National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice
Biography
Prior government policy experience: National Security Council Staff, 1989-1991, as director and then senior director of Soviet and East European Affairs; later named special assistant to the national security affairs advisor.
Other work experience: Professor and provost, Stanford University; Hoover Institute fellow.
Education: B.S., Ph.D in political science, University of Denver; M.A., Notre Dame University.
President Bush on Rice: "Dr. Rice is not only a brilliant person; she is an experienced person. She is a good manager. I trust her judgment. America will find that she is a wise person, and I'm so honored" that she is joining the administration.
Rice on national security: "George W. Bush will never allow America and our allies to be blackmailed. And make no mistake; blackmail is what the outlaw states seeking long-range ballistic missiles have in mind. It is time to move beyond the Cold War. It is time to have a president devoted to a new nuclear strategy and to the deployment of effective missile defenses at the earliest possible date. George W. Bush knows that America has allies and friends who share our values. As he has said, the president should call our allies when they are not needed, so that he can call upon them when they are needed."
Background: Rice is known for her expertise on Russian affairs and arms control. She supports ballistic missile defenses for the United States and has raised questions about current U.S. military deployments, saying that U.S. leaders should examine resources and sometimes consider arranging coalitions to share military burdens. Regarding the possibility of negotiating lower U.S.-Russian nuclear levels, Rice has said the current bilateral strategic concept dates back to the Cold War and that "it is time for a new strategic concept." She has indicated that the number of nuclear weapons the United States needs for the future should be determined through an internal review.
Rice has written or collaborated on several books, including "Germany Unified and Europe Transformed" (1995), "The Gorbachev Era" (1986), and "Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army" (1984). Upon her arrival in Washington in 1986, she worked on nuclear strategic planning at the Joint Chiefs of Staff as part of a Council on Foreign Relations fellowship.