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President Honors Ambassador Karen Hughes at Swearing-In Cere

 
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 7:46 pm    Post subject: President Honors Ambassador Karen Hughes at Swearing-In Cere Reply with quote

President Honors Ambassador Karen Hughes at Swearing-In Ceremony
United States Department of State

Washington, D.C.


Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050909.html

President's Remarks



10:17 A.M. EDT

SECRETARY RICE: Good morning. Thank you. Thank you very much, and welcome to the State Department for the swearing in of Karen Hughes as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Ambassador for the same.

I'm delighted to be here in the company of so many people who mean so much, first of all, to the United States of America, but probably, more importantly, to Karen. We are joined today by Jerry Hughes, Karen's husband; her son, Robert Hughes, who I just have to say is on his way to Stanford University as a freshman -- (laughter) -- by Lauren Doggett, her daughter; Leigh Doggett, her granddaughter; Beverly Byrd, her sister; Nancy Bell, her sister-in-law; Kim Barnard, her niece; Jim Unger, her cousin; Val Unger, her cousin; and Chandler Bell, her grandnephew.

We, of course, also are joined, most importantly, by the President of the United States and Mrs. Bush. I'll turn to the President in a moment to swear Karen in, but thank you, especially, Mrs. Bush, for joining us. (Applause.)

We're joined also by a number of members of the Cabinet: Secretary Gale Norton, Secretary Alphonso Jackson, Secretary Norm Mineta, Secretary Margaret Spellings, and Director for National Intelligence, John Negroponte; by a number of members of the diplomatic corps. Thank you Ambassador Antoine from Grenada, Ambassador Jawad from Afghanistan, Charg Massoud from Saudi Arabia, and Ambassador Pashayev from Azerbaijan.

And I'd also like to recognize Margaret Tutwiler, a former Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy.

Mr. President, we appreciate greatly your coming to swear in Karen Hughes, your friend and confident, and person that you have chosen to lead this important public diplomacy effort for the United States of America.

Mr. President, all Americans in the world are grateful for your commitment and your dedication to the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity, to the fact that you believe, as Americans do, that democracy and liberty and freedom are the birthright of every man and woman around the world. And that is the message that we will try to get out in a better fashion, a more effective fashion. And I think with Karen Hughes leading the effort, we will be able to show the world the true heart of America, and people will understand that we mean it when we say that Americans believe that there is no corner of the Earth that should have to live in tyranny, and that every man and woman should bask in freedom.

Mr. President, thank you for joining us. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Madame Secretary, thank you. Thank you for the fine leadership you're providing for our country. Laura and I are pleased to be back here at the State Department, and we're really pleased to be here to honor our new Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Ambassador Karen Hughes. (Applause.)

It's good to see many of Karen's friends here today, particularly those from Texas. Welcome. I want to say something about her family, her husband Jerry, and Robert and Leigh and Lauren. I want to thank you very much for supporting Karen. It is a real blessing for this country that she has decided to come back and serve. And I know she would not have done that without your support, so thank you all very much.

We're in a war on terror. We are still at war. And to succeed in this war, we must effectively explain our policies and fundamental values to people around the world. This is an incredibly important mission. And so I've asked one of America's most talented communicators to take it on.

Karen Hughes has been one of my closest and most trusted advisors for more than a decade. She understands the miracle of America. She understands what we stand for. After all, she's lived it. Her grandfather was a Pennsylvania coal miner. She's a working mom who rose to serve at the highest levels of our government. She has a compassionate heart, a brilliant mind, and a deep love for America. I can think of no one better to share the American experience with the world than Karen Hughes.

I want to thank my Cabinet Secretaries who are here. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to come and honor our friend. Don't hesitate to get back to work. We've got a lot to do. (Laughter.) I appreciate General Dick Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who's with us. I want to thank John Negroponte who is joining us, as well. And thank you all.

America is a strong and resilient nation. Our people have the spirit, the resources and the determination to overcome any challenge. And today this nation faces enormous challenges at home and abroad.

At this moment, our fellow citizens along the Gulf Coast are struggling to recover from one of the worst natural disasters in our country's history. Many thousands have lost their homes. They've lost their loved ones. They've lost all their earthly possessions. The disaster area is larger than the size of Great Britain. Towns and communities have been flattened. One of our great cities has been submerged.

In this time of struggle, the American people need to know we're not struggling alone. I want to thank the members of the diplomatic corps who are with us today. I want to thank the world community for its prayers and for the offers of assistance that have come from all around the world. The outpouring of compassion and support has been substantial.

Think of this, Afghanistan has pledged a hundred thousand dollars to aid -- in aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Ambassador, thank you. Canada has sent ships with disaster supplies. Air Canada -- Air Canada's planes assisted in the evacuation. Israel sent tents and mineral water and medical supplies. Italy has sent beds and sheets and blankets and inflatable rafts to help with rescue efforts. Kuwait has pledged $400 million in oil and a hundred million dollars in humanitarian aid. Qatar and the UAE has pledged $100 million each. Sri Lanka, one of the world's most impoverished nations that is struggling to overcome the effects of the tsunami, has sent a donation of $25,000.

In all, more than a hundred countries have stepped forward with offers of assistance, and additional pledges of support are coming in every day. To every nation in every province and every local community across the globe that is standing with the American people, and with those who hurt on the Gulf Coast, our entire nation thanks you for your support.

Four years ago, the American people saw a similar outpouring of sympathy and support when another tragedy struck our nation, the terrorist attacks of September the 11th, 2001. This Sunday, Americans will mark the fourth anniversary of that terrible day when nearly 3,000 innocent people were murdered. The attacks took place on American soil, yet they left grieving families on virtually every continent. Citizens from dozens of nations were killed on September the 11th. Innocent men and women and children of every race and every religion.

And in the four years since the September the 11th attacks, the terrorists have continued to kill -- in Madrid and Istanbul and Jakarta and Casablanca, in Riyadh, in Bali, in Baghdad, in London, in Sharm-el-Sheikh and elsewhere.

In the war on terror, the world's civilized nations face a common enemy, an enemy that hates us, because of the values we hold in common. The terrorists have a strategy: They want to force those of us who love freedom to retreat, to pull back so they can topple governments in the Middle East and turn that region into a safe haven for terrorism.

To achieve these aims, they kill the innocent because they believe that all human life is expendable. And that stands in stark contrast to what we believe. We believe human life is a precious gift from our Creator. Every nation that shares this belief shares the belief in human rights and human dignity, shares a stake in the outcome of this struggle. Every nation that believes that human rights and human dignity applies to every man, woman and child shares a responsibility in ensuring our victory over the terrorists.

We're on a hunt for the terrorists. We are striking them in foreign lands before they can hurt our citizens again. Yet we know that this war will not be won by force of arms alone. We must defeat the terrorists on the battlefield, and we must also defeat them in the battle of ideas.

As Prime Minister Blair said after the London attacks, we must not fight just the terrorists' methods, but also their views; not just their barbaric acts, but also their barbaric ideas. In the long run, the only way to achieve lasting peace is to offer a hopeful alternative to the terrorist ideology of hatred and fear.

By spreading the hope of freedom across the broader Middle East, Condi and Karen -- or should I say Madam Secretary and the Ambassador -- understand that spreading the message of freedom requires an aggressive effort to share and communicate America's fundamental values.

And so they have an ambitious agenda to carry out. First, I've asked them to marshal all the resources of the federal government to this critical mission. Public diplomacy is the job of every member of my administration. As the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen will direct the State Department's efforts to communicate with the world, and at the same time, she will coordinate the work of our administration in support of this vital mission, ensuring that every agency and department gives public diplomacy the same level of priority that I do.

Second, I've asked the State Department to enlist the support of the private sector in our nation's public diplomacy efforts. The experienced diplomats in this room will be the first to tell you, the American people are some of our nation's best ambassadors. We must find ways to utilize their talents and skills more effectively. Everyone who travels abroad or welcomes an exchange student into their home is an ambassador for America. And we need more of our citizens involved in our public diplomacy.

Third, I've asked the State Department to improve our government's capabilities to confront terrorist propaganda quickly, before myths have time to take root in the hearts and minds of people across the world. Listen, our enemies use lies. They use lies to recruit and train and indoctrinate. So Karen and her team have a vital task. They must ensure that the terrorist lies are challenged aggressively, and that our government is prepared to respond to false accusations and propaganda immediately.

Finally, I've asked the State Department to encourage Americans to learn about the languages and cultures of the broader Middle East. In the early days of the Cold War, our government undertook an intensive effort to encourage young Americans to study Russian language and history and culture so we could better understand the aspirations of the Russian people and the psychology of those who oppressed them. I've got to tell you, it's impressive to be with Condi, when you're with the Russian officials, to hear her speak the Russian language. She was a part of that initiative. Today the struggle for freedom has shifted to a new region of the world, and we need a similar effort to educate our people about the broader Middle East.

We must encourage young scholars to study the great history and traditions of the region. We need skilled linguists who can communicate with their people so we can engage in a fruitful dialogue about what it means to live in liberty.

We've living in dangerous and challenging times, yet this is also a moment of great hope and opportunity. Across the world, hearts and minds are opening to the message of human liberty as never before. In the last two years alone, tens of millions have voted for the first time in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Georgia. And as they claim their freedom, they are inspiring millions more across the broader Middle East. We must encourage their aspirations. We must nurture freedom's progress.

Karen will deliver the message of freedom and humility and compassion and determination. She knows that freedom is not America's gift to the world. She knows that freedom is the Almighty God's gift to every man, woman and child in this world. She will help America seize this moment of opportunity by working with other nations and peoples to replace tyranny with tolerance, and overcome hatred with hope. Together, we're going to help millions achieve the non-negotiable demands of human dignity so they can build a better life for their children, and so we can lay the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren.

Karen, good luck in your task. May God bless you. (Applause.)

(Under Secretary Hughes is sworn into office.) (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Good luck. (Applause.)

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: Thank you all very much. Thank you so much.

Mr. President, I guess, it wouldn't be good for a communicator to stand up and say I'm speechless. (Laughter.) But I'm certainly overwhelmed. Mr. President and First Lady, we're delighted that both of you joined us here at the State Department. Madam Secretary.

I thank all of you for once again giving me the great honor and privilege of serving my country. I thank Your Excellencies for joining us here today. I'm honored you would come. Many Cabinet members, members of Congress, my colleagues from the State Department and the White House, and friends and family -- all for joining us here today.

I was in Austin, Texas, last weekend, and city officials put out a call for volunteers and donations to help us welcome an estimated 5,000 of our Louisiana neighbors who had been left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. I went down to the Convention Center where a couple of volunteers had organized an impromptu donation drop-off line, and I pitched in next to people of all ages and races and backgrounds to help unload what seemed like a nonstop line of cars.

We witnessed an amazing outpouring. We saw big cars with trunks full of just-purchased mattresses and sheets and pillows. And we saw old cars whose -- smaller cars, whose back seats were full of old, worn towels and blankets and cans of food, whatever people could afford to bring. It was an overwhelming display -- I had tears in my eyes several times -- of love and concern and community, as well as concrete help. And it was repeated across Texas and across America.

And during the last week here at the State Department, we've witnessed that same spirit of generosity as governments and people around the world offered helicopters, food, money, tents -- all to help America in our hour of need. And Americans are so grateful to our friends and fellow citizens throughout the world.

As the President mentioned, this weekend we will mark the fourth anniversary of September 11th. And it struck me that in our response to these two tragedies -- one caused by the force of nature, the other by the evil intentions of men -- we have also witnessed something far, far more powerful: our common humanity, the decency that binds us together as civilized human beings, no matter what our nationality or faith. Yes, we saw terrorists who horrifically targeted innocents, and criminals who preyed on the vulnerable. But we saw far, far more people who opened their homes and their hearts to total strangers both here and across our world, and reached out to help others in need.

In our response to terror and tragedy both at home and across the world, we've been reminded that what unites us human beings is so much greater than even the important matters on which we sometimes disagree, and that our ability to differ freely, openly and respectfully is, in itself, something to be celebrated.

I believe there is no more urgent challenge for America's national security and for a more peaceful future for all the world's children than the need to foster greater respect, understanding and a sense of common interest and common values between Americans and people of different countries, cultures and faiths.

Mr. President, I am so honored that you and Secretary Rice had asked me to return to Washington. I once again pledge that I will always speak from the heart, and I will always stand for what you've called the non-negotiable demands of human dignity: the rule of law, limits on the power of the state, respect for women, private property, free speech, equal justice, and religious tolerance.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to each of you who have joined us here today for this special day for me and my family. And I ask for your help and your prayers in the work that's ahead. Thank you so much for being here. (Applause.)

END 10:42 A.M. EDT


Last edited by cyrus on Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Oppenheimer



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PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 10:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah Cyrus, you beat me to the post by about an hour..(chuckle)...but here's something that will put the nuts and bolts of US public diplomacy in a more complete context...via her remarks to the folks she works with now.....



Remarks With Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen
Hughes at Town Hall for Public Diplomacy


Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Loy Henderson Auditorium
Washington, DC
September 8, 2005

(11:00 a.m. EDT)

MR. ALHASSANI: Good morning. Madame Secretary, Under Secretary Karen Hughes,
Deputy Under Secretary Dina Powell, public affairs and public diplomacy
officials worldwide, I'd like to welcome you to today's town hall meeting.

My name is Medhi Alhassani, a senior at George Washington University and a new
intern here at the Public Affairs Bureau. I have the great privilege of meeting
Under Secretary Hughes, her fourth day on the job, when she truly impressed 30
Muslim American students.

When I was asked to introduce Secretary Rice, I was trying to think of things
we might have in common. And I was told a rumor that the Secretary's real dream
job is to be NFL Commissioner. (Laughter.) I'm a big football fan myself. The
difference is, the Secretary is a big Cleveland Browns fan, who by the way have
won zero championships in the past four years. (Laughter.) I'm a New England
Patriots fan, who by the way have won three championships in the past four
years. (Laughter.) Of course, that might change when the Secretary becomes the
NFL Commissioner -- (laughter) -- but in the meantime, the Browns are going to
have to take a backseat to U.S. foreign policy. (Laughter.)

At this time, I'd like to introduce somebody who I hold in great regard. Please
join me in welcoming the 66th U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

(Applause.)

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, thank you very much for
that fine and challenging introduction -- (laughter) -- and I'll call you
during the season and see how they're doing.

We do have actually one other thing in common, which some of you may know. I
was actually an intern here in the State Department in 1977 for the Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs. And that says two things: First of all, even
then, I had a very strong interest in public diplomacy and secondly, be nice to
your interns, you never know where they're going to end up. (Laughter.)

I want to thank you all for being here, our public diplomacy professionals from
around the world, and I want to thank you for your tireless and dedicated
commitment to the job of getting the message out about the United States of
America and what it is that we are trying to achieve and for being a vehicle
for a conversation not a monologue with other people around the world.

This is a very exciting time for us in the world because freedom is on the
march and we're going through great historical changes in the world. Difficult
changes in many parts of the world, but it is rare that you get an opportunity
to be at a time when the world is at a crossroads of history. And when the
United States has such a vital and important role to play in how that history
comes out.

I know that sometimes it is difficult to see that this is a history that is
moving in the right direction but I think as long as we remain true to our
values and true to our belief that democracy and freedom and liberty are the
birthright of every living human being; that we will one day stand here and see
that the world has been transformed, indeed, for the better.

Because it is such a critical time in international history, it is also a
critical time for our public diplomacy efforts. Public diplomacy has to be a
priority for this Department and for this government. And public diplomacy is
not just the job of public diplomacy professionals, even though it is
absolutely critical, it is the job of everybody who is interested in and
concerned about American foreign policy.

Because I consider public diplomacy to be so critical to our efforts; because I
consider it so important that we have the opportunity to engage the rest of the
world, to have exchanges with the rest of the world so that we can get to know
them and they can get to know us; that we can have the ability to educate
Americans and others about who we are but also about who the rest of the world
is. So in many ways, Americans are too focused on who we are. We need to know
more about the cultures and the languages of the world.

And because I strongly want to empower all of our people to engage in the
process of public diplomacy, I am especially delighted today to be with this
fine new public diplomacy team, the new "R," my good friend, Karen Hughes, who
is now Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy; Dina Powell and the rest of this
team.

Now, Karen and I have a long history. It is a history that goes back to when we
were actually working together to elect then-Governor Bush. But our association
in foreign policy comes from a very specific point in time, and I can remember
it like it was yesterday. It was when I, as a foreign policy professional, a
policy professional, recognized how critical it is to have policy and message,
policy and public diplomacy, policy and communications, integrated in what we
do.

And that is, you all may remember, in 2001, not long after the Administration
had been in office, when our EP-3 aircraft was forced down on an island in
China. And we were trying to solve this very thorny problem, but of course we
were also trying to communicate -- and not just to the American public, but
what messages were we sending to the world, what messages were we sending to
the Chinese?

And we started a practice -- Karen and I -- of meeting with the President
together every morning so that policy and message, policy and communications,
were reinforcing each other and that joint project, the way of thinking about
these as linked, continued through our association in the White House. Karen
and I spent many a time on Middle East speeches that the President was about to
give, or about trips that we were about to take and how we would use the
message to reinforce the policy, and vice versa.

And so I am a very strong believer in the integration of public diplomacy, of
message, of communications and of policy. And Karen will be a part of my policy
team, as will the members of her team be a part of the policy teams of the
assistant secretaries and other under secretaries.

It also means that in the field I will ask ambassadors to be very certain that
public diplomacy is a key function of each and every embassy. Because, in fact,
public diplomacy isn't what we do here in Washington; it is what we do in
Riyadh or Amman or Berlin, where we need to communicate with the populations
that, after all, particularly in a world that is going more democratic, must
support their governments in supporting us.

So I can think of really no more critical issue than to make certain that our
public diplomacy efforts are professional, that our public diplomacy efforts
are integrated into our policy and that we understand that it is the
responsibility and the job of each and every one of us to make certain that our
public diplomacy efforts are working.

So, Karen, I'm delighted that you've come on board. I have to mention just one
other thing because I'm pretty proud of him. Karen has a wonderful son. He's
going to Stanford. (Laughter.)

(Applause.)

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: Well, thank you all very much and thank you, Secretary.
I really am truly honored and humbled that you and President Bush have asked me
to take on the challenge of America's public diplomacy at this very historic
time. And you, personally, have already set a terrific example around the world
of how to engage and advance America's public diplomacy because both here and
abroad you have lived out our values with great dignity and integrity and
graciousness, and all of America is very, very proud of you. And I know you've
got meetings to go to, so thank you so much. We're honored that you would join
us. Thank you so much.

(Applause.)

UNDER SECRETARY HUGHES: I said at one of my hearings earlier this year that as
I travel around the country, I hear people everywhere in little shops and
stores talking about our new Secretary of State and how proud they are of her
and how excited they are to have her leading our foreign policy. And it's
wonderful for our country.

I want to thank Medhi for that wonderful introduction. He has a very articulate
voice and one of my jobs, I think, is to empower the voices of some of our
wonderful American young people as we work to reach out to young people across
the world. So thank you so much for being here with us.

This is now my fourth week here at the State Department and I can't tell you
how challenging, how interesting, how much fun and how busy it's been. I was
joking -- yesterday, I was late for a meeting and it was really because I had
back-to-back meetings scheduled so closely together that I hadn't really had
time to breathe all day. But I'm doing work that's important and work that I
love with a great group of people here in the R family, led by our Deputy Under
Secretary and Assistant Secretary for ECA, Dina Powell, by our Assistant
Secretary for Public Affairs and Department Spokesman, Sean McCormack. I had
the great privilege of working very closely with both Sean and Dina when Sean
was at the NSC and Dina was at the White House with me and I'm really glad to
continue that association here.

And I've had the opportunity, since I've arrived, to work with our coordinator
for the Bureau of International Information Programs, Alex Feldman. I also want
to recognize three key members of my executive team: my Chief of Staff, Dan
Smith; the Director of our Policy, Planning, and Resources Office, Gretchen
Welch; and my Senior Advisor, Jeremy Curtin. And they are just key members of
my executive team and I feel like we just have a great group of people
assembled to do this work.

And in just my four weeks here, I have to tell you that I have really been
struck by the great dedication and the experience of the men and women of the R
family here at the State Department. You've devoted your careers and much of
your lives to serving our country and you're doing a lot of very good work, so
I see my job is to help amplify the good work that you're doing and to help you
be even more successful.

When I accepted this new challenge, I looked back at some memos that historians
had written about our State Department and I learned -- I was telling Secretary
Rice on the elevator on the way down here -- that I learned that when Thomas
Jefferson became our nation's very first Secretary of State in 1790, he had six
employees. He had a chief clerk. He had three deputy clerks. He had a
translator and -- and I think this is very important -- he had a messenger. The
communications world has certainly a lot since then, but there's still that
need to get the message out. Now they reminded me in our office, don't carry
that too far because in the old days, the messenger actually had to
hand-deliver the message and I said, "Well, you know, that's kind of
person-to-person contact. That's kind of what we do in public diplomacy. I like
to say that public diplomacy is people driven. Ed Murrow famously said that the
most important part of public diplomacy is that last three feet. It's that
person-to-person contact. So we still need messengers to be out there
delivering personally that message.

I spent the last few months after the President announced my nomination reading
the many reports -- some might say, too many reports. There's some 31 of them
in all I think now at last count, about the state of our public diplomacy and I
also sought input and advice from many individuals in groups, both current and
former State Department and USIA employees.

I reached out to veterans here at the State Department, as well as our PAOs in
the field. I studied what we're currently doing in public diplomacy as well as
the rapidly changing communications world in which we are doing it. And it
struck me that, although today's tools and technology are far different, that
much like the Cold War, we today face a generational and global challenge,
which requires all aspects our national power. As the President has said, "In
the long run, defeating terrorism is going to require winning the war of
ideas."

So our overall mission is to put in place a long-term strategy to ensure that
our ideas prevail. The strategic framework that we developed has really three
key components. First of all, we have to offer a positive vision of hope that
is rooted in the President and the Secretary's freedom agenda and that is
freedom, as Jeremy reminded me the other day, that's freedom writ large. That's
freedom for people to speak their minds and to practice their faiths; freedom
to choose who represents them; freedom for women to be full participants in
society. And I think it's important to remember that our vision of this hope
and freedom and opportunity is really in such stark contrast with the very
oppressive, repressive, tyrannical intentions of the terrorists. And we saw
that demonstrated so vividly and so horribly in the Taliban rule in
Afghanistan, and I think that's a good contrast for people to remember. The
people of Afghanistan had virtually nothing. Their economy was terrible. They
had almost no hope. They had just horrible, horrible conditions. And that is --
in that we see the dark intentions of the terrorists.

Second, the second strategic pillar is that we will work to isolate and
marginalize the extremists and undermine their attempt to appropriate religion.
At every opportunity, the civilized world and people of all different faiths,
and no faith at all, must come together and say that no injustice, no
complaint, can justify the murder of innocents.

Third, and more broadly throughout the entire world, we must foster a sense of
common interests and common values between Americans and people of different
countries, cultures and faiths. The way we will -- our approach, I think, needs
to be open and respectful. I said at my hearing, and I absolutely believe, that
public diplomacy needs to be as much about listening as it is about speaking;
and before we seek to be understood, we must first work to understand. And I
will be very mindful of that as we travel to New York next week for the UNGA
meetings and I reach out to leaders from across the world.

As I travel and visit on behalf of our country across the world, we're
confident in the power of our ideals. This is another part of our approach. We
believe that given a fair hearing and a free choice, that most people the world
over will choose freedom over tyranny, and tolerance over extremism, and
diversity over some rigid conformity, justice over injustice. So that
confidence in our ideals means that we will rely on truth. Our opponents have
to resort to propaganda and myths and distortion and indoctrination because
they want closed minds; they don't want people to question or think for
themselves. We want open minds. We want people to consider and decide for
themselves.

So our mission then becomes: How do we create the conditions and the climate
that allow people to give our ideas that fair hearing? Because again, we are
confident, if they are able to think for themselves, if they're able to give
that fair hearing, that people will choose the power of our ideals.

Now, how do we do that? Well, as a communicator, I like to boil things down to
pretty basics and things that are memorable, so our pillars are going to be the
Four E's: Engage -- and the Secretary mentioned them -- Engage, Exchange,
Educate and Empower. It's always nice when somebody else mentions your Four E's
because that means the message maybe is getting out. She asked me this morning,
she said, "Now remind me all the Four E's again."

We must engage more vigorously, and that's first. We can't expect people to
give a fair hearing to our ideas if we don't advocate them very aggressively.
Our experience shows that when people around the world know that America is
partnering with them, partnering with their governments, partnering with groups
in their communities to improve their lives, it makes a real difference in how
they think about us. I am going to be calling on our ambassadors and our public
diplomacy professionals in the field to find opportunities to work with other
agencies, to work with USAID, to work with the Department of Labor when they're
doing projects, to highlight the work that America is doing in ways that are
relevant to people's lives, to show that we're helping provide clean water or
food for their families or to educate young people.

The other side of engagement is a much more rapid and aggressive response to
information that is wrong. We'll create a rapid response unit here at the State
Department, it's already in the works, to monitor media and help us more
aggressively respond to rumors, inaccuracies, and hate speech whenever --
wherever they are engaged in around the world. Working with guidance from
public affairs, our rapid response unit will also be able to support PAOs
across the world in real time when they need fast action to information from
Washington.

And we plan to forward-deploy regional SWAT teams who can look at the big
picture and formulate a more strategic and focused approach to all our public
diplomacy assets; not just country by country, but within a region of the
world. For example -- and there are a lot of different examples -- but you
might have a speaker visiting one country. It might make more sense to have
that speaker visit a series of countries and work with the regional media, as
well as the media within that country, to ensure the broadest possible
coverage, to amplify and expand and reinforce our message. We will also launch
a technology initiative to more swiftly and effectively engage on the internet,
in web chats, with digital video and even text messaging. We have to harness
the power of today's technology to more effectively communicate our message.

The second E is exchange. Now, as I went around at all these meetings earlier
this year, every person I met with made the point that historically, over the
last 50 years, the most effective public diplomacy tool in our arsenal has been
our people-to-people exchanges. Americans who go overseas describe their lives
as being forever changed. Their minds are open, they see different cultures,
they're -- it forever changes their lives. And it's interesting, Dina and I
noticed people use that comment, they'll say, "forever changed," almost
everyone who has experienced one of these programs.

And people who come here have the opportunity to learn and see for themselves
that Americans are generous and hardworking people who value faith and family,
much as they do. Now, ECA has already done some very, very good work here,
reaching out to younger and broader audiences. We need to be even more focused
and even more strategic, directing our efforts toward youth and those who are
key influencers, such as religious leaders, teachers, journalists, sports and
cultural figures.

All of the Es are also two-way streets. We want more Americans to study and
travel abroad. We can use emerging technology to help amplify the exchange
experience. For example, we can invite a documentary producer to cover one of
our exchange programs so that large television audiences in both countries can
experience the exchanges, not just the nine or ten people who are in the group
actually going through the exchange.

And I welcome and invite your ideas. I'm all about trying to make things
bigger, make our communications resonate with bigger and bigger audiences.
We'll also reach out and work with the alumni of our exchange programs, which
is a worldwide network of more than 800,000 people that have been to our
country and seen for themselves what we are like.

The third pillar is education. Now, we know that education is the path to
greater -- to upward mobility and greater opportunity for boys as well as
girls. Americans must educate ourselves, as the Secretary mentioned, to be
better citizens of the world. We need to learn different languages and learn
more about other countries and faiths and cultures. I'm working with the
Secretary on a strategic language initiative to make sure that our American
young people are able to communicate with people in -- throughout the world.

And through English language training programs, we can give young people across
the world a very valuable tool that they value, that their parents value, and
that helps them improve their own lives as it opens the door for them to learn
more about America and about our values. We're already starting to try to make
a difference. In just the last few weeks, we redirected more than a
half-million dollars to expand English language training programs in the
almost-completed 2005 budget year and we're also planning to request a
significant increase in English language training for the budget we're
currently working on, which I was surprised to find is 2007, which seems like a
very long time away, but they're asking me, "What do you want to spend money on
in 2007," and I thought, "Wow, that's a long timeframe of the federal budget."

The final E is empowerment. We must empower our most important international
asset: individual American citizens. Through the internet, through video
conferencing, through a citizen ambassador program, we will foster greater
communication between foreign publics and the people of America. I plan to
travel with citizen ambassadors and create a robust program to help Americans
share their unique American stories with appropriate audiences around the
world.

Empowerment is critical because we have to recognize that in some of this work,
the voice of a government official may not be the most effective or the most
credible voice. For example, I've spent a great deal of time in these early
weeks reaching out and meeting with Muslim Americans.

I want to thank Mehdi again. He was in a group that I met with. Young Muslim
Americans, like Mehdi have might have more credibility to debate issues about
their faith to condemn terrorism that's committed in the name of religion. They
have far more credibility to engage in that debate than I do. So one of the
things I want to do is foster opportunities for our young people to be on
television, to engage in debate, to be on the internet talking with young
people throughout the world. We have to foster and form third-party groups and
encourage interfaith dialog and aggressively condemn hate speech of all kinds
directed against all people.

We'll also work closely with the private sector to marshal its enormous
creativity. American companies and universities, private foundations, our
travel industry, have extensive contacts with people throughout the world. Our
music and film industries, our artists and entertainers create very powerful
impressions, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but they're always, always
powerful. Dina has already reached out and I'm working to reach out to CEOs to
begin to develop specific ways that we can partner with the private sector and
we intend to do a lot more of that.

So again, if you have ideas on how we can make connections or you're working on
a project where you'd like to team up with someone, please let us know because
we want to do a lot more of that. That's been one of the charges that the
President gave me is for us to collaborate. And all the reports mention the
need for us to collaborate more fully with the private sector.

I'll also convene the University President's Summit with Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings to develop an action plan to encourage more American young
people to study abroad and make sure that we continue to attract foreign
students to America. And we want to tell foreign students that they are welcome
in our country. We want them to come here to study and to learn.

Now, to accomplish all this, I intend to be an aggressive, consistent advocate
for a reenergized public diplomacy cone here at the State Department. I want to
make sure that public diplomacy is a rewarding career path for each of you and
for the many young people that we hope to attract to this vital work for our
country. I want to give our public diplomacy professionals here in Washington
and worldwide the tools and the training and the support that you need to
excel. We'll be working with the Foreign Service Institute to ensure that
training there hones your public diplomacy skills. And if there's an area that
you feel needs improvement, let me know. If there's something that you feel
like you could use more resources or more training in, I want to hear that. We
also want to continue to make training available to our Foreign Service
National employees.

And I want to make sure that wherever our public diplomacy, public affairs
professionals are posted, they consider our family to be their family and that
each of you feel you have an aggressive advocate here in Washington. To
strengthen the integration of public diplomacy and policy, which the Secretary
talked about was so important; we're going to work with the regional bureaus to
create a dual-headed DAS for public diplomacy. That dual-headed DAS will report
both to me and to the regional and functional assistant secretaries. This will
ensure that public diplomacy becomes fully merged in a very powerful way in the
policymaking process.

Now, the Secretary also mentioned that public diplomacy is the job of all of
us, from our professionals here at the State Department to our ambassadors out
in the field to the Secretary and to the President himself. As part of the
Secretary's vision of transformational diplomacy, communicating with foreign
publics in this day of satellite networks and 24/7 news and the internet must
become a critical part of every ambassador's job. And we're going to make
public diplomacy a part of the evaluation criteria for promotions.

Now, along with asking our ambassadors to step up to that responsibility, we
know we need to do a better job of providing tools and information to them. And
that's why we've already started publications like the Echo Chamber to get
information to the field in a fast and quick and usable way so that -- the goal
of that is so that our ambassador can get that and pick it up and know that
that's information he can use or she can use in meetings or speeches or in
talking with the press around the world.

Now, all the ideas I've outlined today are really a strategic framework. I want
to hear from you. I want to hear what you think works, what you think doesn't
work. I invite your ideas for specific programs that can help support these
goals and that can help us do a more effective job. Let us know what works. Or
maybe something that you think is outdated and no longer effective and needs to
be changed or modernized. I am known as an aggressive advocate. The President
always smiles when I say this. I am known as a very persistent, aggressive
advocate for what I believe in. And I believe in public diplomacy.

But to advocate substantially more resources, we must show that public
diplomacy dollars are a good investment. If I hadn't announced the Four E's
before we thought of a fifth, I might have added a fifth: Evaluation. I
recognize that much of what we do is long term and kind of hard to measure. You
know, it's hard to tell whether bringing a student here today might pay off at
a better attitude about America 40 years from now. But ECA has been very
creative and very effective in developing good evaluation tools and they have
been honored by OMB for the great job they do. We've got to evaluate as best we
can: interviewing participants in our programs; rating speakers; getting input
and feedback from the field when we send people out in the world.

Finally, let me share -- before I take your questions, let me share just a
couple of quick stories that helped inspire me and I think underscore why our
public diplomacy is just so vitally important.

A few years ago, I was in Afghanistan and I was touring an English language
training program and education program that our government had set up there.
And I met a young woman. We were talking with a group of young people and we
were asking them what they wanted to be when they finished their studies, and
one woman said she wanted to be a writer, that she hoped one day to write a
book. And I told her I was at the time working on my book and I told her I was
writing a book and that I would be glad -- I'd like to say something on her
behalf in mine until she got around to writing hers.

And I'll never forget. Her answer through the translator was just quick and
unequivocal. She said, "Women should be able to go to school and work and
choose our own husbands." She was 13-years old. And as I was leaving, the
translator came up and grabbed my arm and stopped me, and she said, "She wants
to tell you something else: Please don't forget them. Please help them live in
freedom." And I'll tell you, the eyes of that little girl followed me home and
I think about her all the time because that's what we're helping people do.
We're helping little girls and little boys across the world to live in freedom.

The second story is even closer to home. I was talking with my family about
whether I should take on this great challenge. Many of you know I moved home
several years ago so that my son could spend his high school years in Texas.
And he's now getting ready, in about a week and a half, to go off to college,
as the Secretary mentioned. And so I was talking with him about whether he
thought I should take on this great challenge, and he immediately said yes. And
I said, "Why?" And he said, "Well, because you really care about it, Mom. You
talk about it all the time." And then what really got to me, he said, "And
because it's really important for my generation."

Public diplomacy is vitally important for the next generation, not only young
people here in America but young people across the world want to live in a
better world. They want a future of hope and opportunity and peace. And that's
exactly the kind of world that our work, the work we do every day, can help to
create.

I'm excited about working with each of you. I thank you for making me feel so
welcome here at the State Department. I've been to staff meetings, I've run
into people in the halls and in the cafeteria and I'm really looking forward to
meeting with and working with all of you.
2005/841


Released on September 8, 2005
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