ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
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clearly followed the advice because less than a month after this meeting, he presented<br />
Marshall with the outline <strong>for</strong> a European recovery program that came to be known as the<br />
Marshall Plan.<br />
Q: That’s a tough act to follow.<br />
PERINA: It surely is, <strong>and</strong> not all subsequent Directors were as successful. Over the years,<br />
the office has evolved into something between a think tank <strong>and</strong> a small NSC staff <strong>for</strong> the<br />
Secretary of State. It really has two functions: first, to come with up new ideas <strong>and</strong><br />
policies, <strong>and</strong> secondly, to ensure policy coordination within the Department. That is why<br />
almost all substantive memos <strong>and</strong> papers by bureaus have to be cleared with the staff.<br />
The staff is organizationally a part of the Secretary’s office <strong>and</strong> is traditionally headed by<br />
an outsider, a political appointee, <strong>and</strong> not a career State Department person. Because the<br />
position is considered to be on the personal staff of the Secretary, the Director does not<br />
have to be confirmed by the Senate. There are usually two deputies, one a career person<br />
<strong>and</strong> the other from outside. I was the career one. Then there are usually about twenty or<br />
so members of the staff who cover the world. There is usually an expert <strong>for</strong> each of the<br />
major geographic regions, as well as experts in functional areas like global economics,<br />
arms control, <strong>for</strong>eign assistance <strong>and</strong> so on. Compared to other offices in the Department,<br />
it is thus a very small <strong>and</strong> compact operation. The members usually are very smart people<br />
from a variety of backgrounds. I would say that in my time about half the staff came from<br />
universities <strong>and</strong> think tanks outside of government, a quarter was from non-State<br />
Department agencies like the CIA <strong>and</strong> the Pentagon, <strong>and</strong> another quarter came from<br />
inside the Department. The office also included the Secretary’s speechwriters. It was a<br />
very good <strong>and</strong> stimulating mix of people. It was also interesting because as members of<br />
the Secretary’s office we got to see almost everything—all the memos, all the intelligence<br />
reports <strong>and</strong> so on, both incoming <strong>and</strong> outgoing. We even saw the memor<strong>and</strong>a of<br />
conversation or Memcons as they are called of the President’s meetings <strong>and</strong> phone calls<br />
with other leaders. These are normally very tightly held.<br />
Q: So did you feel the office was influential on policy?<br />
PERINA: In a bureaucratic way the office always is simply because other offices have to<br />
clear their papers with the staff. But if you mean influential on really major <strong>for</strong>eign policy<br />
decisions, then that is a mixed picture. A few years back, one <strong>for</strong>mer member of the staff<br />
did a very in<strong>for</strong>mal historical study of its influence. He concluded that it depends almost<br />
entirely on the relationship between the Secretary <strong>and</strong> the Policy Planning Staff Director.<br />
In other words, the staff is a tool <strong>for</strong> the Secretary to use. Some Secretaries choose to use<br />
it more, <strong>and</strong> some choose to use it less. That determines how much influence it has.<br />
Q: How would you judge the influence of the staff while you were there?<br />
PERINA: When I got there in 2004 Colin Powell was Secretary of State. The Director of<br />
Policy Planning was a fellow named Mitchell Reiss, a professor of law <strong>and</strong> government<br />
at William <strong>and</strong> Mary College. Colin Powell, whom I admire greatly <strong>and</strong> thus do not want<br />
this to be understood in a negative way, was more of an operational person than a<br />
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