Career State Department diplomats have reportedly been told to avoid eye contact with Rex Tillerson

Rex Tillerson stands alone
(Image credit: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images)

On Thursday night, The Washington Post posted a profile of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and it doesn't make him sound very ... approachable:

Tillerson takes a private elevator to his palatial office on the seventh floor of the State Department building, where sightings of him are rare on the floors below.... Most of his interactions are with an insular circle of political aides who are new to the State Department. Many career diplomats say they still have not met him, and some have been instructed not to speak to him directly — or even make eye contact. On his first three foreign trips, Tillerson skipped visits with State Department employees and their families, embassy stops that were standard morale-boosters under other secretaries of state. [The Washington Post]

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.