The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

74 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 ichard Boucher, a career Foreign Service officer, spent almost half of the past 13 years as State Department spokesman and assistant secretary of State for public affairs. He was the voice for six Secretaries of State; very few of his predecessors spoke for more than one. He worked closely with all six at Foggy Bottom as well as on often-grueling overseas trips. The fact that so many Secretaries of State — four Republicans and two Democrats — relied on him for such a sensitive task is a remarkable tribute to his skill and trustworthiness. It is, after all, a job in which the tolerance level for missteps is understandably low. Boucher was able to go before the media each day and explain, often without looking at notes, the Secretary’s thoughts in sentences that parsed and that could be under- stood not only by the press corps’ diplomatic experts but also by ordinary citizens watching on C-SPAN or other news out- lets. Yet he always seemed relaxed and seldom had to grope for words. Grandstanding was not his style. The press admired him even though diplomatic sensitivities prevented him from going beyond the often skimpy guidance with which he was provided each day. “There are more questions than answers,” Boucher said in a Foreign Service Journal interview on June 3, the day before he passed the spokesman’s torch to fellow career diplomat Sean McCormack (see sidebar, p. 76). He witnessed some abrupt policy shifts as he migrated from one administration to the next. He watched Secretary of State Madeleine Albright raise a toast to North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang in October 2000. Barely 15 months later, President Bush lumped North Korea together with Iran and Iraq in an international “axis of evil.” Hardly an example of policy continuity, but Boucher seemed to take it all in stride. His miscues were rare. In September 2003, he was asked about a meeting among Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg in Brussels on European defense. “Yeah, the chocolate makers,” Boucher deadpanned, drawing laughter from the press. He realized immediately that he had crossed a line. “Sorry . . . I think they’ve been referred to that way in the press; I shouldn’t repeat things I see in the press.” During the Clinton administration, when he wasn’t department spokesman, Boucher spent most of his time as consul general in Hong Kong; U.S. envoy to the APEC, the Pacific Rim economic cooperation group; and as ambas- sador to Cyprus. He joined the State Department in March 1977. China was an early specialty; once full diplomatic relations were established, he was assigned to open the con- sulate in Guangzhou. A native of Rockville, Md., about 12 miles north of Foggy Bottom, Boucher enjoys taking computers apart and putting them back together in his spare time. He and his wife, Carolyn, met in China. Their daughter Madeleine, 18, is a freshman at Columbia University. Son Peter, 14, attends Washington International School. Following are excerpts from the June 3 Foreign Service Journal interview: FSJ: Which Secretaries of State did you speak for? RB: I started out as deputy spokesman to Secretary [James] Baker. I moved up to the spokesman’s job for Secretary {Lawrence] Eagleburger and was here for about the first six months for Secretary [Warren] Christopher. T HE S POKESMAN L EAVES THE P ODIUM FSO R ICHARD B OUCHER WAS THE VOICE FOR SIX S ECRETARIES OF S TATE OVER THE PAST 13 YEARS . H ERE , FOR A CHANGE , HE SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF . B Y G EORGE G EDDA R