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall presents Cub Scouts with a ‘Junior Marshall Plan’ in February 1948.
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The incoming secretary of state in 2025 will face important challenges, together with a number of wars the world over, in addition to the potential risk of a nuclear confrontation with Iran or different international locations.
This robust job calls for vital intelligence, information and grit.
The function of the secretary of state
Above all, the secretary of state is the nation’s prime diplomat. The secretary oversees and implements all the president’s overseas insurance policies by way of the State Division, which incorporates a number of companies, together with the International Service.
The secretary of state can also be the president’s prime adviser on overseas coverage. The secretary provides the president updates and suggestions on how a overseas coverage choice may be tackled.
The secretary additionally repeatedly speaks with totally different heads of state, ambassadors and overseas ministers to take care of world challenges and crises, and to barter worldwide treaties or ceasefire offers.
A day within the life
On a day-to-day foundation, the secretary oversees a big paperwork, with over 69,000 workers, together with ambassadors, overseas service officers and different employees stationed in additional than 270 embassies, consulates and missions worldwide.
The secretary’s every day schedule may embody morning conferences and updates from senior officers, intelligence companies or regional specialists on ongoing crises. In Washington, D.C., the secretary can even host or attend conferences with ambassadors and overseas dignitaries or with leaders from Congress.
The secretary additionally opinions budgets, personnel selections and the various stories that U.S. embassies and different workplaces abroad produce concerning the political conditions in different international locations and areas.
The secretary of state is charged with resolving world conflicts and serving to keep peace. This entails frequent journey overseas to satisfy with varied overseas counterparts.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for instance, traveled in February and March 2024 to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, the West Financial institution, Israel, Albania, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Jamaica, Austria, South Korea and the Philippines.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks from a aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport close to Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 30, 2024.
Evelyn Hockstein/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Funds monitoring, too
Not all the secretary’s work is glamorous or thrilling.
Because the secretary of state oversees the State Division, this particular person should rigorously monitor budgets to assist make sure that the right amount of cash from the division’s giant price range – at present at US$58.8 billion for July 2024 by way of June 2025 – reaches the assorted U.S. diplomatic and overseas help missions.
The secretary additionally wants to grasp and ensure the U.S. lives as much as its obligations underneath totally different worldwide agreements, similar to arms management treaties and commerce offers. The secretary is concerned in negotiating agreements that come out of worldwide organizations, such because the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Group.
One other essential however much less high-profile function for the secretary of state is defending U.S. residents overseas. The State Division helps U.S. residents dwelling or touring overseas with points starting from renewing passports and visas to serving to them evacuate attributable to a medical emergency.
The State Division additionally helps U.S. residents who expertise a pure catastrophe, political unrest or a kidnapping overseas.
Lastly, the secretary should navigate and stability worldwide expectations of how the united statesshould reply to escalating conflicts in different international locations. On the identical time, the secretary has to stability home U.S. political issues.
Why expertise issues
The secretary of state takes the lead on responding to crises, from humanitarian disasters to overseas cyberattacks, which might escalate rapidly. It’s important to have somebody on this put up who has disaster administration expertise, a transparent understanding of world politics and historical past, and powerful decision-making expertise.
An adept secretary can construct bipartisan help and successfully talk the significance of overseas coverage selections to the general public. Lack of political acumen can result in gridlock or undermine initiatives the U.S. desires to undertake.
If a secretary of state is inexperienced or has poor judgment, it may additionally exacerbate crises or result in long-term injury for the U.S.’s nationwide safety and its relationships with different international locations.
This story is a part of a collection of profiles of Cupboard and high-level administration positions.