Former Defense Secretary Robert Michael "Bob" Gates confers with former U.S. Senator Samuel Augustus "Sam" Nunn, Jr. during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearings for former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as President-elect Donald Trump's Secretary of State. Four activists with Greenpeace peacefully interrupted the Committee’s appointment hearing for Tillerson. Holding banners “RejectRexx,” the activists stood and delivered messages of opposition to the naming of an oil CEO as the nation’s chief diplomat. Hailing from New York, North Carolina, Texas, and California, the three women and one man represented a diversity of reasons for rejecting Tillerson’s appointment.