Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for the modernization of the U.S. State Department and an increase in the number of students pursuing careers in diplomacy and foreign service in a speech in Gaston Hall yesterday.
Rice, who spoke here in 2006, said that the George W. Bush administration has already started to modernize the State Department, citing increases in foreign aid and its work toward the goal of a democratic, self-sufficient global community. At the same time, she said, modern global challenges necessitate a more modern State Department.
“America needs diplomats to advance transitional goals, to mobilize to end violence in Darfur and to help the Afghan government defeat the Taliban. All of this requires a better State Department,” she said.
During her speech, sponsored by the School of Foreign Service and the Office of the President, Rice described 2008 as a time of transition in American foreign policy, during which it is necessary to look to the future.
“I’ve returned to Georgetown today not to review the work of the past, but to consider the work of the future,” she said. “There are no precedents or playbooks for this work. We are trying to do things, quite literally, that have never been done before, and this is the work of a generation.”
Rice emphasized the particular importance of foreign service during the current period of globalization.
“Our foreign policy and national security strategy must be guided by the objective that I laid out here at Georgetown two years ago — to work with our many international partners to build and sustain a world of democratic, well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, that reduce widespread poverty and that conduct themselves responsibly in the international system,” she said.
She described this goal as “ambitious and idealistic,” which she said “is keeping with the best traditions of American foreign policy.”
Dubbed “American realism,” the aim of American foreign policy, she said, will be rooted in “[our] belief [that] we find the fullest peace and prosperity in an international system that reflects our values.”
Describing current efforts in Colombia, Africa and the Middle East, Rice said that the U.S. government is currently working to lay the foundations for a radically new vision of foreign service.
“[We want] a new generation of foreign service officials [who] are not managing problems; they are working with partners to solve problems,” she said.
Rice said the Bush administration’s request for funding to create 100 new jobs in the State Department and 300 people to USAID is an important step towards a larger international commitment.
“Bush doubled assistance to Latin America, tripled it worldwide and quadrupled it in Africa, which results in the largest development international effort since the Marshall Plan,” she said.
While the State Department is currently engaged in many development efforts worldwide, including those in Afghanistan and Iraq, she said the emphasis should and is moving more toward self-sufficiency.
“In short, we should strive for the long-term goal of working ourselves out of the development business altogether,” she said.
Rice also addressed the ongoing threat of terrorism, calling for unity and increased collaboration between different U.S. agencies.
“America will remain engaged for many years in a new global confrontation unlike anything that we’ve ever faced,” she said. “Our success will depend on unity of effort between our civilian and military agencies.”
As she concluded her speech, Rice called for students to consider futures in foreign service. “When you have a chance to look back on your life,” she said, “I hope that it will have included service to a cause higher than yourself, so in what will be an unabashedly very clear commercial: Come join us at the State Department.”
