January 22, Washington In his first speech since taking office, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that he does not want the department to be reduced to a secondary role but rather to be “relevant” and at the “center” of how America interacts the world.

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved Rubio on Monday, making him the 72nd Secretary of State. Former Senate colleagues, including Vice President J.D. Vance, administered the oath of office to him Tuesday morning.

In comments that were broadcast live to embassies and missions overseas, Rubio told State Department staff that he wants the agency “to be relevant” and the focal point of US diplomacy.

“I don’t mean that it’s irrelevant now, but I want it to be where it belongs,” he said.

“I want the Department of State to be at the centre of how America and Great gage the world, not just how we execute on it, but how we formulate it.”

In light of this, he clarified that he wants to make sure the Department has an atmosphere that encourages innovation, audacity, and fresh thinking in order to acknowledge the dynamic world we live in—one that is changing more quickly than it has in the past and that we must keep up with it.

Rubio stated, “I want the Department of State to have the best ideas and the best options available for the President, and then I want us to be able to execute them better than any agency in our government when the time comes for the principals to gather or even deputies,” alluding to a meeting of important Cabinet members or their deputies. I’ll be responsible for it as well.”

He claimed to have “watched from the Congressional side from time to time, administrations in both parties, in which sometimes the Department of State has been sort of relegated to a secondary role because some other agency can move faster or seems to be bolder or more creative.” He is a member of the US Senate and a committee that works with the State Department.

The agencies that have engaged in unintentional competition with the State Department were not named by Rubio. For instance, the White House is home to the National Security Council, which benefits from being close to and acquainted with the president.

One rival hub of US foreign policy is the National Security Council, which is led by the President’s National Security Adviser.

“We’re going to change that,” he continued. Our goal is to be the focal point. Since we will have the finest ideas of any agency and be able to carry them out better, quicker, and more efficiently than any other agency in our government, we want to be at the center of how we construct foreign policy. I am certain that we have the ideal people to achieve this. Given the talent gathered in this room and the global audience, there isn’t any federal institution that I would prefer manage. That will be our goal, and I hope we can do it together.”

President Donald Trump “defined through his campaign, as anything that makes us stronger or safer or more prosperous, and that will be our mission, that will be our job across the world, is to ensure that we have a foreign policy that advances the national interest of the US,” the new Secretary of State reminded the staff that the Department will be carrying out his foreign policy vision.