Hillary Clinton to Strengthen State Department

A larger budget, influential delegates for crisis points, and a wider role in economic issues, are plans for strengthening the department.

The future American Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, plans on strengthening the State Department. She wants to strengthen it with a larger budget, more influential delegates for crisis points, and a wider role in economic issues during a time of global crisis, writes The New York Times on Tuesday.

Clinton hired Jacob Lew, the director for the budget in the Bill Clinton administration, as one of two deputies, according to the close transitional team of Barack Obama.

Lew should increase financing for the diplomatic assembly. He and James Steniberg, the deputy of Clinton’s advisor for national security, should be deputies to Hillary Clinton, if the Senate confirms their naming, claims the New York Times.

The new administration will probably name multiple special delegates, said officials, bringing back the practice from the Clinton administration, that had special delegates like Richard Holbrooke, Dennis Ross and other diplomats, who had the lead role in mediating in crises in south-east Europe and the Middle East.

Whilst she is compiling her team, Hillary Clinton is also trying to gain a larger role of the State Department in economic issues, where the Ministry of Finance dominated in the years of president George W. Bush. Her main advisor for that is Laura D'Andrea Tyson, an economist that led Clinton’s committee of economic advisors.

Energetic economic team

Those steps should strengthen American diplomacy in the long term, after the period where the Pentagon, the president’s office, and even intelligence agencies had considerable influence on foreign politics.

With an energetic economic team, the State Department should have a larger role in recovering from the global economic crisis, and economic issues are also in the centre of some diplomatic relations, especially those with China.

The New York Times states that Clinton and Obama have not yet chosen delegates for certain missions, but as possible delegates for the Middle East, they have mentioned the veteran Dennis Ross, as well as Richard Holbrooke and Martin Indyk, the former US ambassador in Israel.

According to one democratic foreign affairs advisor, that the newspaper cites, Holbrooke could be named a delegate for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and possibly Iran.

One member of the transitional team rejected the speculations of the Indian press, according to which Obama is considering naming Bill Clinton as a special delegate for Kashmir, added the newspaper.