Hemodernized the State Department's technology andtransformed dozens of our facilities abroad

Technology iscollapsing the distance that once clearly separated righthere from over there. And the greatest threats now emergemore within states than between them. The fundamentalcharacter of regimes now matters more than the internationaldistribution Rosetta Stone V3 of power. In this world it is impossible todraw neat, clear lines between our security interests, ourdevelopment efforts and our democratic ideals. Americandiplomacy must integrate and advance all of these goals together. So, I would define the objective oftransformational diplomacy this way: to work with our manypartners around the world, to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of theirpeople and conduct themselves responsibly in theinternational system. Let me be clear, transformationaldiplomacy is rooted in partnership, not in paternalism. In doing things with people, not for them, we seek to useAmerica's diplomatic power to help foreign citizens bettertheir own lives and to build their own nations and totransform their own futures. In extraordinary times likethose of today, when the very terrain of history is shifting beneath our feet, we must transform old diplomaticinstitutions to serve new diplomatic purposes. This kindof challenge is sweeping and difficult but it is notunprecedented, America has done this kind of work before. Inthe aftermath of World War II, as the Cold War hardenedinto place, we turned our diplomatic focus to Europe andparts of Asia. We hired new people. We taught them newlanguages, we gave them new training. We partnered with old adversaries in Germany and Japan and helped them to rebuildtheir countries. Our diplomacy was instrumental intransforming devastated countries into thriving democraticallies, allies who joined with us for decades in the struggle to defend freedom from communism. With the endof the Cold War, America again rose to new challenges. Weopened 14 new embassies in the countries of Central andEastern Europe and we repositioned over 100 of ourdiplomats to staff them. Our efforts helped newly liberated peoples to transform the character of theircountries and now many of them, too, have become partnersin liberty and freedom, members of NATO, members of theEuropean Union, something unthought of just a few years ago.And during the last decade, we finally realized a historicdream of the 20th Rosetta Stone Hindi century therefore, a vision of a Europewhole and free and at peace. In the past five years, itwas my friend and predecessor Colin Powell who led the menand women of American diplomacy into the 21st century. Mostimportantly, Secretary Powell invested in our people. Hecreated over 2,000 new positions and hired thousands ofnew employees and trained them all to be diplomaticleaders of tomorrow. Now, today, to advancetransformational diplomacy all around the world, we in theState Department must again answer a new calling of ourtime. We must begin to lay the diplomatic foundations tosecure a future of freedom for all people. Like the greatchanges of the past, the new efforts we undertake today willnot be completed quickly. Transforming our diplomacy andtransforming the State Department is the work of ageneration, but it is urgent work that must begin. Toadvance transformational diplomacy, we are and we mustchange our diplomatic posture. In the 21st century,emerging nations like India and China and Brazil and Egyptand Indonesia and South Africa are increasingly shaping thecourse of history. At the same time, the new front linesof our diplomacy are appearing more clearly, intransitional countries of Africa and of Latin America and ofthe Middle East. Our current global posture does not reallyreflect that fact. For instance, we have nearly the samenumber of State Department personnel in Germany, a countryof 82 million people that we have in India, a country of onebillion people. It is clear today that America must begin toreposition our diplomatic forces around the world, so overthe next few years the United States will begin to shiftseveral hundred of our diplomatic positions to new critical posts for the 21st century. We will begin this yearwith a down payment of moving 100 positions from Europeand, yes, from here in Washington, D.C., to countries likeChina and India and Nigeria and Lebanon, where additionalstaffing will make an essential difference. We aremaking these changes by shifting existing resources to meetour new priorities, but we are also eager to work moreclosely with Congress to enhance our global strategy withnew resources and new positions. We will also put newemphasis on our regional and transnational strategies. In the 21st century, geographic regions are growing ever moreintegrated economically, politically and culturally. Thiscreates new opportunities but it also presents newchallenges, especially from transnational threats like terrorism and weapons proliferation and drug smuggling andtrafficking in persons and disease. Building Rosetta Stone Korean regionalpartnerships is one foundation today of our counterterrorismstrategy. We are empowering countries that have the will tofight terror but need help with the means. And we arejoining with key regional countries like Indonesia andNigeria and Morocco and Pakistan, working together not onlyto take the fight to the enemy but also to combat theideology of hatred that uses terror as a weapon.