the room where it happened

New
threats
and
opportunities
were
coming
at
us
rapidly,
and
eight
years of
Barack
Obama
meant
there
was
much
to
repair.
I
had
thought
long
and hard
about
America’s
national
security
in
a
tempestuous
world:
Russia
and China
 at
 the
strategic
 level;
 Iran,
 North
 Korea,
 and
 other
 rogue
 nuclearweapons
aspirants;
the
swirling
threats
of
radical
Islamicist
terrorism
in
the tumultuous
 Middle
 East
 (Syria,
 Lebanon,
 Iraq,
 and
 Yemen),
 Afghanistan and
beyond;
and
the
threats
in
our
own
hemisphere,
like
Cuba, Venezuela, and
 Nicaragua.
 While
 foreign-policy
 labels
 are
 unhelpful
 except
 to
 the intellectually
lazy,
if
pressed,
I
liked
to
say
my
policy
was
“pro-American.” I
 followed
 Adam
 Smith
 on
 economics,
 Edmund
 Burke
 on
 society,
 The Federalist
Papers on
government,
and
a
merger
of
Dean
Acheson
and
John Foster
 Dulles
 on
 national
security.
 My
 first
 political
 campaigning
 was
 in 1964
on
behalf
of
Barry
Goldwater.






I
 was
 describing
 why
 State
 needed
 a
 cultural
 revolution
 to
 be
 an
effective
instrument
of
policy
when
Trump
asked,
“Now,
we’re
discussing
Secretary
of
State
here,
but
would
you
consider
the
Deputy
job?”
I
said
I
would
 not,
 explaining
 that
 State
 could
 not
 be
 run
 successfully
 from
 that
level.
Moreover,
I
was
uneasy
about
working
for
someone
who
knew
I
had
competed
for
his
job
and
who
might
wonder
constantly
if
he
needed
a
foodtaster.
As
the
meeting
ended,
Trump
took
my
hand
in
both
of
his
and
said,
“I
am
sure
we
will
be
working
together.”

quote
Acheson’s
famous
remark
when
asked
why
he
and
President
Truman
had
such
an
excellent
working
relationship:
“I
never
forgot
who
was
President,
and
who
was
Secretary
of
State.
And
neither
did
he.”


chap 13
Mnuchin
had
been
beavering
away
all
day
with
Liu
 He,
 China’s
 economic-policy
 czar
 and
 top
 trade
 negotiator,
 widely
viewed
as
number
three
in
Xi’s
regime.