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Jul 16, 2004

How Does Colin Powell Rank as a Flying Secretary of State?




Colin Powell: Glenn Kessler, in the Washington Post (July 14, 2004):

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell hates to fly -- and it shows. Powell is on track to become the least traveled secretary of state in more than three decades, since Henry A. Kissinger embodied the concept of the globe-trotting foreign policy guru, according to records maintained by the State Department's historian. Powell's three immediate predecessors, the records show, traveled an average of more than 45 percent more than he has....

Kissinger, whose"shuttle diplomacy" in the Middle East defined his tenure, still holds the travel record: 313 days in his 39 months as secretary of state. Powell also has traveled far less than John Foster Dulles, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's secretary of state, and barely exceeds the travel pace of Dean Rusk, secretary of state for presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. ...

Powell also has significantly shorter trips than any predecessor -- an average of 3.3 days. He rushes through meetings in conference rooms and foreign ministries and spends virtually no time sightseeing. In 31/2 years, his only nonbusiness moments have been 15 minutes in a Nepalese temple in 2002 and a couple of hours at the ancient ruins of Petra during a three-day trip to Jordan in 2003.



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