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Editorial

Flawed Choices for the State Department

Rex Tillerson at the World Gas Conference in Paris, in 2015.Credit...Eric Piermont/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Set aside the fact that Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil and Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state, knows scores of world leaders and is a skilled businessman. Why would Mr. Trump choose as his top diplomat a man whose every decision or action would be tainted by suspicion that he’s capitulating to Russian interests or those of the oil industry, having spent his entire career at Exxon Mobil?

Mr. Trump seems impervious to ethical standards. By naming Mr. Tillerson, he risks burdening his administration with another appointee likely to ensure endless controversy.

Mr. Tillerson has no background in diplomacy beyond corporate deal making. And his relationship with Vladimir Putin, Russia’s authoritarian leader, raises serious questions about whether he could manage Russia policy in a way that advances America’s national interests. Mr. Putin even gave him an “Order of Friendship” award in 2013.

American-Russian relations are at their worst since the Cold War, a result of Mr. Putin’s annexation of Crimea, the war in eastern Ukraine, his attempts to destabilize countries in Europe, and bombings of civilians in Syria. The Central Intelligence Agency’s newly revealed judgment that Russia interfered in the election to hurt Hillary Clinton adds a frightening dimension to the relationship.

The Trump administration will have to be able to evaluate objectively Mr. Putin’s agenda and lead NATO in standing up against his aggression, while allowing for cooperation where possible. In naming Mr. Tillerson to lead the State Department and having Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his national security adviser, Mr. Trump will have filled two top national security posts with pro-Russia apologists.

Steve Coll, author of “Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power,” wrote in The New Yorker that in nominating Mr. Tillerson, Mr. Trump would be “handing the State Department to a man who has worked his whole life running a parallel quasi state, for the benefit of shareholders, fashioning relationships with foreign leaders that may or may not conform to the interests of the United States government.” He added that “the goal of Exxon Mobil’s independent foreign policy has been to promote a world that is good for oil and gas production.”

To that end, Mr. Tillerson has criticized American and European sanctions imposed against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine because that was bad for his business. Mr. Tillerson also defied American policy and cut an independent oil deal with the Kurdish Regional Government, undermining the Iraqi central government. Will Mr. Tillerson be able to move beyond his corporate habits of mind?

On a positive note, Mr. Tillerson has reversed Exxon Mobil’s long history of funding right-wing groups that denied the threat of global warming, and he could perhaps persuade Mr. Trump not to pull out of the landmark Paris agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Having someone come in to the State Department with fresh eyes is not necessarily a disqualifier. But inexperience is especially risky when the president-elect is ignorant of national security issues. Such inexperience could also enhance the clout of the deputy secretary of state, the department’s No. 2 official, a position that reportedly could go to John Bolton, who served as ambassador to the United Nations and under secretary of state for arms control under President George W. Bush.

Mr. Bolton is a conservative ideologue who has spent his career pushing dangerous policies, like the 2003 invasion of Iraq and an end to the 1994 agreement that froze North Korea’s plutonium-based nuclear weapons program. Last year, he wrote in The Times about bombing Iranian nuclear facilities, and he has criticized President Obama for pushing a nuclear deal that has successfully curbed Iran’s program. There is no doubt that Mr. Bolton will work to destroy the deal if he’s given a State Department perch.

Mr. Bolton disdains multilateral institutions like the United Nations and international treaties. On Sunday, he made the outrageous accusation that the Russian hacking of the Clinton campaign was a “false flag” operation intended to blame the Russians.

Mr. Trump will soon lead America in facing an increasingly unstable world of complicated and intractable challenges. He needs the best possible advisers at his side. Mr. Bolton does not make that grade, and Mr. Trump will have his work cut out for him in making a convincing case for Mr. Tillerson.

This editorial has been updated to reflect news developments.

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A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 30 of the New York edition with the headline: Flawed Choices for the State Dept.. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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