Before becoming secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice studied the various ways her predecessors managed Foggy Bottom. She concluded she did not want to be barricaded by a palace guard on the seventh floor of the State Department -- but she also decided she did not want to let the building run her, aides said.
So she identified a few key priorities that she believes will define her tenure as secretary, such as promotion of democracy. And then she put together an inner circle that draws heavily on longtime personal connections to her and one another.
The result is a powerful and focused group of aides -- and some grumbling in parts of the building that have felt their priorities ignored or played down.
As in any bureaucracy, attendance at key meetings helps determine the proximity to power. Rice has cut down on the sprawling daily senior-staff meetings held by her predecessor, Colin L. Powell.
When Rice is not traveling around the world, she meets every weekday at 8 a.m. with members of her inner circle and a few other aides for half an hour to map out her day. Then, she meets with her assistant secretaries and undersecretaries (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) to hear reports on key events or undersecretaries only (Tuesdays and Thursdays) to plot strategy.
Unlike Powell, Rice does not use e-mail, preferring instead a series of face-to-face meetings or phone conversations with assistant secretaries and other top officials throughout the day. Between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m., she meets again with her inner circle to review the day's events and plan the following day.
This group knows how to keep a secret. Furious that leaks had forced her to cancel a planned trip to Iraq, Rice at first told only two key aides in the State Department -- Chief of Staff Brian Gunderson and senior adviser Jim Wilkinson -- that she had decided to try again. The information was slowly expanded to other members of the inner circle, and so fewer than a dozen State Department officials knew she was headed to Iraq again when her plane took off.
Many of Rice's inner circle have worked together in the past. Gunderson and Wilkinson both served in the office of former House majority leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.). Before joining State, Gunderson was chief of staff to then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick, now deputy secretary of state.
Wilkinson and legal adviser John Bellinger, as well as new spokesman Sean McCormack, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried, Undersecretary for Arms Control Robert Joseph and longtime aide Laura E. "Liz" Lineberry, worked with Rice at the National Security Council in President Bush's first term. Counselor Philip D. Zelikow and Undersecretary for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns worked with Rice on the NSC staff of Bush's father.
Here are sketches of some of the key players. All attend the morning meeting and, with the exception of R. Steve Beecroft, the evening meeting. The circle should widen as more key appointments are confirmed by the Senate. Besides McCormack, a foreign service officer, other potential players include Karen Hughes as undersecretary for public diplomacy and Henrietta Holsman Fore as undersecretary for management.
· Robert B. Zoellick , 51, deputy secretary, has emerged as an unusually influential deputy to Rice. As U.S. trade representative in Bush's first term, Zoellick demonstrated well-honed negotiating skills as he completed a series of free-trade agreements. He travels as much as Rice, and plays a key role in developing and implementing policy in such hot spots as China, Iraq and Sudan.
A protege of former secretary of state James A. Baker III, Zoellick served with Baker in both Treasury and State during the Reagan administration and the presidency of Bush's father.
