Susan Rice

This article is about the diplomat. For the designer, see Suzy Rice. For the banker, see Susan Rice (banker).

Susan Rice
24th National Security Advisor
In office July 1, 2013 – January 20, 2017
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Avril Haines
Preceded by	Thomas Donilon
Succeeded by	Michael T. Flynn
27th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
In office January 26, 2009 – June 30, 2013
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Brooke D. Anderson
Preceded by	Zalmay Khalilzad
Succeeded by	Samantha Power
12th Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
In office October 14, 1997 – January 20, 2001
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	George Moose
Succeeded by	Walter Kansteiner
Personal details
Born	Susan Elizabeth Rice (1964-11-17) November 17, 1964 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Ian Officer Cameron (m. 1992)
Alma mater	Stanford University New College, Oxford

Susan Elizabeth Rice (born November 17, 1964) was the 24th United States National Security Advisor, serving from 2013 until the end of the Obama Administration in January 2017. Rice is also a former U.S. diplomat, former Brookings Institution fellow, and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She served on the staff of the National Security Council, and as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during President Bill Clinton's second term. She was confirmed as UN ambassador by the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent on January 22, 2009.

Rice's name was mentioned as a possible replacement for retiring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2013 after President Barack Obama's November 2012 re-election, but on December 13, following ongoing controversy related to the 2012 Benghazi attack on the U.S consulate, she announced that she was withdrawing her name from consideration, saying that if nominated "the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive, and costly".

Rice succeeded Tom Donilon as National Security Advisor on July 1, 2013.

Early life and education

Rice was born in Washington, D.C., to Emmett J. Rice (1919–2011), Cornell University economics professor and the second black governor of the Federal Reserve System, and education policy scholar Lois Fitt (née Dickson), currently at the Brookings Institution. Her maternal grandparents were Jamaican. Her parents divorced when Rice was ten years of age.

Rice was a three-sport athlete, student council president, and valedictorian at National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., a private girls' day school. She played point guard in basketball and directed the offense, acquiring the nickname Spo, short for "Sportin'".

Rice said that her parents taught her to "never use race as an excuse or advantage" and as a young girl she "dreamed of becoming the first U.S. senator from the District of Columbia". She also held "lingering fears" that her accomplishments would be diminished by people who attributed them to affirmative action. After her father's death in 2011, she said, "He believed segregation had constrained him from being all he could be. The psychological hangover of that took him decades to overcome. His most fervent wish was that we not have that psychological baggage."

Rice attended Stanford University, where she received a Truman Scholarship and graduated with a BA in history in 1986. She earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa.

Awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, Rice attended New College, Oxford, where she earned a MPhil in 1988 and DPhil in 1990. The Chatham House-British International Studies Association honored her dissertation entitled, "Commonwealth Initiative in Zimbabwe, 1979–1980: Implication for International Peacekeeping" as the UK's most distinguished in international relations.

Rice was a foreign policy aide to Michael Dukakis during the 1988 presidential election. She was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, from mid-1990, when she received her degree from Oxford, to early 1992, when she worked for the Clinton campaign. Rice worked in McKinsey's Toronto office for a time.

Clinton administration

Rice served in the Clinton administration in various capacities: at the National Security Council (NSC) from 1993 to 1997; as director for international organizations and peacekeeping from 1993 to 1995; and as special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs from 1995 to 1997.

At the time of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Rice reportedly said, "If we use the word 'genocide' and are seen as doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November election?" She subsequently acknowledged the mistakes made at the time and felt that a debt needed repaying. The inability or failure of the Clinton administration to do anything about the genocide would form her later views on possible military interventions. She said of the experience: "I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required."

Islamists took control in Sudan in a 1989 coup d'état and the United States adopted a policy of disengagement with the authoritarian regime throughout the 1990s. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, however, some critics charged that the U.S. should have moderated its policy toward Sudan earlier, since the influence of Islamists there waned in the second half of 1990s and Sudanese officials began to indicate an interest in accommodating U.S. concerns with respect to 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, who had been living in Sudan until he was expelled in May 1996. Timothy M. Carney, U.S. ambassador to Sudan between September 1995 and November 1997, co-authored an op-ed in 2002 claiming that in 1997 Sudan offered to turn over its intelligence on bin Laden but that Rice, as NSC Africa specialist, together with then NSC terrorism specialist Richard A. Clarke, successfully lobbied for continuing to bar U.S. officials, including the CIA and FBI, from engaging with the Khartoum government. Similar allegations (that Rice joined others in missing an opportunity to cooperate with Sudan on counterterrorism) were made by Vanity Fair contributing editor David Rose and Richard Miniter, author of Losing Bin Laden.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a longtime mentor and family friend to Rice, urged Clinton to appoint Rice as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in 1997. Rice was not the first choice of Congressional Black Caucus leaders, who considered her a member of "Washington's assimilationist black elite". At a confirmation hearing chaired by Senator Jesse Helms, Rice, who attended the hearing along with her infant son whom she was then nursing, made a great impression on senators from both parties and "sailed through the confirmation process".

Rice supported the Rwandan, Ugandan, AFDL and Angolan invasion of Zaire (later known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) from Rwanda in 1996 and overthrow of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, saying privately that "Anything's better than Mobutu." According to Gérard Prunier, a staffer to the Assistant Secretary said that "the only thing we have to do is look the other way", with respect to Rwanda's continued intervention. New York Times correspondent Howard W. French said that according to his sources, Rice herself made the remark. It should be noted the Congo Wars spearheaded by Rwanda led to over five million deaths. In 2012, when serving as U.N. ambassador, Rice opposed efforts to publicly censure Rwandan President Paul Kagame for again supporting a Congolese rebel group, this time in the 2012 Congo conflict, despite the sacking of the regional capital of Goma. The Rwandan government was a client when Rice worked at Intellibridge in 2001–02.

On July 7, 1998, Rice was a member of an American delegation to visit detained Nigerian president-elect Basorun M.K.O. Abiola. During this meeting, Abiola suffered a fatal heart attack.

Although Rice supported the Lomé Peace Accord, some observers criticized the Sierra Leone agreement as too indulgent of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and for bringing the war criminal Foday Sankoh into government, leading to the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1313, which blamed the RUF for the continuing conflict in the west African country.

Business and think-tank activities

Susan E. Rice (middle) at the USCIRF hearings (November 27, 2001)

Rice was managing director and principal at Intellibridge from 2001 to 2002. In 2002, she joined the Brookings Institution as senior fellow in the foreign policy program. At Brookings, she focused on U.S. foreign policy, weak and failing states, the implications of global poverty, and transnational threats to security.

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Rice served as a foreign policy adviser to John Kerry.

Rice went on leave from the Brookings Institution to serve as a senior foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign. She was one of the first high-profile foreign policy staffers to sign onto Obama's campaign, as most of her peers had supported Hillary Clinton during the presidential primaries. Rice took a disparaging view of Obama's Republican opponent in the campaign, John McCain, calling his policies "reckless" and dismissing the Arizona senator's trip to Iraq as "strolling around the market in a flak jacket".

On November 5, 2008, Rice was named to the advisory board of the Obama–Biden Transition Project.

Obama administration

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

Rice with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, December 2008

On December 1, 2008, Rice was nominated by president-elect Obama to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a position which he restored to cabinet level. Rice became the second youngest person and the first African American woman to represent the U.S. at the UN. Reportedly Rice had coveted the post of National Security Advisor, which instead went to retired United States Marine Corps General, James L. Jones, and she and most of Obama's original foreign policy team were disappointed that they were not picked for the top posts in Obama's administration.

Rice attends a briefing on Afghanistan in the Situation Room of the White House, October 2009

Rice had a poor relationship with State Department veteran Richard Holbrooke, whom she considered to be meddling on her turf and who in return had viewed her as incompetent.

The 2010 National Security Strategy was referred to by Rice as a "dramatic departure" from its predecessor.

Libyan civil war

As the 2011 Libyan civil war progressed, Rice made clear that the United States and the international community saw a clear choice for Gaddafi and his aides: step down from power or face significant consequences. Rice offered some of the toughest rhetoric toward Gaddafi, blasting his denials of atrocities against his own citizens as "frankly, delusional". Several UN diplomats said that in a closed door meeting on April 28, Rice's claims of Gaddafi's atrocities included the issuance of Viagra to loyalists in order to further terrorize the population with sexual violence. Together with National Security Council figure Samantha Power, who already supported military intervention, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who came to support it, the three overcame internal opposition from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, security adviser Thomas Donilon, and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, to have the administration advance a UN proposal to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and authorize other military actions as necessary. On March 17, 2011, the UK, France and Lebanon joined the U.S. to vote for United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 while Brazil, Germany, and India joined permanent Security Council members China and Russia in abstaining. Rice and Clinton played major roles in gaining approval for the resolution. Clinton said the same day that establishing a no-fly zone over Libya would require the bombing of air defenses. Rice said, "we are interested in a broad range of actions that will effectively protect civilians and increase the pressure on the Gaddafi regime to halt the killing and to allow the Libyan people to express themselves in their aspirations for the future freely and peacefully".

In January 2012, after the Russian and Chinese veto of another Security Council resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, Rice strongly condemned both countries, saying, "They put a stake in the heart of efforts to resolve this conflict peacefully", and adding that "we the United States are standing with the people of Syria. Russia and China are obviously with Assad." In her words, "the United States is disgusted that a couple of members of this Council continue to prevent us from fulfilling our sole purpose".

Some Security Council diplomats took issue with Rice's negotiating style, calling it "rude" and overly blunt. According to David Rothkopf of Foreign Policy magazine, Rice is known for her "abrasiveness" but has the asset of a close relationship with the U.S. president. Human rights activists took issue with Rice and U.S. foreign policy generally in 2012 for working against U.N. statements that criticized Rwanda for supporting a rebel group in Congo known for committing atrocities.

2012 Benghazi Attack

On September 11, 2012, the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya was attacked, resulting in the deaths of the United States Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and two former Navy SEALS, Glen Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods. On September 16, Rice appeared on CBS's political TV show Face the Nation and ABC's This Week to state that the attack was a direct result of a "heinous and offensive video", and was spontaneous, not preplanned. She added (on a different subject), "[w]e've decimated al-Qaeda." Although Rice said that the attack "began spontaneously", Patrick F. Kennedy, the under secretary of state for management, had said prior to her interview that he believed the assault was planned, and other sources, including Libyan President Mohammed Magariaf, had expressed the view that the attack was pre-planned and that there was an al-Qaeda link.

Rice qualified her remarks about the attack, saying, "We'll want to see the results of [an FBI] investigation to draw any definitive conclusions." She made similar statements on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Meet the Press, State of the Union with Candy Crowley, and Fox News Sunday. 97 House Republicans sent a letter to President Obama on November 19 to say Rice's statements were "misleading" and that she should accordingly not be considered a candidate to succeed Hillary Clinton in 2013 as Secretary of State.

Rice stated that her claims about Benghazi were based on the unclassified version of information approved by United States intelligence services. Some Republican Senators, who would have had a vote on whether to confirm Rice, also voiced objections and said their meetings with Rice at the end of November 2012 did not ease their concerns.

The Senate supported a resolution saying, "the violence in Benghazi coincided with an attack on the United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, which was also swarmed by an angry mob of protesters on September 11, 2012", and making no mention of Al Qaeda. During a house hearing on May 8, 2013, an email, which was never classified, that was sent on September 12, 2012 to Susan Rice as well as many other members of the State Department, was read aloud by Representative Trey Gowdy (R). The email stated clearly that the attacks were committed by Islamists, with no mention of an "angry mob" or protestors. Gowdy said the Obama administration was "changing names" and "creating aliases" of Benghazi survivors and "dispersing them around the country" to keep them out of sight. According to The New York Times, both protesters angered by an anti-Muslim video and Islamic militants were involved, but no links to Al Qaeda or other officially known terrorist groups were found. It said, "Anger at the video motivated the initial attack." Khattala, an alleged terrorist who was captured for his role in directing attackers, said that an anti-Mohammed video inspired attacks at Benghazi. On December 13, 2012, in a letter to President Barack Obama, Rice asked him to remove her name from consideration for Secretary of State.

National Security Advisor

President Barack Obama talks with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, Colin Kahl, National Security Advisor to the Vice President, and National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice outside the West Wing of the White House, July 15, 2015.

Rice was picked to succeed Tom Donilon as National Security Advisor immediately following Donilon's resignation on June 5, 2013. The position of National Security Advisor does not require Senate approval. Rice was sworn in as the 24th National Security Advisor on July 1, 2013.

In May 2014, Rice traveled to Israel for meetings with Israeli officials in which nuclear talks with Iran were discussed. Rice's visit, the first in her role as national security adviser, came as peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed. The Obama administration made clear that Rice's trip was part of regularly scheduled talks and that the stalled Middle East peace discussions were not on the agenda. However, White House Spokesman Jay Carney said negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program would be on the agenda, among other topics.

In releasing the 2015 National Security Strategy, Rice said that the US was pursuing an "ambitious yet achievable agenda" overseas. She argued that U.S. leadership had been essential for success on issues including Ebola, Iran's nuclear program and sanctioning Russia over Ukraine. Her comments came as President Obama sent his national security strategy to Congress. The document formed a blueprint for foreign policy, defense and national security for the last two years of President Obama's term. It had previously been updated in 2010. In a letter outlining the strategy, President Obama said that the US would "always defend our interests and uphold our commitments to allies and partners", adding, "But we have to make hard choices among many competing priorities and we must always resist the overreach that comes when we make decisions based upon fear."

On a visit to Pakistan in 2015, Rice warned Pakistani political and military leaders that attacks in Afghanistan by militants based in Pakistan threatened regional security. Rice also delivered an invitation from President Obama for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to visit the United States in October. The meetings came at a tense time for Pakistan's relations with neighbors Afghanistan and archrival India, along with uncertainty over whether the United States would release $300 million in military aid to Pakistan. Media reports suggested the money could be held back if the United States determined Pakistan was not doing enough to combat the Haqqani network, accused of some of the deadliest attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan.

In a 2015 speech on US-China relations, Rice noted the problems of Chinese hacking, saying, "This isn’t a mild irritation. It is an economic and national security concern to the United States. It puts enormous strain on our bilateral relationship, and it is a critical factor in determining the future trajectory of U.S.-China ties."

Criticism

Rice has been criticized for intensifying the Obama administration's conflicts with Israel during her time as National Security Advisor. Dennis Ross, a Middle East advisor to President Obama, criticized Rice's "combative mind-set" as opposed to her predecessor's, Tom Donilon, who played a more conciliatory role. Ross writes that after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's public reprimand of the Obama administration's Iran negotiations, Rice fumed to Abe Foxman that:

In her view, the Israeli leader did everything but use ‘the N-word’ in describing the president.

On April 2, 2017, Cernovich Media identified Susan Rice as the Obama Administration official who requested unmasking of incoming Trump Administration officials in intelligence reports.

Affiliations

Rice (next to column behind President Obama) at Nelson Mandela's funeral in South Africa, December 2013

Rice serves on the boards of several organizations, including the National Democratic Institute, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the board of directors of the Atlantic Council, the advisory board of Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, the board of directors of the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (Bloomberg BNA), and the board of directors of Partnership for Public Service. the Beauvoir National Cathedral Elementary School She is a past member of the Internews Network's board of directors. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group.

Personal life

Rice married Canadian-born ABC News producer Ian Officer Cameron on September 12, 1992 at the St. Albans School chapel. They met as students at Stanford. They have two children, Jake and Maris. Susan Rice is not related to Condoleezza Rice, the 20th National Security Advisor.

Awards and honors

Rice was inducted into Stanford's Black Alumni Hall of Fame in 2002.

Publications

• Rice, Susan Elizabeth. 1990. "The Commonwealth Initiative in Zimbabwe, 1979–1980: Implications for International Peacekeeping", D Phil thesis, New College, Oxford University.

External links

• United States Mission to the United Nations
• Susan Rice on Facebook
• Susan Rice on Twitter
• Article archive at the Brookings Institution
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Susan Rice at the Internet Movie Database
• Susan Rice collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Susan E. Rice collected news and commentary at The Washington Post
• Works by or about Susan Rice in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Articles

• The Ethiopian-Eritrean War: U.S. Policy Options Before the House Committee on International Relations, Africa Subcommittee, May 25, 1999. . Retrieved 2008-05-13.
• Martha Brant, Into Africa, Stanford Magazine, Jan–Feb 2000
• Fox News Interview with Laura Ingraham (video)
• Interview with Dave Ross on MyNorthwest.com (audio)
• Profile on Foreign Policy

Documents

• Nomination of Hon. Susan E. Rice to be U.N. Representative: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, First Session, January 15, 2009

Political offices
Preceded by George Moose	Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs 1997–2001	Succeeded by Walter Kansteiner
Preceded by Thomas Donilon	National Security Advisor 2013–2017	Succeeded by Michael T. Flynn
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Zalmay Khalilzad	United States Ambassador to the United Nations 2009–2013	Succeeded by Rosemary DiCarlo Acting