Q&A at the Excellence in Government Conference

MODERATOR: We have time for just a few questions and I know there are microphones around the room. So it's hard for me to see because the lights are so bright, but if you raise your hand high or stand up, we have time for two or three questions.

(No response.)

MODERATOR: You don't have questions about national intelligence or Iraq or the State Department's responsibility in the world? I know you do. And don't be shy. Taking risk --

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary --

MODERATOR: Oh, I see. Okay.

QUESTION: Where are you?

MODERATOR: Where are you? (Laughter.) Okay, here we are.

QUESTION: Okay, thanks.

Mr. Secretary, I understand that you're going to Africa shortly. You are going to be in Darfur, I believe, in Chad. Can you give us a few thoughts about what the U.S. role might be in trying to resolve the un -- seemingly unending and very bloody conflict in that part of the world?

DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: Thank you. You're right to mention the fact that next week I will be going out to Africa, to Sudan, to Libya and Chad, which both neighbor on the Sudan. I'll also be going to the inauguration of the new President of Mauritania. So it'll be my first trip to Africa in this new job.

The tragic situation and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur is something that preoccupies all Americans and it is an issue to which the Administration is devoting considerable time, effort and resources to seeking to resolve. So both on the humanitarian front at the United Nations and through the appointment of a special envoy, Mr. Andrew Natsios, who has been working to try and ensure and help, if you will, foster better implementation of the various agreements that have been reached between the parties in Darfur between the government and the rebel factions, but which have yet to be fully complied with.

So it is a very difficult situation indeed. There's a lot of work that needs to be done, but the Administration is very committed to doing what it can to try to bring about a better situation in that country.

MODERATOR: I have a question about -- and then we'll have one more -- about how you as Deputy Secretary of State now in the State Department will set priorities or influence the decisions in the National Security Council and in the White House about priorities in terms of where we're investing people and resources diplomatically around the world. There's so many possibilities.

DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: Well --

MODERATOR: How do you choose?

DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: You're right. And of course, there are challenges in every continent of the globe. One feature of American diplomacy, of course, is that we apply the principle of universal representation. So we have embassies in virtually every country in the world. We also have consular offices and consulates. So that when you add them all up, we have close to a total of 300 diplomatic and consular establishments throughout the globe.

Now, having said that, obviously when it comes to the application of resources beyond our diplomatic and consular establishments, such as foreign assistance or military presence, every -- we have no choice but to establish some kind of ranking of priorities. And I'd say that one way of doing that is, of course, to look at the alliances that we have around the world, and we must devote our -- a certain amount of attention to nurturing and maintaining the very important alliances that we have, whether it be Japan or South Korea or the countries -- the NATO countries of Europe. But clearly, those alliances receive a considerable amount of attention on our part.

The other, of course, is the area of the hot spots around the globe, the difficult places that present an actual or potential security challenge to our country and to our allies. Situations such as, of course, Iraq or Afghanistan or the situation on the Korean Peninsula would be examples that come to mind, or the situation in Sudan that we were just talking about, where you run yet another kind of a risk, which is that if there is a failure of governance in countries like Sudan or elsewhere in the world and you have -- run the risk of failed states being created, we have to worry as a country about ungoverned spaces or poorly or ineffectively governed spaces in this world that could give rise to various kinds of transnational threats such as terrorism, narcotrafficking and so forth. Probably the best example of a failed state in recent times was the state of Afghanistan under the Taliban, which was clearly a very, very tragic and difficult situation that had to be rectified.

So those are some examples of the way we have to go about setting our priorities, but obviously we cannot be all things to all people. We cannot address every single problem that arises around the world. I think we basically have to count on a system -- a healthy system of nation-states around the globe who for the most part can handle their political and economic problems themselves and who can carry their weight in the international community.

MODERATOR: I think this is not well understood by the public. We have one final question over here. Please introduce yourself, ask your question.

QUESTION: Yes. I'm Owen Gatikan (ph) with the Department of Defense. Our first speaker, Mr. Walker (ph), towards the end of his remarks, stated that we have a leadership deficit in America, and I would assume in government service. Do you agree with that? And if so, what should we do about it?

DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: Well, just speaking to the areas where I've -- that I'm familiar with and that I've been working on recently, I'm not sure that we have, certainly in the intelligence area and in foreign policy, I'm not sure I'd agree that we have a leadership deficit.

What I do think is that we've been challenged because of the 1990s, the end of the Cold War, in the national security area there was a -- the so-called peace dividend resulted in a fairly dramatic decline in the level of employment of a number of the national security agencies, whether it was Defense Department, intelligence or what have you.

I think that combined with the advent of the retirement age of baby boomers, sort of late 1990s, early years 2000, resulted in a loss of a lot of our higher-level government employees. If that's what you mean, for example, by a leadership deficit, then I would agree.

But I think what we have to do is we have to look to the future. We have to work hard at recruiting new people as skillfully as we can. And I've got to say I'm very encouraged by the recruitment efforts that are being undertaken in both the intelligence community and in our diplomatic community. We have very, very capable people applying to enter these services and I'm really optimistic about the future leadership of our national security institutions here in the government. Meanwhile, some of us -- some of us older types just have to keep plugging away until the gap gets filled. (Laughter.)

MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: I appreciate it.

MODERATOR: Thank you so much.

(Applause.)

MODERATOR: Thank you. And I have something for you.

DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE: Oh, you do?

MODERATOR: Yep. We have a small token of our appreciation. You all, this is the crystal with a star on top for a star of public service. Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador.

(Applause.)