12 February 2002
Transcript: Powell On State Department's FY 2003 Budget
(Seeks support for $8,100 million budget) (5,300)
Following is a transcript of Secretary of State Colin Powell's opening
statement February 12 before the Senate Budget Committee on the
Department of State's fiscal year 2003 operating budget.
(begin transcript)
Testimony at Budget Hearing Before the Senate Budget Committee
Secretary Colin L. Powell
Washington
February 12
As Delivered
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It's a great
pleasure to be before the committee again, and I thank you for your
gracious words at the beginning of this hearing with respect to the
manner in which President Bush and his administration have handled the
crisis that engulfed us on the 11th of September last, and I thank you
for your personal comments with respect to me. But it is really
through me to the wonderful men of the State Department, women of the
State Department, who are doing such a great job at our missions and
embassies and other facilities around the world. And I know that you
travel, all of you travel from time to time, and I know that you share
with me the admiration that we all have for the great job they do on
the front line of offense of our national security efforts, as I like
to say.
And I am pleased, therefore, this morning to have the opportunity to
testify in support of President Bush's budget request for the
Department for 2003, because it is this support that you have given us
in 2002, and that I'm here to defend in 2003, that keeps these men and
women motivated, equipped, trained, prepared, ready to do the job that
the nation asks of them. And they go into harm's way every day just as
much as any one of the men and women of our Armed Forces. They take
risks, and sometimes pay with their lives, pay with injuries, as we
saw in our newspaper this morning, the story of the gentleman who was
seriously injured in the embassy bombing a few years ago, and how he
is coming back, and how we have to do a better job of taking care of
people such as that brave soldier of the State Department.
As many of you will recall, in my first budget testimony to the
committee last March -- and I might digress for a moment, Mr.
Chairman, to say that I do have a prepared statement, which I offer
for the record. But in my --
SENATOR CONRAD: Without objection, that will be made part of the
record.
SECRETARY POWELL: At my first budget testimony to the committee last
March, I told you that the resources challenge for the Department of
State had become a serious impediment to the conduct of United States
foreign policy. I told you that it was a mystery to me how the great
people at the State Department had continued to do their job, to do
their work so very effectively over the past decade with such a low
level of resourcing.
You heard my testimony, and you responded, and we are grateful for
that response. As a result, we got a six percent increase in
international affairs last year over the previous year, 2001, and this
year we are also asking for an increase.
Mr. Chairman, I wish that it was twice as much, three times as much,
four times as much, but within the limits that we have placed upon us
by the ability of the nation to fund all of our many activities, and
after competing within the administration for our allocation of
available funds, and recognizing the important needs that the Defense
Department has and the new need that we have for Homeland Security, I
am rather pleased that we are still able to get a real increase in our
budget for this year as well.
I also might point out that even though the statistics you put up are
quite correct, and the Danes can be very happy at being at the top of
the pile, and we should be a little chagrined that we are only .1
percent of our gross national product, gross development or gross
product of our nation. At the same time, the fact that we provide
defense for the free world I think should also be taken into account.
We spend more on defense than anyone else, and it is behind that
screen of security that we provide for the civilized world that we are
able to do the kinds of development activities that I talk about in my
budget. And I think some consideration should be given to that, and,
frankly, that's why the Defense Department was so deserving of a
significant increase this year so that they can continue to perform
that vital role for the free world.
With respect to State Department operations, our three principal
priorities last year were people, information technology, and embassy
construction and security. Let me update you on how we are doing in
these areas as I go forward to talk about our priorities in this
budget. In new hires for the Foreign Service, we have made great
strides. We doubled the number of candidates for the Foreign Service
written exam, and this year we will give the exam twice instead of
just once. I am absolutely delighted with the turnout we are getting
-- youngsters showing up who want to serve their nation as Foreign
Service officers or in our Civil Service.
Our new recruits reflect better the diversity of our country, with
nearly 17 percent of those who passed last year's written exam being
minority members. We have tripled the number of African Africans who
have applied for the Foreign Service. We have also improved Civil
Service recruitment by creating new web-based recruiting tools and by
vigorously asserting the truth, the truth, Mr. Chairman, that we are a
team at State and that the Foreign Service and the Civil Service are
each important members of that team. And I am creating an environment
down there of family and breaking down the barriers that might have
existed in the past between what the Foreign Service does and what the
Civil Service does. We are all one foreign affairs team serving the
nation.
Another improvement is that once we identify the best people, we'll
bring them on more quickly. A great boon to hiring the best. For
Foreign Service recruits, for instance, we have reduced the time from
written exam to entry into the service from 27 months when we came in
last year, to less than a year now. And I want to drive it down even
further. We don't have time to wait to bring these wonderful
youngsters in; they have other opportunities. We want them to see that
they are in a fast-moving operation that wants quality people, and we
are going to do everything we can to break down all of the walls and
barriers that used to exist to accessing people into our service.
We are also working with the Office of Management and Budget to create
extensive new performance measures to ensure that the people we hire
remain the best throughout their careers. We want to make sure they're
motivated, they're trained, they're given leadership training, they're
given jobs that excite them, so that it is a team they want to remain
a part of for the rest of their career.
With respect to the next priority, information technology, we are well
on the way to bringing state-of-the-art hardware and software to the
entire Department. We have an aggressive deployment schedule for our
unclassified system which will provide desktop Internet access to over
30,000 State users worldwide. And we are deploying our classified
connectivity program over the next two years. Our goal is to put the
Internet in the service of diplomacy, and we are well on our way to
accomplishing that goal.
With respect to construction and security, we are right-sizing,
shaping up and bringing smarter management practices to our overseas
buildings program, as I told you we would last year. The first change
we made was to put retired General Chuck Williams in charge and give
him assistant secretary equivalent rank, and now his overseas building
operation has developed the Department's first master plan, which
covers our major facility requirements through Fiscal Year 2007. The
Overseas Building Office is using best practices from industry, new
embassy templates and strong leadership to lower costs, increase
quality, and decrease construction time.
As I told you last year, one of our goals was to reduce the average
cost to build an embassy, and I believe we are well on our way to
doing that. And General Williams is making all of our facilities,
overseas and stateside, more secure. By the end of 2002, over
two-thirds of our overseas posts should reach minimal security
standards, meaning secure doors, windows and perimeters.
We're also making progress in efforts to provide new facilities that
are fully secure, with 13 major capital projects in design or
construction; another eight expected to begin this fiscal year; and
nine more in 2003. Mr. Chairman, all of these activities have improved
morale at the State Department. Our people see things happening,
things that enhance their quality of life, their security, their
ability to do their jobs.
Things like our Interim Child Care Center at the National Foreign
Affairs Training Center. It opened on September 4th, and can handle a
full complement of 13 infants and toddlers. Not something you would
think a Secretary of State should worry about on a daily basis, but we
do, because it's important to the morale and welfare of the family
members of the State Department team.
This idea of teamwork, this idea of family, and the quality of life
that must always nourish it, even in the remotest stations, is
uppermost in our minds at the Department. While we concentrate on the
nation's foreign affairs, we must also focus on taking care of those
Americans who conduct it, as well as the many thousands of Foreign
Service Nationals who help us around the world.
The Foreign Service Nationals, not often spoken about, are an
extraordinary group of people, Mr. Chairman. For example, our 60
Afghan employees in Kabul worked diligently to maintain and protect
our facilities throughout the 13 years that the embassy was closed.
They worked at personal risk; we made sure they got their pay coming
to them. They repaired the chancery roof when a rocket attack hit it.
They did everything to make sure that they were ready for us when we
returned.
In fact, I love to tell the story of going to the embassy a few weeks
ago and congratulating them and thanking them, and having our charge
there, Ryan Crocker, tell me that in the garage, in the basement of
the building, they maintained all of our vehicles, so that after all
those years, when we were finally able to open it up, and those
vehicles were brought out, all they needed was a charged battery, and
they all started up. And the joke in this story is that if you want to
see the finest fleet of 1985 Volkswagen Passats in the world, they are
located at American Embassy Kabul, and waiting for your use when you
have a chance to visit, Mr. Chairman.
But it's a team. It's the Foreign Service, Civil Service, Foreign
Service Nationals, all coming together. That is why, for 2003, I will
continue to drive these priorities. And I am going to be relentless as
the CEO of the State Department, as well as the Secretary of State
worrying about foreign policy. So let me speak first as the CEO.
The President's request for the Department of State and related
agencies for 2003 is $8.1 billion [$8,100 million]. These dollars will
allow us to continue to recruit, hire, train, and deploy the right
workforce. The budget request includes $100 million for the next steps
in the hiring process that we began last year. With these dollars, we
will be able to bring on board 399 more foreign affairs professionals,
and be well on our way to repairing the large gap that exists in our
personnel structure.
We will also continue to upgrade and enhance our worldwide security
readiness, even more in light of our success in disrupting and
damaging the al-Qaida terrorist network. The budget request includes
$553 million that builds on the funding provided from the Emergency
Response Fund for the increased hiring of security agents and for
counter-terrorism programs.
We will also continue to upgrade the security of our overseas
facilities. The budget request includes over $1.3 billion [$1,300
million] to improve physical security, correct serious deficiencies
that still exist, and provide for security-driven construction of new
facilities at high-risk posts around the world.
I might, as an aside, mention especially for Senator Gregg that
General Williams has reported to me that the average cost of our
embassy has been driven down some 20 percent as a result of the
efforts he has made, and the work of his office over the past year.
Next, we will continue our program to provide state-of-the-art
information technology to our people everywhere, as I mentioned
earlier. And we have included $177 million for that purpose.
We want to continue to enhance our educational and cultural exchange
programs. The budget request includes $247 million for strategic
activities that build mutual understanding and develop friendly
relations between America and the peoples of the world. Such
activities have gained a new sense of urgency and importance since the
brutal attacks of September. We need to teach the world more about
America, about our values system, what we believe in. President Bush,
in his State of the Union address, at the very tail end of the
address, talked about values, values that are not just American
values, values that we believe are universal. And in order to share
these values with the rest of the world, we have to do a better job
with our educational and cultural exchange programs.
We want to continue to meet our obligations to international
organizations, which are also important in our war on terrorism. The
budget request includes $891 million to fund U.S. assessments to 43
international organizations, active membership of which furthers U.S.
economic, political, security, social and cultural interests. We want
to continue to try to meet our obligation to international
peacekeeping operations. The budget request includes $726 million to
pay our projected United Nations peacekeeping assessments, all the
more important as we seek to avoid increasing even further our U.N.
arrearages. And Mr. Chairman, I ask for your help in getting the cap
lifted so that we can eventually eliminate all of the arrearages.
We want to also strengthen and enhance our public diplomacy effort.
This goes along with our cultural exchange program, but we've got to
do a better job in public diplomacy to eliminate support for
terrorists, and to deny them safe haven in countries where they are
still received as some sort of false hero. The budget includes almost
$518 million for international broadcasting, of which $60 million is
for the war on terrorism. This funding will enable the Voice of
America and Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty to continue increased
media broadcasts to Afghanistan and the surrounding countries, and
throughout the Middle East. These international broadcasts help inform
local public opinion about the true nature of al-Qaida, and the
purposes of the war on terrorism, helping to build support for the
coalition's global campaign.
Mr. Chairman, let me just touch a little bit more on our public
diplomacy efforts. The terrorist attacks of September 11th underscored
the urgency of implementing an effective public diplomacy campaign.
Those who abet terror by spreading distortion and hate and inciting
others to take full advantage of the global news cycle. We have to do
the same thing.
Since September 11th, there have been over 2,000 media appearances by
State Department officials. Our continuous presence in Arabic and
regional media by officials with language and media skills has been
unprecedented. Our international information website on terror is now
on-line in seven languages. Internet search engines show it is the
hottest page on the topic. Our 25-page color publication, The Network
of Terrorism, is now available in 30 languages, with many different
adaptations, including a full insert in the Arabic edition of
Newsweek.
When the President gave his State of the Union speech, we had it
simultaneously translated as he was speaking and fed down on all of
our websites and other media outlets throughout the world. And within
an hour and a half after he was finished, we had a translated hard
copy into seven different languages, and had it downloaded all over
the world. Right content, right format, right audience, right now,
describes our strategic aim in seeing that U.S. policies are explained
and placed in the proper context in the minds of foreign audiences.
Mr. Chairman, all of the State Department and related agencies,
programs and initiatives that I have touched on, and so many others
that are in the budget, are critical to the conduct of America's
foreign policy. And so as the State Department CEO, let me thank you
again for what you have done to help us create such a first-class
offense. And I want to ask you to continue your excellent support so
we can finish the job of bringing the Department of State and the
conduct of America's foreign policy into the 21st century.
Now, let me turn, Mr. Chairman, to the budget request for foreign
operations. Over the past year, I believe the broader tapestry of our
foreign policy has become clear: to encourage the spread of democracy
and market economies, and to bring more nations to the understanding
that the power of the individual is the power that counts. And when
evil appears to threaten this progress, America will confront the evil
and defeat it, as we are doing in the war on terrorism.
In weaving this tapestry, we have achieved several successes in
addition the successes of the war on terrorism, and the regional
developments that skillful pursuit has made possible. We talk about
terrorism all the time, but we shouldn't overlook how much we have
improved our relations with Russia, set a new and smoother course with
China, the two major accounts that we really have to focus on. Russia,
that land still of 11 time zones, nuclear armed, but it has left the
Soviet Union days behind. It wants to come West. It wants to be part
of NATO-Russia at 20. It wants to integrate itself into the economies
of the West. It still wants to have good neighborly relations with
China, and it still worries about the nations to its south. But it
knows its future lies to the West, and it is cooperating with us in
ways that we might not have imagined just a year ago, cooperating with
us on the campaign against terrorism. We are able to move US troops
throughout Central Asia by telling the Russians that we are there to
defeat a common enemy, terrorism, fundamentalism, not to threaten
Russia's southern flank.
I'm able to talk to my Russian counterpart three, four, five times a
week. We no longer even ask for talking points from our staff. My
staff knows what I do now. I just call out to the front office, "Get
Igor on the phone." And within a few minutes, Igor's on the phone,
Foreign Minister Ivanov. And we talk, and he doesn't delay the phone
call waiting for his talking points from the staff. We know what is in
each other's mind; we know what our two presidents want us to do to
make this a stronger, better relationship.
[Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and President Bush have the same
kind of relationship, and you saw it pay off when we faced the
challenge of the [Anti-Ballistic Missile] ABM Treaty last fall. They
disagreed; they thought we made a mistake by saying that we were going
to leave the ABM Treaty. We thought they were wrong. We exchanged
those views. At the end of the day, we agreed to disagree. And as
President Putin said to me when I was explaining to him the
President's decision and how we were going to implement it, and
choreographing with him what we would say, what they would say, he
would say, fine, we disagree, but our strategic relationship is far
more important than this disagreement. And now this disagreement is
behind us; let's move forward, and let's move forward to cut those
strategic offensive forces that really threaten to kill people. And we
will discuss more defenses which protect people.
And so we have a strong relationship with Russia, and we're trying to
develop a similar one with China. And we've had considerable success.
People thought we were in trouble last April when we had the incident
with the reconnaissance plane that the Chinese ran into, and our plane
landed at Hainan Island. But we got through that in a couple weeks'
time. We got our plane back. I had a successful trip last summer,
after this incident took place. And then the President had a very
successful trip when he went to Shanghai for the APEC Summit. And he
is looking forward to another successful meeting with President Jiang
Zemin next week when we go to China again.
The same applies to our relationship with Japan and Korea, and our
other friends in the region. They are all solid, and they are all
growing. The President is looking very much forward to visiting South
Korea, to show that the bond between us and the South Koreans is as
strong as ever. He will talk about North Korea, he will talk about the
hope he has for North Korea: that someday the North Korean people will
enjoy the kind of life that South Koreans have; his hope that one day
a way will be found for these two nations to once again be one people.
They have been one people for most of their recorded history. And he
will show his support for the policies of the South that are
encouraging the North to come out of its isolation.
But at the same time, we will not shrink from pointing out the nature
of the North Korean regime. It is a regime that does things that do
not benefit its own people. They develop weapons, weapons that they
sell to other nations that are not interested in helping their own
people. And so the President has clearly identified the nature of this
regime, but at the same time he has also said to the North Koreans, as
he has said to the South Koreans, we are ready to talk to the North
Koreans. We are ready for dialogue, anytime, anyplace, anywhere, with
no preconditions. I repeat that again this morning, as the President
will next week in Korea. And we hope that the North Koreans will take
us up on it.
We want dialogue. But at the same time, we will not deny the obvious
truth as to the nature of that regime. And we will not step back from
talking about programs that they have and things that they are doing
which is not in the interest of the civilized world.
And so I think we have demonstrated that we are anxious to reach out
to the world. We are not unilateralists pulling back; the President is
going to Asia. The President has been to Europe several times. There
is a steady stream of visitors in to see the President. Look at my
calendar any week you wish to, Mr. Chairman, and you will see how many
foreign leaders that I meet with.
But where there is a matter of principle, where we believe strongly
about something and we have to stick by our principles, we will do
that, and lead, and try to convince others to go with us. This isn't
unilateralism; this is leadership. And our friends, I think, are
increasingly coming to the understanding that this is principled
leadership, the kind that they should respect, follow where they think
it is appropriate to follow, and where they think it is not
appropriate to follow, let them make their own individual sovereign
choice.
But we are committed to the great alliances of which we are a part.
And nowhere is that more the case than in Europe, where the President
is looking for the opportunity to expand NATO at the Prague Summit
later this year; where he is anxious to bring Russia into NATO-Russia
at 20, hopefully by the Reykjavik ministerial meeting this spring --
Prague in the fall.
We are active with our partners in the European Union to improve
economic conditions for all the nations of Europe. And you can see
that through the President's free trade agenda, we are anxious to
reduce trade barriers so that nations around the world can not just
sit around waiting for aid, but can trade. Trade is better than aid,
and they can all start moving up out of the poverty that afflicts so
many of the nations of the world.
The President has the same view with respect to our own interests here
in the Western Hemisphere. His agenda includes a Free Trade Area of
the Americas. It includes passing Andean trade preferences again, so
that we can help our friends in the Andean region. He wants a United
States-Central America free trade agreement. He is going to the
conference in Monterey next month on development assistance. And so we
are engaged everywhere throughout the world.
And I would be remiss if I didn't talk about Africa, because it is an
area that the President is also deeply interested in. The Africa
Growth and Opportunity Act, we want to see that enhanced. We had the
first forum on that act here in the United States last fall, right
after September 11th. It was the first international meeting we had
right after September 11th, and that was to bring over 30 African
leaders to the United States to talk about trade. He is looking
forward to sending a strong delegation to the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, and demonstrating to Africa,
the northern part of Africa and especially sub-Saharan Africa, our
interest in the continent.
And nowhere, I think, is that more obvious than in what we are doing
with HIV/AIDS. $500 million over the last year alone for the global
trust fund, in addition to many, many hundreds of additional millions
of dollars on internal HIV/AIDS programs and other bilateral
assistance that we provide to countries that are fighting this
scourge.
Mr. Chairman, all of these items and areas that I have touched on take
money. And I think you will find in our budget a reasonable balance in
light of the fiscal circumstances that the country finds itself in.
And I am pleased that we were able to get real growth in our budget
this year, and a number of our accounts have been able to go up. Some
accounts have gone down, but, for the most part, I think we can make a
case for why those accounts have gone down.
So I am optimistic about the world that is ahead of us. We have a
coalition fighting terrorism. With the major countries of the world,
we have good relations. But there are still some very troubling areas.
The Middle East is a problem that dominates part of my day every day,
as we work hard to get a cease-fire in place to implement the Mitchell
peace plan. The President remains engaged; he met with Prime Minister
Sharon last week. We are in contact with Chairman Arafat and his
closest associates, to try to get more movement with respect to the
arrests of terrorists, with respect to an accounting for the Karine A,
that ship that had the arms aboard it. And Chairman Arafat wrote me a
somewhat positive letter on this subject two days ago, a letter which
we are now examining.
The President will not rest until we get into a cease-fire, get
negotiations started. And we still have as the American vision two
states living side by side in that troubled land, one a Jewish state
called Israel, the other a Palestinian state called Palestine.
We still have a problem with nations such as Iran and Iraq. The
President did not shrink from describing the nature of those regimes
as he talked about the "axis of evil." I don't think I need to spend a
lot of time in Iraq. We continue to develop sanctions, improve our
sanctions regime toward Iraq to make sure that they do not succeed in
their horrible quest to develop weapons of mass destruction. And we
also are examining options with respect to regime change because the
people of the region and the people of the world and the people of
Iraq will be better off with a new regime.
And with respect to Iran, we have offered the Iranians dialogue. We do
have ways of speaking to them, even though we don't have diplomatic
relations with them. We are in touch with them. We do talk to them. I
have taken note of the fact that they have played a helpful role in
the Bonn conference that set up the Interim Authority in Afghanistan.
They played a helpful role in the Japanese reconstruction conference.
And I thank them for that helpful role but, at the same time, we see
the Iranians doing other things in Afghanistan that are troubling, and
we are going to call them to account for these things, whether it's
trying to gain undue influence or introduce arms into western
Afghanistan or by their attitudes towards the Karzai government. And
we have to take note of the fact that Iran continues to develop
weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them.
And by not shrinking from this reality, but calling this reality
exactly what it is, I don't think this is a way of threatening the
people of Iran. We want the best for the people of Iran. But at the
same time, we must not shrink from the nature of the leadership, the
un-elected leadership of this country, and we should hope that the
elected leadership of this country, which I believe holds views that
are more beneficial to the people of Iran, will in due course see that
their views prevail.
And so I know you touched on the "axis of evil" earlier, Mr. Chairman.
I wanted to end my prepared testimony by responding in kind by saying
that I think this is a clear-headed, realistic policy. Even though it
has caused some distress here and there, I think it is understood by
most people, and I think most people understand the President is not
looking for a war; we're looking for peace. But you don't find peace
by sticking your head in the sand and ignoring evil where it exists,
and I think President Bush has shown leadership in pointing it out so
clearly and in the actions we have taken previously and the policies
that we are following to see if dialogue is possible, to see if
peaceful solutions are possible, but at the same time not ignore our
ultimate responsibilities if diplomacy and political action is not
successful.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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