Welcome Remarks With Ambassador John Negroponte as the new Deputy Secretary of State

SECRETARY RICE:  Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen of the Department State, it is my great pleasure -- really great pleasure -- to present to you the new, newly minted, newly confirmed, newly sworn in Deputy Secretary of State.  He's someone who is going to bring great strengths to this Department and great strengths to me personally.  And John, I so much look forward to working with you. 

I also want to recognize Diana Negroponte who's here with us.  These two have served in all kinds of posts for the United States carrying out the interests and the values of the United States around the world.  But I just want to say one sentence:  John, welcome home.  (Applause.)

DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE:  Thank you.  This is not the way it was, Madame Secretary, when I first walked into this building on October 5, 1960.  But first of all and foremost, thank you and thank you to the President for the confidence and trust you have shown in me to invite me back to this very important position in the Department of State.

I mentioned that I first walked into this building in October of 1960.  I want you to know that I really know this building, and by that I mean I think I've worked on every floor, except the eighth floor, which I gather is something that one only does posthumously.  (Laughter.)

Since 1960, I've had nine overseas assignments.  I've had seven assignments here in Washington.  The overseas posts were mostly hardship posts.  Diana and I know the meaning of hardship assignments, of medevacs -- we've experienced those -- of separated tours, of the challenges of educating our children in that kind of an environment.  And I've got to say the world's really changed since 1960.  Back then, there were 99 countries in the United Nations; today there are 192, not to mention all of the non-State actors of today we have to take into account and deal with.  So I think we live in a more complex world, more diverse threats and challenges than ever before.  And I think the need for diplomacy is greater than it ever has been.  We need more reporting; we need the best reporting.  We need the best representation and explanation of our policies overseas, and we need the most effective problem-solving officers stationed out there. 

And there are a lot more demanding assignments overseas that are more central to our national security and to our foreign policy.  Many of them involve isolation.  They involve mastery of hard languages, and yes, indeed, they involve elements of danger. 

So Madame Secretary, I want to pledge to you that I will work with you to support you in securing the best possible public understanding of what this Department and its many embassies and consulates and presence posts abroad are about.  I think we -- I want to support you in securing the necessary budgetary resources and the training that we need to get the job done.  And I especially look forward to working with those of you who are in this hall today.  I look forward to walking these corridors again, as I first started to do back in 1960; to get acquainted with you, or reacquainted, as the case may be.

And one last point.  Diana -- my wife Diana and I, we have been a Foreign Service team since we first were married in 1976.  She has a day job; but she also wants to play a role in providing encouragement and support to the families serving or returning from abroad, as well as those who are separated from their spouses who are serving at unaccompanied posts.

So let me just say how delighted we are to be back in the Department, and I'm delighted that one of my first acts is going to be this afternoon to declare this a snow day.  (Laughter and applause.)  Although no doubt you are the “essential personnel” who have been left behind.  (Laughter.)  Thank you.  (Applause.)
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