US President George W. Bush today nominated a trusted confidant, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, to replace Colin Powell as secretary of state in Bush's second term.
"During the last four years I've relied on her counsel, benefited from her great experience and appreciated her sound and steady judgment. And now I'm honored that she's agreed to serve in my Cabinet," Mr Bush said.
Ms Rice is the second White House loyalist to land a Cabinet post since Bush's re-election triggered a top-tier shake-up that has presented several agency heads with the clear impression that their services were no longer needed.
White House counsel Mr Alberto Gonzales is MR Bush's nominee to replace Attorney General Mr John Ashcroft.
Mr Bush named Mr Stephen Hadley, Rice's deputy, to replace her as national security adviser, the top White House-based foreign policy aide.
Ms Rice, who is considered more of a foreign policy hard-liner than Mr Powell, has been Bush's National Security Adviser for four years. But while she's known around the globe, her image on the world stage does not rival Mr Powell's.
The retired four-star general has higher popularity ratings than the president.
"Under your leadership, America is fighting and winning the war on terror," Ms Rice said to her boss during the announcement in the White House Roosevelt Room.
If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first black woman Secretary of State. Rice, raised in the segregated South, is an accomplished pianist and Russian scholar who Bush said was "taught that human dignity is a gift of God and that the ideals of America would overcome oppression." Bush asked the Senate for quick confirmation.
"The nation needs her," he said. Besides Mr Powell and Mr Ashcroft, Education Secretary Mr Rod Paige, Agriculture Secretary Mr Ann Venemen and Energy Secretary Mr Spencer Abraham resigned as Mr Bush sought a fresh start for a second term.
Administration officials say Homeland Security Secretary Mr Tom Ridge and Health and Human Services Secretary Mr Tommy Thompson may be next.
Officials close to Mr Ridge say he may be willing to stay for a few months and advisers to Mr Thompson hint that he may be open to another Cabinet post.