The message should be clear. Any effort to weaken NATO from within or outside will be met by a robust response by the United States.

I appreciate the excellent work done by the Biden administration in reestablishing our rock-solid bond with NATO.

It is paramount that the administration provide the committee with greater clarity concerning how it is addressing Turkey's role in the numerous human rights violations committed in northern Syria.

This is also unacceptable.

Turkey's abrupt withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, enshrining commitments to improve the status of women, is deeply concerning.

As a NATO ally, we expect Turkey to advance democracy and human rights and yet it is moving in the opposite direction.

I think there is room for improvement with our allies.

Having said that, President Biden rightly said that our foreign policy is going to be embedded in our values.

As I look at current challenges, climate change has really presented a challenge for our water infrastructure.

I agree that when the National Security Council is too big, then they think they have the capacity to actually drive things rather than to coordinate, and that is a problem.

We obviously want our workforce to reflect diversity of our Nation but also the diversity of the global community.

we have a responsibility in Congress to figure out a way forward to deal with how we can get our input into having the most efficient effective diplomatic agency as we possibly can.

I think it is very much needed.

Are we creating too many additional lines of responsibility rather than trying to coordinate things better?

I think that a system that puts a priority on personnel category, on tenure rather than merit, is something that seriously needs to be reexamined.

Forty-one years have passed since the last major restructuring of the State Department, and we should seek to update and enhance the State Department for the 21st Century.

we need... a broader pool that we could utilize to meet our diplomatic missions when we have vacancies for whatever reason.

Welcome to the first hearing of the subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations on the State Department and USAID management, international operations, and bilateral international development.

Congress should form a bipartisan commission to examine every aspect of American diplomacy.

I think we should be very, very judicious. I do not want to take a blanket rule to it, but I think the special representatives should be the exception.

We should be bold in re-imagining the State Department, and this should be guided by some very basic foundational questions.

I want to add one additional point to this diversity of assignments that we have in the State Department.

I think we have missed opportunities where there were opportunities for us to make major advancements in building democratic states to prevent conflict.

training does offer an opportunity for us to make some maybe immediate progress in looking at it this year.

First, I want to thank our ranking member Hagerty, for his cooperation and help in putting together this hearing.