The foreign policy challenges facing President Trump and his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, are mounting fast as they approach 100 days in office. Apart from the civil war in Syria and a newly tense relationship with Russia, they have to deal with a missile-rattling regime in North Korea, the threat at home and abroad from radical Islamic terrorism, and potential trade battles with just about the entire non-Anglo-Saxon world.

There is yet another challenge, one not so visible to the public, that should be near the top of Secretary Tillerson’s to-do list: reform of the State Department. Only with an effective State Department can the secretary and his loyal corps of employees play a leading role in helping the president address the nation’s foreign policy challenges.