Ask Mike: What does the secretary of state do?
Hey Guys,
Earlier this week, Barack Obama announced that he would nominate Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state. The news made headlines from coast to coast and around the world. Among all the hubbub, some folks stopped to ask a question that many take for granted: What exactly does the secretary of state do?
I have an idea of the position’s duties, but I don’t know all the responsibilities that will fall to Mrs. Clinton, should she pass confirmation. I did some research and found that, in broad strokes, the job of the secretary of state is to represent the United States to foreign governments. The job requires an enormous amount of tact and negotiation skills. MTV explains that it is “the most senior position in a president’s cabinet, and it is often filled by someone with deep foreign-policy or military experience.” (Think: Colin Powell.) Additionally, the secretary of state is fourth in line for the American presidency, behind the vice president and speaker of the house.
So, that’s the job. But how does one get it? The president does the nominating, but Congress does the confirming. The hearings can take several days, while the nominee sits under the hot lights, drinks lukewarm water, and answers tough questions from members of the Senate. For an example of the kinds of inquiries that nominees have to answer, check out this summary of the hearings that Condoleezza Rice had to go through when she was nominated to be President Bush’s secretary of state in 2005. Not a lot of softball questions…
Now a question for you guys. Who was the last secretary of state to be nominated but not confirmed? Please leave a comment below with the answer and a link or two.
Thanks for reading,
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why is everything more important to blog about then the current issue we’re having?
why is it not in yahoo’s interest to educate the community about the dangers of malware=virus links?
why????
the secretary of state just deals with foreign issues pretty much.
The secretary of state speaks for the President with foreign policies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State, if you scroll down it gives a description of this role in the US. And Hillary Clinton has no abilities of mastering this role. She was a bad pick, just like the rest of them.
the secretary of state is like the third vp. so if both biden and obama die hilary is the prez.
he cited mtv as a source. lol.
HILLARY WILL NOT BE THE PREZ IF THEY DIE, NANCY PELOSI WILL BE.
This is a list of the current presidential line of succession, as specified by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 (3 U.S.C. § 19) and subsequent amendments to include newly created cabinet officers.
# Office Current Officer
1 Vice President and President of the Senate Dick Cheney
2 Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi
3 President pro tempore of the Senate Robert Byrd
4 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
5 Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson
6 Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
7 Attorney General Michael Mukasey
8 Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne
9 Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer
— Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez (non-natural)†
— Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao (non-natural)†
10 Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt
11 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Steve Preston
12 Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters
13 Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman
14 Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
15 Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake
16 Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
the secretary of state usually tries to make peace with foreign countries
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President’s Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current United States Secretary of State is Condoleezza Rice. The next Secretary of State, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, will be Hillary Rodham Clinton.
When you outlined the succession order, after Speaker of the House comes the President pro tempore of the Senate, then the Secretary of State.
-Originally, I believe it was originally the Speaker, then the Senate president, then it swapped, so Senate president was first, then was swapped back to Speaker.
Hillary Clinton is s good choice. She has broad experience in dealing with foreign personages. If any can remember back to when she sought to institute universal health care, you can see real quick she will acquit herself quite well in any hearings. She is a past master of them. She has the drive and has proven her loyalty She will make an excellent secretary of state..
Why does it take MTV to educate people under 25 about the duties of the Secretary of State?
Oooo, MTV is talking about Sec. of State, so now I will take an interest.
After reading this question I actually became curious myself and here is what i found…
according to FT.com
“Mrs Clinton will assume responsibility for repairing America’s alliances, including defusing tension in the Middle East”
So like what has already been said she will be in charge of foreign affairs. Kinda scary if you ask me!
-And by the way the speaker of the house, currently Nancy Pelosi is actually third in line for the presidency.
The Sec. of State is given the lowly task of lying to the U.N. about finding WMD’s and enriched uranium in Niger.
The State Secretary is the equivalent of alot of other nations Prime Minister, with “less” power more because this is the United States, and less because the State Secretary HAS to follow the orders of the President or will be fired. Prime ministers can speak out They handle the diplomatic missions overseas, basically handle our countries best interests. Hillary was a great choice, because she has a great relationship with alot of foreign nations, and she commands respect because of how far shes gotten, her and Obama will make a great team.
Mike,
Is Hillary even going to be able to become the Secretary of State? It seems like her appointment would violate the Constitution (Article 1 section 6).
In our new socially and politically correct submission to world opinion, the President’s role is more like the Queen of England and our Secretary of State is similar to their Prime Minister.
Obama will tell them what they want to hear and Clinton should tell them what they need to hear.
Interesting that this position is call “Secretary of State”, when in reality it’s “Secretary of National Foreign Affairs”.
Unless of course there is a real “Secretary of State” for each of the states.
No, if both Prez and VP die, the Speaker of the House becomes to next prez.
The Secretary of State is the one who calls at 3:00 in the morning to let the President know we have3 a national emergency!!!!! hahahahaha
The last to be nominated buy not confirmed was Robert Gates. And from reading these comments, I highly doubt any of them actually read the blog.
Mike, you’re a copycat.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20081203064129AAupliO
You correctly said that Hilary would be fourth in line for the presidency, but you only cited the VP and speaker of the house. The third in line is the Senate Pro Tempore.
A few corrections:
The Secretary of State is confirmed only by the United States Senate, not “Congress,” including the House of Representatives. US Constitution, Article II, Section 2. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
The Secretary of State is FOURTH in the line of presidential succession, after the Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession
Anyone who gets off a helicoptor and comes under enemy fire and there is no enemy firing is pretty scary to me ..
This is not true:
the secretary of state is like the third vp. so if both biden and obama die hilary is the prez.
Comment posted on December 3rd, 2008 at 3:29 pm by fashioista
After the Pres. and VP (who is also head of the Senate) the next in line is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Secretary of Stae comes after the Speaker.
Thankx didnt know what the heck The Secretary Of State did..
‘deep foreign policy experience’. Interesting pick. Didin’t Hillary say during the primaries that Musharrif was responsible for Bhutto’s assasination so he could run unopposed in an election he wasn’t even part of?
Pretty big freakin oops for a SoS candidate.
That’s a very good question. Since being that I only blog on news and politics, I would assume the secretary of state would handle various political tasks for the states within the country. With that in mind, the secretary of state would have to have lots of foreign policy experience under their belt to be considered for the job too…
http://www.united-states-politics.drewryonline.net
Fashiosta that is completely wrong. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is second in line after the vp, then comes the President of the Senate and THEN the Secretary of State. Check your facts.
Duties of the Secretary of State
FACT SHEET
Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, DC
January 22, 2001
Under the Constitution, the President of the United States determines U.S. foreign policy. The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department and the Foreign Service of the United States.
Created in 1789 by the Congress as the successor to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of State is the senior executive Department of the U.S. Government. The Secretary of State’s duties relating to foreign affairs have not changed significantly since then, but they have become far more complex as international commitments multiplied. These duties—the activities and responsibilities of the State Department—include the following:
* Serves as the President’s principal adviser on U.S. foreign policy;
* Conducts negotiations relating to U.S. foreign affairs;
* Grants and issues passports to American citizens and exequaturs to foreign consuls in the United States;
* Advises the President on the appointment of U.S. ambassadors, ministers, consuls, and other diplomatic representatives;
* Advises the President regarding the acceptance, recall, and dismissal of the representatives of foreign governments;
* Personally participates in or directs U.S. representatives to international conferences, organizations, and agencies;
* Negotiates, interprets, and terminates treaties and agreements;
* Ensures the protection of the U.S. Government to American citizens, property, and interests in foreign countries;
* Supervises the administration of U.S. immigration laws abroad;
* Provides information to American citizens regarding the political, economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian conditions in foreign countries;
* Informs the Congress and American citizens on the conduct of U.S. foreign relations;
* Promotes beneficial economic intercourse between the United States and other countries;
* Administers the Department of State;
* Supervises the Foreign Service of the United States.
In addition, the Secretary of State retains domestic responsibilities that Congress entrusted to the State Department in 1789. These include the custody of the Great Seal of the United States, the preparation of certain presidential proclamations, the publication of treaties and international acts as well as the official record of the foreign relations of the United States, and the custody of certain original treaties and international agreements. The Secretary also serves as the channel of communication between the Federal Government and the States on the extradition of fugitives to or from foreign countries.
whale
Source is not MTV or Wikipedia, but shock of all shocks the actual State Dept of the USA. An ACTUAL source
#
Mike,
Is Hillary even going to be able to become the Secretary of State? It seems like her appointment would violate the Constitution (Article 1 section 6).
Comment posted on December 3rd, 2008 at 10:50 pm by Rob
Like Obama and Biden, Hillary will have to resign her seat in the Senate before taking the oath as SoS, but not before. Theoretically, she could resign her seat and then NOT be confirmed by her former colleagues and not have any job.
whale
How many times does this need to be posted? Hillary will not be Prez!!! She is 4th in line for the Presidency. Nancy Pelosi is after Biden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession
the secretary of state signs currency. so look out for mrs. clinton’s signature on the new 2009 bills haha
Hillary Clinton, if confirmed, would be my sis in law’s boss. Scary.
Actually, anyone who gets to vote with the name of santos is pretty scary to me.
And people who post crap like:
“After the Pres. and VP (who is also head of the Senate) the next in line is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Secretary of Stae comes after the Speaker.” without even reading any other postings on this blog are also pretty scary to me.
No, genius, the “Secretary of Stae” (sic) does NOT come after the Speaker, and the VP is NOT the “head of the Senate”. You’ve obviously been listening to Sarah Palin. Ugh!
is this true that next president would be of indo American origin it really sucks when people other than Americans run for presidential elections
http://www.ceveni.com/2009/01/who-is-next-president-of-united-states.html