Foreign policy experts laud Powell for State Department revamp

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) won high praise from a team of foreign policy experts for overseeing a radical improvement in working conditions and morale at what they said had been a "broken" State Department.


The Foreign Affairs Council, a non-partisan umbrella group of 11 organizations concerned about the management of US diplomacy, said Powell and his top aides had made significant progress in bringing the department in the computer age, boosting security at embassies abroad and increasing hiring during their nearly four years in office.


"In short, the achievements have been extraordinary -- even historic," the council said in a 36-page report released a week after Powell announced his resignation as the top US diplomat, effective on the confirmation of his successor.


"To use the vernacular, the Powell team has 'talked the talk' and 'walked the walk'," it said. "The secretary has been an exemplary CEO of the State Department. When he departs, he will leave the institution infinitely stronger than he found it."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1520&ncid=1520&e=7&u=/afp/20041122/pl_afp/us_diplomacy_powell_041122210049