US: President George Bush yesterday nominated his most trusted foreign policy adviser, Dr Condoleezza Rice (50), to replace as Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell, who announced his resignation on Monday, writes Conor O'Clery in New York
In other moves in a continuing administration shake-up, Mr Stephen Hadley, deputy national security adviser, will replace Dr Rice as national security adviser and the President's chief foreign policy aide, and the Undersecretary of State, Mr John Bolton, is expected to be appointed deputy Secretary of State.
Making the announcement in the White House yesterday, Mr Bush said: "The Secretary of State is America's face to the world, and in Dr Rice the world will see the strength, grace and decency of our country."
He said that Dr Rice, raised in the segregated south, was "taught that human dignity is a gift of God and that the ideals of America would overcome oppression."
She would pursue "a positive new direction in the Palestine-Israeli conflict".
In reply Dr Rice said that, under Mr Bush's leadership, America is "fighting and winning the war on terror" and she looked forward to pursuing the President's "hopeful and ambitious agenda" as Secretary of State.
She paid warm tribute to Mr Powell, whom she described as a "great and inspirational" leader of American foreign policy.
Mr Bush also praised Mr Powell - who was not present at the White House ceremony - as "tireless, selfless and principled".
Nicknamed "the unsticker" by the President because she helped "unstick" problems over Iraq among government officials, Dr Rice is one of three loyalists to be given cabinet posts in a reshuffle which strengthens the President's control over the government.
Mr Bush's legal counsel, Mr Alberto Gonzales, has been nominated to take over the Justice Department, and his domestic political adviser, Ms Margaret Spellings, has been given the post of Agriculture Secretary.
Analysts say the foreign policy appointments mark a shift to the right in Bush foreign policy. Dr Rice was a strong promoter of the war in Iraq; Mr Hadley is known to be close to Vice-President Dick Cheney, the leading hawk in the administration; and Mr Bolton is the most prominent neo-conservative in the State Department.
Further cabinet changes are in the offing, according to administration officials, who say the Homeland Security Secretary, Mr Tom Ridge, and the Health and Human Services Secretary, Mr Tommy Thompson, may be due for a move.
Mr Powell's deputy and close friend, Mr Richard Armitage, is also stepping down, according to the State Department spokesman, Mr Richard Boucher, who said: "In together, out together."
The Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, is not expected to be resign despite intense pre-election speculation that he would go, partly it is thought because his departure would be seen as a reflection on the conduct of the Iraq war.
Travelling in Ecuador on Monday he told reporters he had not yet discussed his future with the President, but he has reportedly told the White House he wants to stay on for another year.
There had been some speculation that Mr Powell (67) would stay on for a few months to oversee the developing Middle East process, but he told reporters on Monday that he had made no offer to do so, nor was he asked to stay on.
With conservative Republicans taking charge of both houses of Congress, the cabinet shake-up confirms a shift to the right in the political centre of gravity in Washington.