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The
Washington
Post
R. Nicholas Burns Is
Latest Diplomat to Depart
William Burns to
Replace Him
By Robin Wright,
Washington Post Staff Writer, Saturday, January 19, 2008
R. Nicholas Burns, one of the most
high-profile diplomats at the State Department, is resigning and will be
replaced by U.S. Ambassador to Moscow William J. Burns, the State Department
said yesterday.
As undersecretary of state for political affairs, Nicholas Burns dealt with many
of the most controversial issues facing the Bush administration, including
negotiations with India on its nuclear weapons program and the future of Kosovo.
He is the top negotiator on Iran, spearheading the effort to break the deadlock
on a U.N. resolution imposing new sanctions on Iran.
Nicholas Burns was so close to Rice that conservatives frequently said he was
responsible for the pragmatic aspects of her diplomacy. "His influence on
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is so surprising that critics use the word
Svengali," columnist Robert D. Novak wrote in April 2006.
In an interview yesterday, Nicholas Burns said the United States is "on the
verge of a strategic partnership" with India that could help stabilize South
Asia. On Iran, he said Washington must contain Tehran and keep
negotiations on the table. Both pivotal initiatives, however, have been
long stalled.
Nicholas Burns, 51, is the latest of almost 20 top diplomats to depart over the
past year. He is leaving for personal reasons and has not committed to
another job, U.S. officials said.
"This is a very bittersweet time for us, ..." Rice told reporters of Burns's
departure. "He has decided that it's the right moment to go back to family
concerns."
A foreign service officer since 1983, Nicholas Burns has served as ambassador to
Greece and NATO, and as State Department spokesman. He has held top jobs
under Republican and Democratic administrations. He worked on Russian
affairs at the National Security Council under presidents George H.W. Bush and
Bill Clinton from 1990 to 1995. Although one of Rice's closest advisers,
he was also spokesman for secretaries of state Madeleine K. Albright and Warren
M. Christopher.
Nicholas Burns has cast an optimistic gloss on U.S. diplomacy. On a 2006
trip to Moscow, he told reporters that Rice's meeting with Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov had gone smoothly, unaware that reporters had overheard a tense
lunch conversation.
Nicholas Burns's official biography notes that he is a member of the "Red Sox
nation." He will leave State in March but will stay on as a special envoy
on India.
William Burns, his successor, is a former assistant secretary of state for the
Near East and ambassador to Jordan. In 2002, he co-authored an internal
memo with Ryan C. Crocker, the current U.S. ambassador to Iraq, titled "The
Perfect Storm." It bluntly predicted that toppling Saddam Hussein could
unleash sectarian and ethnic tensions, that the Sunni minority would not easily
relinquish power, and that neighbors such as Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia would
try to influence events.
His replacement in Moscow is not expected to be announced immediately.
Staff writer Glenn Kessler contributed to this report.
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