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“NOMINATION OF JOHN NEGROPONTE” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S4078-S4079 on April 21, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NOMINATION OF JOHN NEGROPONTE
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I come to the floor to talk about my good friend, John Negroponte. I have known him and Diana and their children--Marina, Alejandra, John, George, and Sophia--for quite some time. I think the Nation is very lucky to have a man of the caliber of John Negroponte on deck, so to speak, and willing to take the assignment of being the new Director of National Intelligence. He has had considerable experience as an ambassador.
I remember full well the first time I met him was in Honduras when he was the Ambassador there. We had a rather severe problem, as people will recall; we called them the Contras. But I got to know him fairly well in the time we were down there. When he returned to Washington, I met his wife and was with him and spent time with him on a family basis. I have spent time with him now in his various positions he has had since that time, at the U.N. and in Iraq.
He is a man of great talent and depth. I believe there are many of us--and I am one of them--who had severe questions about the direction we were taking in terms of this new Director of National Intelligence and how it would relate to existing agencies and to the State Department and to the Department of Defense and to the National Security Agency and all others who are involved in intelligence and relate to those in the Congress who have the oversight responsibility for the intelligence function and for the classified areas of the activities of our Nation.
John Negroponte is a man who can do this job. He is a man of great talent. But more than that, he has demonstrated the ability to work with people and various entities, not only here in our country but throughout the world. This new Director of National Intelligence could well become the most important Cabinet position we have in the years to come. John Negroponte is the man to fashion that office, to determine what it needs in order to function properly at the beginning, and to set the course for this new intelligence agency.
So I am here to urge that the Senate promptly approve this nomination and confirm John Negroponte so he can start on this very important task.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). The Senator from Arizona is recognized.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I associate myself with the remarks of the senior Senator from Alaska concerning the qualifications of John Negroponte. Both the Senator from Alaska and I have known him for many years and his service is one of great distinction. I am confident he will receive the endorsement of an overwhelming majority of the Senate.
Nomination of John Bolton
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the nomination of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. We all know, somewhat unexpectedly, Mr. Bolton's nomination has been held pending further discussion and consideration by the Foreign Relations Committee.
I want to say I strongly support Mr. Bolton's nomination. He has been confirmed by the Senate four times in the past. He is a smart, experienced, hardworking, and talented man, and he knows the United Nations. He is not a career diplomat, but neither was Jean Kirkpatrick. He is not a career diplomat, either by profession or temperament, but then the role of ambassador to the U.N. has always required something special. A look back at some of the personalities who have held the job--from Adlai Stevenson to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, from Madeleine Albright, to Jean Kirkpatrick, to Richard Holbrooke--shows that directness and forcefulness are assets, not hindrances, to effectiveness there.
We all know Mr. Bolton is perhaps not the world's most beloved manager, nor one to keep his temper entirely under wraps. Perhaps, Mr. President, that evokes a certain sympathy and empathy from this individual, although it is well known that on no occasion have I ever become emotionally involved in anything.
I am sorry about a little levity here.
Seriously, I ask my colleagues is it unique to Mr. Bolton to be strong in his views and opinions? If a temper and an unorthodox management style were disqualifiers from Government service, I would bet a large number of people in Washington would be out of a job.
It is worth wondering not whether Mr. Bolton is a mild, genteel diplomat--we know he is not--but rather whether he is the representative we need at the United Nations. We need an ambassador who truly knows the U.N. We need an ambassador who is willing to shake up an organization that requires serious reform. No one knows better than the Senator from Minnesota, who is in the chair, who has been heavily involved in the issues of the U.N. We need an ambassador who has the trust of the President and the Secretary of State. Mr. Bolton, it seems to me, has what it takes for the job.
I am reminded, on the judges issue and in this issue, elections do have consequences. I believe there are significant numbers of the American people who do take into consideration the consequences of a Presidential election, and that is the earned right of a President, under anything other than unusual circumstances, to pick his team. There were nominees of the previous Clinton administration I didn't agree with, I would not have selected but because President Clinton was elected President, I voted for his nominees on that basis.
The U.N. is a vital organization to the world and to the national interests of the United States. It is not perfect by any means, and John Bolton knows this. There has been talk that the nomination of Mr. Bolton was an indication of the administration's disdain for multilateral diplomacy. I cannot believe Mr. Bolton wishes to be dispatched for 4 years to an ineffective body, unloved by the United States. I do believe he wants to work actively to reform the U.N., make it stronger and better. Mr. Bolton, seeing clearly the U.N.'s strengths and its weaknesses, will be well positioned to improve the organization and America's relationship with him.
As the Chair well knows, what kind of a U.N. is it that has Libya, Cuba, and Zimbabwe as part of its Human Rights Commission? Is it all right with the U.N. today? We are seeing more and more indications of the Oil-for-Food scandal which, again, the Senator from Minnesota, the Chair, has carefully examined. There is a crying need for reform.
I am pleased the Secretary General of the U.N. has made proposals for reform. I support those and believe perhaps we need more. Again, it seems to me Mr. Bolton sees clearly the strengths and weaknesses, and he would be well positioned to help in this reform effort. Let's not forget that it desperately needs improving. It is hard to take an organization that has countries such as I mentioned that are members of the Human Rights Commission or whose General Assembly equates Zionism with racism. But at the moment, a great opportunity presents itself. The panel named by the Secretary General, on which one of my most respected Americans and beloved Americans, Brent Scowcroft, served, has recently issued its list of recommendations to transform the U.N. Kofi Annan has presented his own serious plan to implement these recommendations.
In other words, I argue that right now the U.N. is in a unique moment, perhaps, in its history; and because of the scandals associated with it, it is open to reform. We need a strong personality, in my view, and a knowledgeable one to help bring about those reforms.
But without hard work and pressure, nothing will happen. Over the years, the U.N. has proven itself to be remarkably resistant to change. I believe John Bolton could provide the medicine the United Nations needs.
As I mentioned earlier, elections have consequences, and one consequence of President Bush's reelection is he actually should have the right to select officials of his choice. I stress this because the President nominates not the Democrats' selection, nor mine, nor that of any other Senator, but his own choice. I mentioned that when President Clinton was elected, I didn't share the policy views of some of the officials he nominated, but I voted to confirm them, knowing the President has a right to put into place the team he believes will serve him best.
The Foreign Relations Committee is examining whether Mr. Bolton has engaged in truly unacceptable behavior that would disqualify him for office. I believe, unless we see a pattern of inappropriate conduct--
which so far I have not--I believe the Senate must move forward expeditiously to confirm John Bolton as America's ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr. President, as I criticize some of the activities of the U.N., there are other activities of the U.N. going on as we speak that I think require America's presence. The situation in Darfur, Sudan, for example, is one that cries out for American participation in the decisionmaking process because one could draw a scenario where under extreme circumstances, to prevent genocide, American troops, or certainly American support in the form of logistics and other areas, could be heavily involved, as well as expenditure of American tax dollars, which already constitutes a significant portion of the financing of the United Nations.
So I hope we can set a time and date certain for a vote on Mr. Bolton. As I said, if somebody has information that would disqualify him, that is fine. I don't think he or anybody else deserves a long, drawn-out, exhausting process which damages our ability to participate in the U.N. and also may damage the character of a good man.
I hope we will act as expeditiously as possible. I have great respect for the Foreign Relations Committee and its chairman, Senator Lugar, all members, and the ranking member, Senator Biden. But I certainly hope they realize inordinate delay is not healthy. I, having had the opportunity of knowing Mr. Bolton for many years, believe he would do an outstanding job as our ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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