Rice placed in Powell's position

Bush has selected Condaleeza Rice to replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State; as I posted, I'm sorry to see him leave. Link.

Powell did great things with the State Department -- he started the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative, he increased morale throughout the department, and he served as the voice for diplomats' most strongly held beliefs about the current world order.

Rice is of a completely different flavor (is that a pun?) than Powell. Rather than trying to influence Bush with State's analyses, she'll be the one pushing his policies on State. And with Powell's moderating influence absent from Cabinet meetings, it looks like Rumsfeld and Cheney will have a free hand to push their neo-con agenda even further.

Moreover, if Rice's advent is anything like Porter Goss (the new CIA chief), there might be serious conflicts at higher levels, particularly if she leans too heavily on diplomats to make the "right" conclusions. Link As a diplomat wanna-be, the whole thing worries me.

It could go better than I expect, though. Rice could be influenced by State into bringing greater relevence to the department. Rather than Powell's more easily drowned out voice, she does have the president's ear. And without the Powell-Rumsfeld rivalry, it's more likely Rumsfeld will stay out of State's diplomatic business.

One thing I'd like to see Rice push for is giving some sort of locality pay for diplomats serving abroad. As it is, you can get up to a 25 percent bonus for taking an assignment in a "hardship" post. This is based on such factors as how bad the air is, how the sewage and water systems are, if you're isolated by poor communications systems, if communicable diseases are rampant, and what medical resources there are. In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for example, you can get a 20 percent bonus; in Manila, it's 15; in Kyrgyzstan, it's 25. That's not too bad overall.

But in Washington, D.C., you can a 13.4 percent locality pay bonus, and there isn't a single quality of life disadvantage compared to living overseas (besides maybe traffic). Factor in the way locality bonus raises one's retirement payment (hardship pay does not), the connections you can make, and the fact a spouse have a real job, and foreign service officers face significant financial incentives to sitting behind a desk in Washington compared to being out there on the front lines being actual diplomats. Compared to the stresses of living in, for example, Seoul (a 5 percent post), I'll take that extra 8.4 percent and live in Washington anyday.

Perhaps that's one thing Rice can help with.