Tillerson tells State employees he's "learning" to like his job

Kylie Atwood, cbsnews.com

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Amid speculation that he may soon leave the administration, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that he is learning to like his job and promising to make the building run more smoothly.

"Well, I am smiling. I am learning to enjoy it. Look, this is a hard job," Tillerson told employees at a year-end town hall on Tuesday when asked if he is enjoying it. The answer came after a sustained laugh.

Tillerson explained that although he does not enjoy working on issues like North Korea and Pakistan -- yet he enjoys the people at the State Department that he works with on those issues. He admitted that he did not know many of them before coming to the building. And he made the brutal complexities of his job evident when he said he wakes up every morning with a single question on his mind: "How can I keep someone from being killed today?"

Tillerson didn't try to sugarcoat the inherently complicated diplomacy that the department is carrying out.

"Do we have any wins to put on the board? No. That is not how this works. Diplomacy is not that simple," Tillerson said. He recalled telling a reporter that issues between countries are not solved with one meeting.

Tillerson is a "realist" who "understands the importance of negotiations" explained Steve Goldstein, the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State department, when asked about the reasoning for Tillerson's blunt outlook.

Tillerson said he is "quite satisfied" with the progress made on pressuring the issue of North Korea's growing nuclear program, adding that the level of pressure forced on the regime has "never been achieved" in previous efforts. Tilleson explained how the US has been helping countries step up to the plate, and North Korea is feeling its growing isolation. He said these efforts will deny North Korea about $2.3 billion of their export revenue.

Tillerson also gave his fullest summary yet of the changes the State Department restructure will produce. He used powerpoint slides to present some of the "quick wins" that will be implemented next year.

The biggest applause from the employee audience came when Tillerson declared that the hiring freeze for family members of State Department employees will be lifted next year. Similar applause broke out when he said that tele-commuting would become an option for diplomats who have to be medically evacuated from their posts and that the security clearance process would be streamlined. There will also be updates made to the IT system at the department, which is infamous for its archaic nature, including the introduction of a cloud-based email system.

Tillerson said that he will not be closing U.S. embassies though there may be a smaller footprint in places like Rome, London and Paris. Some employees in those locations, he said, would be sent to other posts with more urgent needs.

Tillerson will be meeting with members of Congress to discuss the details that he presented today. He explained that the State Department needs their support but Tillerson has also told them he needs "freedom of movement" to get this done. The restructure itself has come under criticism from the Hill for lacking transparency.

"I believe in the code of the west," Tillerson said in closing the town hall and commenting on his plans to go to Texas for the holidays. "Your word is your bond."

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