Richard Armitage (politician) - Public Service Career

Public Service Career

After the end of the Vietnam War Armitage moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as a consultant for the United States Department of Defense. He was almost immediately sent to serve in Tehran, Iran until November 1976. Following that posting, he moved to Bangkok and operated an import/export business in the private sector for the next two years. In 1978, he returned to the U.S. and started working as an aide to Republican Senator Bob Dole.

In late 1980, Armitage became a foreign policy advisor to President-elect Ronald Reagan. Following that role, he was made a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, a high-ranking post in the Pentagon. He served in this position from 1981 to 1983.

In June 1983, he was promoted to Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy where he represented the Department of Defense in developing political-military relationships and initiatives throughout the world. He helped to spearhead U.S. Pacific security policy including the USA-Japan and U.S.-China security relationships, managed all Defense security assistance programs, and provided oversight of policies related to the law of the sea, U.S. special operations, and counter-terrorism. Armitage earned the Secretary of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. He played a leading role in Middle East security policies. Armitage left that post in 1989 to serve as a special negotiator for the President on military bases in the Philippines, and as a mediator on water issues in the Middle East.

In 1991, he was appointed a special emissary to King Hussein of Jordan. Following that, he was sent to Europe with the title of ambassador; his assignment was to direct U.S. foreign aid to the states that had been formed out of the fallen Soviet Union. He occupied that post until 1993, at which point he entered the private sector. His roles in the private sector included a directorship of US data aggregation company ChoicePoint.

In 1998, Armitage signed "The Project for the New American Century" letter (PNAC Letter) to President Bill Clinton. The letter urged Clinton to target the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power in Iraq due to erosion of the Gulf War Coalition's containment policy and the resulting possibility that Iraq might develop weapons of mass destruction.

During the 2000 Presidential election campaign, he served as a foreign policy advisor to George W. Bush as part of a group led by Condoleezza Rice that called itself The Vulcans.

The United States Senate confirmed him as Deputy Secretary of State on March 23, 2001; he was sworn in three days later. A close associate of Secretary of State Colin Powell, Armitage was regarded, along with Powell, as a moderate within the presidential administration of George W. Bush. According to President Musharraf, of Pakistan, shortly after 9/11, Armitage presented Pakistan with demands for assistance in the campaign against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The demands were non-negotiable. Should Pakistan accept, it would be considered a United States ally. Should it decline, Pakistan would be considered an enemy. According to Musharraf, Armitage further averred that, should Pakistan decline, the United States would bomb it 'back to the Stone Age.' Armitage denies having used those words. Armitage tendered his resignation on November 16, 2004, the day after Powell announced his resignation as Secretary of State. He left the post on February 22, 2005, when Robert Zoellick succeeded to the office.