Rex Tillerson’s State Department Redesign Spent $12 Million On Consultants

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who wanted to redesign the State Department to make it cheaper and more efficient, ironically spent around $12 million on private consultants.

Documents obtained and first reported on by Politico show that Tillerson hired some consultants who charged the State Department more than $300 per hour. Most were from the firm Deloitte, which already had a federal contract in place.

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According to a document, 90 consultants worked on the redesign that Tillerson never had the chance to complete. Facing pressure from current and former department officials, Tillerson reworked his plan to focus on modernizing technology and management practices.

New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez expressed disapproval for the State Department’s “lack of transparency.”

“I believe we must look into how taxpayer money was spent on this botched project and will continue to call for the committee to examine these issues in open hearings in the near future,” Menendez told Politico.

According to a former senior State Department official, Tillerson didn’t want to work with professionals and instead “chose to lavish money on contractors and consultants who knew nothing about the organization.”

The continuation of Tillerson’s plan will likely be determined by current CIA Director and Trump’s Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo’s Senate confirmation hearing.