The secretary of state is usually thought of as the principal cabinet position, and indeed he or she is first among cabinet officers and fourth in line overall to succeed the president. But when Rex Tillerson shows up at Foggy Bottom, he will discover a department that faces many challenges, not all of which arise from international actors. There are deeper structural challenges confronting the State Department that have evolved over time and fundamentally altered the role the agency plays in U.S. foreign policy. A realignment is both necessary and possible.

One might be tempted to think that since the United States has been actively engaged around the globe since the end of World War II, this should be a golden age for the department. But Congress and the executive branch have created a number of strong rival institutions that did not exist for most of our nation’s history. It has been fairly said that Dean Acheson was the last secretary of state to whom the president looked exclusively for guidance on foreign policy issues.