A group of State Department officials have formally accused Foreign Secretary Rex Tilerson of violating federal law that bars foreign armies from recruiting children, Reuters reported.
The agency said in a special report based on a secret memo issued by the US State Department on July 28 and has not yet been published publicly that a group of 12 officials in the ministry took this unusual step, pointing out that Tilerson violated the law when he decided in June to lift Iraq, Myanmar and Afghanistan from the annual American list of violators of the law prohibiting the recruitment of children.
Tillerson made the decision despite the State Department's official acknowledgment of the recruitment of minors in these countries, making it easier to provide US military assistance.
The document stressed that the exclusion of these countries from the list was a complete disregard of the recommendations of the regional offices monitoring the work of the US embassies in the Middle East and Asia of the Ministry, the Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Office of Human Rights and his lawyers.
In addition to its violation of US law, the decision threatens to withdraw confidence from a wide range of reports and analyzes issued by the State Department and to weaken one of the most important diplomatic mechanisms available to the US government to prevent government forces and armed factions supported by it. Throughout the world, from the recruitment and use of children in combat operations and the implementation of supply tasks.
The agency said the document showed the extent of Tilerson's opposition within the US State Department and the growing tension between Exxon Mobil's former president and his ministry's professional diplomats.
The document was issued through the so-called "opposition channel", a mechanism that allows US State Department officials to challenge the ministry's policies without fear of being punished.
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