Rex Tillerson reportedly wants to shut down the State Department's war crimes office


Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is planning to close the State Department office that focuses on combating war crimes around the world, former U.S. officials told Foreign Policy.
Todd Buchwald, a career State Department lawyer who serves as special coordinator of the Office of Global Criminal Justice, has been told by Tillerson's office he is being reassigned to a different department, along with the rest of the office staff. Tillerson's top priorities are increasing economic opportunities for American businesses and strengthening the military, with human rights and fighting poverty falling by the wayside, officials said. "There's no mistaking it — this move will be a huge loss for accountability," Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's international justice program, told Foreign Policy.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright created the office in 1997, following the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. The United States wanted to show the world it took combating mass murder seriously, and the office has run a fund that pays for information leading to the capture of war criminals. A State Department spokesperson would not confirm or deny the closure, and a senior State Department official told Foreign Policy its report was based on "pure speculation."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Jared and Ivanka's Albanian island
Under The Radar The deal to develop Sazan has been met with widespread opposition
-
Storm warning
Feature The U.S. is headed for an intense hurricane season. Will a shrunken FEMA and NOAA be able to respond?
-
U.S. v. Skrmetti: Did the trans rights movement overreach?
Feature The Supreme Court upholds a Tennessee law that bans transgender care for minors, dealing a blow to trans rights
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambush
Speed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial
Speed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside home
speed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confession
speed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulder
speed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
speed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
-
2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museum
speed read The suspected gunman chanted 'free, free Palestine'
-
Bombing of fertility clinic blamed on 'antinatalist'
speed read A car bombing injured four people and damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California