Washington
-- Secretary of State Colin Powell, saying "I think
we've accomplished a great deal," announced his resignation
from the Bush administration at a November 15 State Department
briefing.
Powell, in his November 12 resignation letter,
said that he was pleased to have been part of the U.S. effort
against terrorism and the liberation of Afghanistan and
Iraq. During his tenure, the administration also "brought
the attention of the world to the problem of proliferation,
reaffirmed our alliances, adjusted to the post-Cold War
world and undertook major initiatives to deal with the problem
of poverty and disease in the developing world, " he
added.
Powell predicted that the priorities of
his successor would continue to be the war on terror and
the establishment of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We have to make sure that we continue to pursue the
global war against terror, we have to consolidate the very
significant gains we've seen in Afghanistan, and we have
to make sure we defeat this insurgency in Iraq, " he
said.
When asked by reporters about the highlights
of his years of public service, Powell declined to single
out any specific event, saying that "each and every
one of the things that I have done in a career of service
that now is almost 40 years ... were important." He
continued, "They all had meaning to me ... whether
it was being a second lieutenant in Germany or being the
Secretary of State."
Powell said he will stay on as secretary
of state until his successor takes office.
In addition to Powell's upcoming departure,
the White House announced that three other Cabinet members
-- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Education Secretary
Rod Paige and Agriculture Secretary Ann Venemen -- will
also leave the Bush administration. Cabinet resignations
are not unusual after a U.S. presidential election.
In a November 15 briefing, White House spokesman
Scott McClellan praised the departing Cabinet members. "These
are all very distinguished individuals who have served their
nation with honor and distinction," he said. "The
president greatly appreciates their service and leadership,
and he looks forward to continuing to work with them as
they work to continue their jobs until their replacements
are confirmed by the Senate."
McClellan offered no timetable for when
new Cabinet nominees would be announced.
Following is a transcript of Secretary of
State Powell's remarks:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
November 15, 2004
Secretary of State
Colin L. Powell
November 15, 2004
Washington, D.C.
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen. As you know from the White House announcement
earlier today, I submitted my resignation as Secretary of
State to President Bush on Friday. It has been my great
honor and privilege to have been once again given the opportunity
to serve my nation, and I will always treasure the four
years that I have spent with President Bush and with the
wonderful men and women of the Department of State. I think
we have accomplished a great deal.
My purpose here today is not to give you
a listing of what we have done over the last four years,
but to just take note of the fact that in recent weeks and
months, President Bush and I have talked about foreign policy
and we've talked about what to do at the end of the first
term. It has always been my intention that I would serve
one term.
And after we had had a chance to have good
and fulsome discussions on it, we came to the mutual agreement
that it would be appropriate for me to leave at this time.
Now, I'm not leaving today. I just offered
my resignation and I would expect to act fully as Secretary
of State until the day that I do leave, and I suspect that
will be a number of weeks or a month or two as my replacement
goes through the confirmation process.
We have a full end-of-year agenda in front
of us, beginning with a trip to Chile on Wednesday, and
then off to Egypt and other places, and then a full series
of European and other meetings in December. And I fully
intend for the Department to work as hard as it has in recent
years to push forward the President's foreign policy agenda.
Many challenges out there, but many opportunities out there,
and I can assure you that I'll be working hard until the
very, very end.
And I thank President Bush and I thank the
American people for giving me this opportunity to serve
the nation once again.
I'll take one or two questions, then I do
have other things I have to do.
Barry.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I have one or two
questions. Why now, but you sort of answered that. Secondly,
or firstly, what do you think are the biggest pieces of
unfinished business, business that has to be addressed,
maybe on an urgent basis?
SECRETARY POWELL: We have to make sure that
we continue to pursue the global war against terror, we
have to consolidate the very significant gains we've seen
in Afghanistan, and we have to make sure we defeat this
insurgency in Iraq. I think a new opportunity has presented
itself in the Middle East and President Bush has spoken
to this, and hopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able
to see how much potential there is in this new opportunity
in the Middle East with the passing of Chairman Arafat.
And beyond that, I think we have to just
keep working on the broad agenda that we have had for the
past four years, strengthening our alliances. We have solid
alliances in Asia, with Japan and South Korea and the Philippines
and Thailand and Australia; make sure that we use our alliances
in Asia and the partnerships we have in Asia to keep pressing
to find a solution to the North Korean nuclear program.
We have to work with our European Union friends and with
the IAEA to find a solution to the Iranian nuclear program,
and we have seen a little bit of progress, hopefully, over
the last 24 hours.
The President also has an active agenda
with respect to trade, open trade, with respect to the Millennium
Challenge Account and development funding, going after HIV/AIDS,
building on the partnerships and alliances that we have
around the world. We had some difficulties with some nations
in Europe last week -- last year over Iraq and we are getting
rid of those differences and coming together again, as evidenced
by the fact that NATO is now undertaking a mission in support
of the Iraqi people.
And so I think there are still challenges
out there, but I think there are far more opportunities
out there. We've got good relations with China, the best,
perhaps, in decades, good relations with India, with Pakistan,
with the Russian Federation. And all of this, I think, is
a result of our foreign policy efforts over the last four
years under President Bush's leadership.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, --
SECRETARY POWELL: Let me go back to Steve.
Steve. Did you have your hand up, Steve?
No? Yes?
QUESTION: Let me follow-up on Barry's question
about the timing, be more specific, when you said that in
recent weeks and months you have been discussing with President
Bush this prospect. Can you be a little bit more detailed
about when it was decided and when you told him?
SECRETARY POWELL: I meet with the President
almost every day in some form of a meeting and at least
once a week we have our private time. And in the course
of the year, frankly, we have talked about the second term.
And I have always indicated to him that I thought I would
serve for one term. And as we got closer to the election
and the immediate aftermath of the election, it seemed the
appropriate time and we were in mutual agreement that it
was the appropriate time for me to move on.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes.
QUESTION: Just to follow up.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary --
SECRETARY POWELL: Follow up.
QUESTION: Did you offer to stay for a little
while, some period of months or something, and did the President
just choose to say, let's do the letter now?
SECRETARY POWELL: I made no offer. We had
pretty much come to our mutual agreement without anybody
having to make any offer, counteroffers, anything like that.
We knew where we were heading.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes.
MR. BOUCHER: Finish up now.
QUESTION: Do you plan on visiting the Palestinian
territories, sir, in the next week or so? And how effective
do you think you can be in bringing the process back into
track?
SECRETARY POWELL: I'm still working on my
schedule, so I don't have an announcement for you now. But
I'm meeting with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom this afternoon,
so I will remain engaged either here or by telephone or
in the region. And of course, when I'm in Sharm el-Sheikh,
I'll have the opportunity to see a number of Arab leaders
but I don't have a complete schedule in place yet.
I think I have time for one more.
Tammy.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, of all the things
you've done in government --
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, to what extent
do you feel that your resignation now will affect your ability
to carry out what you intend to carry out over the next
few weeks, and what do you intend to do next?
SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to the first
question, I'm still the Secretary of State, and as President
Bush has made it clear, I operate with his full authority.
And so, I think that will be recognized by the people that
I deal with around the world and I have good relations with
most of the leaders in the nations that I will be working
with and visiting, so I think I'll be able to be quite effective
for the remaining period of my term.
And what am I going to do next? I don't
know.
Okay. Arshad.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, of all the things
you've done in government, as Secretary of State, Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs, National Security Advisor, two combat
tours in Vietnam, what has been the most satisfying experience
of your government service and what has been your greatest
regret?
SECRETARY POWELL: I have avoided assiduously
over the many years of my career to sort of single out one
being more important or best than the other. Each and every
one of the things that I have done in a career of service
that now is almost 40 years, they all were important, they
all had meaning to me, they all in some way or another,
in my judgment, contributed to the welfare of our nation,
whether it was being a second lieutenant in Germany or being
the Secretary of State.
The greatest pleasure comes from working
with likeminded people in all of the organizations I have
been a part of serving the nation. In every one of these
jobs there have been high points and low points, and what
you have to learn to do in government, or in life, is to
work through problems, seize the opportunities as they come
along, deal with the crises and challenges as they come
along, and that's always the way I've tried to live my life
in public service.
And the greatest privilege I've had over
the last four years is to be the leader of tens of thousands
of wonderful employees of this Department, whether they're
Civil Servants, Foreign Service Officers, management specialists,
Foreign Service Nationals, who work so hard on the front
lines of freedom and the front lines of our foreign policy,
who are at risk every single day and serve our nation so
proudly. And it has been a privilege for me to have been
given the opportunity to lead them for these last four years,
and I will lead them up until the day I depart.
Thank you.
(end transcript)
