January 04, 2007

Department of 'I Need Help, And Badly!'

Kessler:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has persuaded John D. Negroponte to leave his post as director of national intelligence and come to the State Department as her deputy, government officials said last night.

Negroponte's move would fill a crucial hole on Rice's team. She has been without a deputy since Robert B. Zoellick left in July for a Wall Street firm. It also comes as President Bush plans to announce a new Iraq strategy; as former Iraq envoy, Negroponte would be expected to play a major role in implementing that plan in his new role.

Negroponte's decision to step down as the nation's top spy for a sub-Cabinet position marks a sudden reversal. Rice had earlier sought to recruit Negroponte -- as well as other high-profile figures -- for the job, but last month he insisted he was staying at his post.

"In my own mind at least, I visualize staying . . . through the end of this administration, and then I think probably that'll be about the right time to pack it in," he told C-SPAN in an interview broadcast Dec. 3. "I've pulled together a very good team, and they've stayed with me for the past 18 months," he said, "and I hope they'll stay with me as long as I'm in the job."

He reiterated that commitment in an interview with Washington Post editors and reporters on Dec. 14. Negroponte is the first person to hold the post of intelligence czar, created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks...

...Observers have been puzzled at how long it has taken Rice to fill the deputy position in a period of intense diplomatic activity.

Rice gave Zoellick wide berth as her deputy. He had primary responsibility for relations with China, the crisis in Sudan, Latin America, economic affairs and Southeast Asia. In a first for a deputy secretary of state, he frequently allowed reporters on his plane when he traveled abroad.

Zoellick left a Cabinet post -- U.S. trade representative -- to take the job as Rice's deputy.

The likely reason Cabinet level people like Zoellick and now, Negroponte, will take a Deputy slot is because, in reality, they know they will often be serving as quasi-Secretaries of State given how weak their boss has proven (Zoellick on Sudan, China etc, Negroponte on a to be determined portfolio, very likely to include Iraq). Sorry to be so plain about it, but there it is, no?

So let's hazard a guess, Rice tries (probably feebly) to resuscitate the Middle East Peace Process (but no talks with Syria or Iran!), and Negroponte focuses on Iraq (see, peace in Palestine and Iraq are, like, totally separate issues!)? Meantime Chris Hill keeps rolling on NoKo, and much of the rest of the world gets mostly ignored (Africa, China--though Paulson is picking up some of the slack--Russia, Caucasus, Balkans etc etc.).

"Observers have been puzzled at how long it has taken Rice to fill the deputy position in a period of intense diplomatic activity. They have been reluctant to consider the obvious possibility that as Secretary of State, Rice is just no damned good."

I understand that last sentence got edited for length. Seriously, though, many positions in the Bush administration have remained vacant for long periods of time as the various officials who decide for the decider jockey for their preferred candidates and against those of their bureaucratic opponents. Negroponte himself left such a vacancy when he left the embassy in Baghdad; it was months before Khalilzad was named as his replacement. The Public Diplomacy office was without a leader for extended periods while Colin Powell was Secretary of State (the job is, technically, an Under Secretaryship). So while Rice as a weak Secretary of State may produce a few more holes in this Swiss cheese administration than would be there otherwise she did not create the problem herself.

Posted by: Zathras at January 4, 2007 04:10 AM | Permalink to this comment

Sorry Greg, but I think there is more going on here than meets the eye....

While it may be true that Rice's own weakness makes the "deputy" position more attractive, that still doesn't explain why Negroponte would take such a major bureaucratic "demotion".... I'd like to suggest that Rice herself is planning on leaving shortly, and that Negroponte has been promised the position once she leaves.

I suspect that this may be an attempt to finesse intensive questioning of Negroponte on a whole host of controversial issues during the confirmation process for Secretary of State. Bushco may be hoping to slip Negroponte into the "Deputy" position without the Democrats using it as an opportunity to go hog-wild on Iraq and intelligence policies that he has been in the middle of -- and once Rice leaves, demand a quick confirmation of Negroponte appointment to the Secretaryship because he'd just been through the "vetting process" as her chief deputy.

Posted by: p.lukasiak at January 4, 2007 12:07 PM | Permalink to this comment

Isn't Negroponte's current position somewhat amorphously defined? I imagine being Director of National Intelligence has involved more bureaucratic turf battling than interteresting or useful work.

Posted by: Jackmormon at January 4, 2007 06:45 PM | Permalink to this comment

Negroponte has let it be known for months that he didn't like the DNI job. There are those who say that he didn't do such a bang-up job. I figure Condi knew this and held the job for him.

Good time for him to go back to State: the Lider Maximo of Iran, Khamenei, apparently has gone to his great reward.

Rice isn't going anywhere. Bush trusts her; that's all that matters. Meantime, Abizaid and Casey are being replaced by Admiral Fallon at CENTCOM and General Dave Petraeus is taking over Third Army command.

The person I see on the way out is Cheney. All his friends are gone.

Posted by: section9 at January 4, 2007 11:51 PM | Permalink to this comment