McCain introduced Armitage at his Senate confirmation hearing, a move that likely raised a few eyebrows at the White House, given its mild obsession with McCain. Somebody looking to apple-polish there does not have McCain introduce him. He had actually wanted the No. 2 job at the Defense Department. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Armitage would not be a coosome twosome, so it was off with his friend Powell to the State Department, a world in which you may actually need 24 people to sign off before getting an airline ticket to travel overseas. Yes, two dozen.
Process is paramount and the layers of decision-making can be truly depressing.
Nothing changed much during the tenure of Madeleine Albright, leaving a distinct overcentralization and an institutional aversion to quick, decisive action and political hierarchies at times dismissive of career foreign service officers. In the opening months, Powell and Armitage get high marks as they confront the dragons of inertia. Similarly, several participants in separate meetings with Powell and Armitage underscore that they cut to the chase quickly and demand answers to questions. One official told me about showing up in Armitage's office and being treated like an attorney starting a Supreme Court oral argument, meaning he was cut off in midsentence right after he'd started a rigorously planned presentation. Plus, the guy actually thinks outside the box in a place where most are trained not to.