Tough Tasks Await Tillerson at State Department

WASHINGTON—Rex Tillerson is expected to take the helm of the State Department this week with the U.S. facing a host of national-security issues and questions about President Donald Trump’s ability to unify his diplomatic and military corps behind his foreign policies.

The immediate challenges Mr. Tillerson will confront when he enters office by midweek, said current and former U.S. officials working on foreign policy, include addressing the rift with Mexico over Mr. Trump’s plans to build a border wall; implementing and dealing with a temporary immigration ban on seven Muslim-majority countries; and possibly implementing Mr. Trump’s suggestion to relocate the U.S embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

In the longer term, Mr. Tillerson, 64 years old, the former Exxon Mobil chief executive, will be asked to make good on Mr. Trump’s pledge to drastically recast U.S. relations with major global powers Russia and China, to intensify the war against the Islamic State terrorist organization, and potentially to scrap the landmark nuclear agreement the Obama administration forged with Iran in 2015.

Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.