When George Bush was elected president in 1988, Scowcroft became national security adviser and recruited Rice. She was never a top tier policy aide in the White House, but her timing was perfect. The Berlin Wall collapsed, the Soviet Union was crumbling, and she was part of the team that developed U.S. policy. Burned out after two years in Washington, she returned to Stanford. Now, as Rice prepares to become the first woman to head the National Security Council, there's some concern that she was too far removed from international affairs as she was focused on university affairs.
Rice responds that every scholar has to specialize in something.
Kuchins is betting she will exceed expectations again. Whether she's sitting in a room with Dick Cheney or Colin Powell, Condi will hold her own.