Why Keep State Department Special Envoys?

When news reports surfaced this week that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson intended to eliminate nine special envoys including one devoted to climate change the outcry in some circles was swift On the heels of reports of high-profile exits from Tillerson’s department,  low morale among career officials, and an almost-certainly-doomed proposal from Tillerson to slash the State budget by 30 percent, the fate of envoys looked like one more example of Tillerson’s “gutting” State and with it America’s ability to conduct diplomacy..