Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State

Official portrait, 2009
Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State January 21, 2009 – February 1, 2013
Party	Democratic
Nominated by	Barack Obama
Seat	Harry S Truman Building
← William J. Burns (acting) John Kerry →
Seal of the United States Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton served as the 67th United States Secretary of State, under President Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2013, overseeing the department that conducted the foreign policy of Barack Obama.

She was preceded in office by

This article is part of a series about Hillary Clinton
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Nomination and confirmation

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• Hillary Clinton nominated as US Secretary of State

Within a week after the November 4, 2008, presidential election, President-elect Obama and Clinton discussed the possibility of her serving as U.S. Secretary of State in his administration. Clinton initially turned Obama down, but he persisted.^[1][2] When the possibility became public on November 14, it came as a surprising and dramatic move, especially given the long, sometimes bitter battle the two had waged during the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries.^[3][4] Obama had specifically criticized Clinton's foreign policy credentials during the contests, and the initial idea of him appointing her had been so unexpected that she had told one of her own aides, "Not in a million years."^[2] However, Obama had been thinking of the idea as far back as the 2008 Democratic National Convention.^[5] Despite the aggressiveness of the campaign and the still-lingering animosities between the two campaign staffs, as with many primary battles, the political differences between the candidates were never that great,^[6] the two rivals had reportedly developed a respect for one another,^[5] and she had campaigned for him in the general election.^[2] Consideration of Clinton was seen as Obama wanting to assemble a "team of rivals" in his administration, as had Abraham Lincoln.^[7]

Clinton was conflicted whether she wanted to take the position or remain in the Senate, and agonized over her decision.

The appointment required a Saxbe fix,^[15] which was passed and signed into law in December 2008 before confirmation hearings began.^[16] Confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee began on January 13, 2009, a week before the Obama inauguration. Clinton stated during her confirmation hearings that she believed that "the best way to advance America's interests in reducing global threats and seizing global opportunities is to design and implement global solutions" and "We must use what has been called 'smart power', the full range of tools at our disposal—diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural—picking the right tool or combination of tools for each situation. With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of our foreign policy."^[17]

On January 15, the Committee voted 16–1 to approve Clinton.

Even before taking office, Clinton was working together with Bush administration officials in assessing national security issues. The night before the inauguration of the new president, contingency plans against a purported plot by Somali extremists against Obama and the inauguration was being discussed. Clinton argued that typical security responses were not tenable: "Is the Secret Service going to whisk him off the podium so the American people see their incoming president disappear in the middle of the inaugural address? I don't think so."^[20] (The threat turned out to not exist.) On January 21, 2009, Clinton was confirmed in the full Senate by a vote of 94–2.^[21] Vitter and Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina voted against the confirmation.^[21]

Clinton took the oath of office of Secretary of State that same day. Just before being sworn in as Secretary of State, Clinton resigned her Senate seat effective just hours before her oath as Secretary of State.

(On January 29, 2009, the constitutionality of her Saxbe fix was challenged in court by Judicial Watch;^[25] on October 30, 2009, the courts dismissed the case.^[26])

Staff

During the

By May 2009, Clinton and the Obama administration intended to nominate Paul Farmer as administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), but by August his nomination was dead. This caused Clinton to publicly criticize the long vetting process for administration appointments/ In November, an unconventional choice was nominated instead, Rajiv Shah, a young Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics.^[33] Clinton said, "He has a record of delivering results in both the private and public sectors, forging partnerships around the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and developing innovative solutions in global health, agriculture, and financial services for the poor."^[33]

Despite some early press predictions,

Clinton also brought a message of departmental reform to the position, especially in regarding foreign aid programs as something that deserves the same status and level of scrutiny as diplomatic initiatives.[24]

Clinton spent her initial days as Secretary of State telephoning dozens of world leaders.^[42] She said the world was eager to see a new American foreign policy and that, "There is a great exhalation of breath going on around the world. We've got a lot of damage to repair."^[42] She did indicate that not every past policy would be repudiated, and specifically said it was essential that the six-party talks over the North Korean nuclear weapons program continue.^[43][44] Clinton re-emphasized her views during her first speech to State Department employees when she said, "There are three legs to the stool of American foreign policy: defense, diplomacy, and development. And we are responsible for two of the three legs. And we will make clear, as we go forward, that diplomacy and development are essential tools in achieving the long-term objectives of the United States. And I will do all that I can, working with you, to make it abundantly clear that robust diplomacy and effective development are the best long-term tools for securing America's future."^[45] Clinton also soon visited the United States Agency for International Development, where she met employees and said they would be getting extra funds and attention during the new administration.^[43]

She kept a low profile when diplomatic necessity or Obama's involvement required it, but maintained an influential relationship with the president and in foreign policy decisions.^[46][47] Her first 100 days found her travelling over 70,000 miles (110,000 km), having no trouble adapting to being a team player subordinate to Obama, and gaining skills as an executive.^[47][48] Nevertheless, she remained an international celebrity with a much higher profile than most Secretaries of State.^[24] Her background as an elected official gave her insight into the needs and fears of elected officials of other countries.^[24]

By the summer of 2009, there was considerable analysis and speculation in the media of what kind of role and level of influence Clinton had within the Obama administration, with a variety of assessments being produced.^{[49][50][51][52]} A prominent mid-July speech to the Council on Foreign Relations reasserted her role;^[50] she said, "We cannot be afraid or unwilling to engage. Our focus on diplomacy and development is not an alternative to our national security arsenal."^[53]

In July 2009, Clinton announced a new State Department initiative, the

During October 2009, Clinton said, "this is a great job. It is a 24/7 job"[63] and "this job is incredibly all-encompassing."^[12] She said she never thought about if she were making the same foreign policy decisions as president, and had no intention of ever running for that office again.^[12][63] While some friends and former advisers thought she was primarily saying that to focus attention on her current role and that she might change her mind about running for president in the future, others felt that she was genuinely content with the direction her career and life had taken and no longer had presidential ambitions.^[64]

By the close of 2009 there were 25 female ambassadors posted by other nations to Washington; this was the highest number ever.^[65] This was dubbed the "Hillary effect" by some observers: "Hillary Clinton is so visible" as secretary of state, said

Clinton also included in the State Department budget for the first time a breakdown of programs that specifically concerned themselves with the well-being of women and girls around the world.[58] By fiscal 2012, the department's budget request for such work was $1.2 billion, of which $832 million was for global health programs.^[58] Additionally, she initiated the Women in Public Service Project, a joint venture between the State Department and the Seven Sisters colleges. The goal was to entice more women into entering public service, such that within four decades an equal number of men and women would be working in the field.^[66]

One specific cause Clinton advocated almost from the start of her tenure was the adoption of

In 2009, and again in 2010 and 2011, Clinton stated that she was committed to serving out her full term as secretary, but would not commit to serving a second term should Obama be re-elected.[68]

She later used U.S. allies and what she called "convening power" to help keep the Libyan rebels unified as they eventually overthrew the

Throughout her tenure, Clinton has looked towards "smart power" as the strategy for asserting U.S. leadership and values, combining military strength with U.S. capacities in global economics, development aid, and technology.^[69] In late 2011 she said, "All power has limits. In a much more networked and multipolar world we can't wave a magic wand and say to China or Brazil or India, 'Quit growing. Quit using your economies to assert power' ... It's up to us to figure out how we position ourselves to be as effective as possible at different times in the face of different threats and opportunities."^[69]

Clinton has also greatly expanded the State Department's use of social media, including Facebook and Twitter, both to get its message out and to help empower people vis à via their rulers. Clinton said, "We are in the age of participation, and the challenge ... is to figure out how to be responsive, to help catalyze, unleash, channel the kind of participatory eagerness that is there." She has tried to institutionalize this change, by making social media a focus for foreign service officers and up to the ambassadorial level. (Other Clinton initiatives were run solely out of her office and were at risk of disappearing after she left office.) By late 2011, the department had 288 Facebook accounts and 192 Twitter feeds. The change was enough for daughter Chelsea Clinton to refer to the secretary as "TechnoMom".^[69]

Regional issues and travels

2009

In February 2009, Clinton made her first trip as secretary to Asia, visiting Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, and China on what she described as a "listening tour" that was "intended to really find a path forward."^[70] She continued to travel heavily in her first months in office, often getting very enthusiastic responses by engaging with the local populace.^[46][71]

In early March 2009, Clinton made her first trip as secretary to Israel.^[72] During this time, Clinton announced that the US government will dispatch two officials to the Syrian capital to explore Washington's relationship with Damascus.^[73] On March 5, Clinton attended the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

In June 2009, Clinton had surgery to repair a right elbow fracture caused by a fall in the State Department basement.^[79] The painful injury and recuperation caused her to miss two foreign trips.^[50][80] Nevertheless, during President Obama's trip without her to Russia, Clinton was named as co-coordinator, along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, of a newly created U.S.-Russian Presidential Commission to discuss nuclear, economic, and energy and environmental policies relating to the two countries.^[81]

Clinton returned to the diplomatic scene and responded to the ongoing 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, in which plans for the Honduran fourth ballot box referendum had led to the 2009 Honduran coup d'état, and which was becoming Latin America's worst political crisis in some years.^[82] In early July, she sat down with ousted President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya, who agreed on a U.S.-backed proposal to begin talks with the de facto Roberto Micheletti government.^[83] Later, in September, Zelaya returned to the country, and President of Costa Rica Óscar Arias, who had become a mediator in the matter, as well as Clinton expressed hope that Zelaya's return could break the impasse with the Micheletti government. In particular, Clinton said, "Now that President Zelaya is back it would be opportune to restore him to his position under appropriate circumstances – get on with the election that is currently scheduled for November, have a peaceful transition of presidential authority and get Honduras back to constitutional and democratic order."^[84] At the end of October, Clinton took a leading role in convincing Micheletti to accept a deal – which she termed an "historic agreement" – in which Zelaya would return to power in advance of general elections in which neither figure was running.^[82] Micheletti said that Clinton had been insistent on this point: "I kept trying to explain our position to her, but all she kept saying was, 'Restitution, restitution, restitution.'"^[82] That agreement broke down, despite efforts of the State Department to revive it,^[85] and Clinton and the U.S. ended up supporting the winner of the 2009 Honduran general election, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, with Clinton characterizing the elections as "free and fair" and Lobo as holding a strong commitment to democracy and the rule of constitutional law.^[86]

Clinton co-chaired the high-level U.S.–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington, D.C., on July 27–28, 2009 and led the Strategic Track for the United States.

In August 2009, Clinton embarked on her longest trip yet, to a number of stops in Africa.^[87] On August 10, 2009, at a public event in Kinshasa, a Congolese student asked her what her husband, "Mr Clinton", thought of a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Clinton looked irritated at the question and replied, "Wait, you want me to tell you what my husband thinks? My husband is not the secretary of state, I am. So you ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband." The incident was played in newsrooms around the world. Clinton aides suggested there might have been a mistranslation, but that was not the case; however the student had later apologized to her, saying he had meant to ask what "Mr Obama" thought.^[88]

In October 2009, Clinton's intervention – including juggling conversations on two mobile phones while sitting in a limousine

On the same trip, Clinton visited the Middle East, in an effort to restart the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.

In November 2009, Secretary Clinton led the U.S. delegation at the 20th anniversary celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall.^[93] There, she said: "Our history did not end the night the wall came down, it began anew. ... To expand freedom to more people, we cannot accept that freedom does not belong to all people. We cannot allow oppression defined and justified by religion or tribe to replace that of ideology."^[94]

In December 2009, Clinton attended the

Secretary Clinton finished the year with very high approval ratings.[98] She also narrowly edged out former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in being America's most-admired woman, per a Gallup finding.^[99]

2010

By early 2010, the Obama administration's efforts towards forging a new relationship with Iran had failed to gain headway, and the U.S. adopted a policy of adopting international sanctions against it and isolating it diplomatically in order to curtail that country's nuclear program.^[107] This was a policy more in line with Clinton's thinking and went back to disagreements she and Obama had had during the 2008 presidential campaign.^[107] Clinton was put in charge of rallying support in the United Nations for these sanctions^[107] and spent considerable time over the following months and years doing so.^[2][108] At times Clinton suggested the possibility of military action against Iran should economic and diplomatic actions fail to deter it from its nuclear ambitions.^[108]

In February 2010, Clinton made her first visit to Latin America as secretary. The tour would take her to Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica and Guatemala and Argentina. She first visited Buenos Aires and talked to Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. They discussed Falkland Islands sovereignty and the issue of oil in the Falklands.^[109] Clinton said that "We would like to see Argentina and the United Kingdom sit down and resolve the issues between them across the table in a peaceful, productive way."^[109] Clinton offered to help facilitate such discussions, but did not agree to an Argentinian request that she mediate such talks.^[109][110] Within 12 hours of Clinton's remarks, Downing Street categorically rejected a U.S. role: "We welcome the support of the secretary of state in terms of ensuring that we continue to keep diplomatic channels open but there is no need for [direct involvement]."^[110] Clinton then went on to Santiago, Chile to witness the aftereffects of the 2010 Chile earthquake and to bring some telecommunications equipment to aid in the rescue and recovery efforts.^[111]

In April 2010, there was a flurry of speculation that Clinton would be nominated to the

By mid-2010, Clinton and Obama had clearly forged a good working relationship without power struggles; she was a team player within the administration and a defender of it to the outside, and was careful to make sure that neither she nor her husband would upstage him.[66]^[114] He in turn was accommodating to her viewpoints and in some cases adopted some of her more hawkish approaches.^[114] She met with him weekly, but did not have the close, daily relationship that some of her predecessors had had with their presidents, such as Condoleezza Rice with George W. Bush, James Baker with George H. W. Bush, or Henry Kissinger with Richard Nixon.^[114] Nevertheless, he had trust in her actions.^[2]

During an early June 2010 visit to

In July 2010, Clinton visited Pakistan for the second time as secretary, announcing a large new U.S. economic assistance package to that country as well as a U.S.-led bilateral trade agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

By this time, Secretary Clinton was quite busy with another role of a kind, "M.O.T.B." as she wrote in State Department memos, making reference to her being the mother of the bride in daughter Chelsea Clinton's July 31, 2010, wedding to Marc Mezvinsky.^[120] She confessed in an interview in Islamabad less than two weeks before the wedding that she and her husband were both nervous wrecks, and that "You should assume that if he makes it down the aisle in one piece it's going to be a major accomplishment. He is going to be so emotional, as am I."^[121] The event itself gained a large amount of media attention.^[120]

In a September 2010 speech before the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton emphasized the continuing primacy of American power and involvement in the world, declaring a "new American moment".^[122] Making reference to actions from reviving the Middle East talks to U.S. aid following the 2010 Pakistan floods, Clinton said that "The world is counting on us" and that "After years of war and uncertainty, people are wondering what the future holds, at home and abroad. So let me say it clearly: The United States can, must, and will lead in this new century."^[122]

With Democrats facing possible large losses in the 2010 midterm elections and President Obama struggling in opinion polls, idle speculation in Washington media circles concerning Obama's chances in the 2012 presidential election led to the notion that Clinton would take over as Obama's vice-presidential running mate in 2012 to add to his electoral appeal.^[123] Some versions of this idea had Vice President Biden replacing her as Secretary of State if Obama won.^[122][124] That it would ever happen was unlikely,^[125] but did not stop the chatter; when the job swap idea was mentioned in public to Clinton, she smiled and shook her head.^[122] A couple of months later, Obama shot down the idea, saying the notion was "completely unfounded" and that "they are both doing outstanding jobs where they are."^[126] (In late 2011, however, with Obama's popularity on the decline, White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley did conduct some research into the idea of Clinton replacing Biden, but the notion was dropped when the results showed no appreciable improvement for Obama.^[127])

Over the summer of 2010, the stalled Israeli–Palestinian peace process was potentially revived when the various parties involved agreed to direct talks for the first time in a while.^[128] While President Obama was the orchestrator of the movement, Secretary Clinton had gone through months of cajoling just to get the parties to the table, and helped convince the reluctant Palestinians by getting support for direct talks from Egypt and Jordan.^[89][128] She then assumed a prominent role in the talks; Speaking at a September 2 meeting at the State Department between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, she acknowledged that, "We've been here before, and we know how difficult the road ahead will be."^[129] Her role in the ongoing talks would be to take over from U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George J. Mitchell when discussions threatened to break down.^[89] The talks were generally given little chance to succeed, and Clinton faced the history of many such past failures, including the near miss of her husband at the 2000 Camp David Summit.^[89] Nevertheless, her prominent role in them thrust her further into the international spotlight and had the potential to affect her legacy as secretary.^[89][130]

In October, Clinton embarked on a seven-nation tour of Asia and Oceania. In New Zealand she signed the "Wellington Declaration", which normalized the diplomatic and military relationship between it and the United States.^[131] The signing marked twenty-five years after the United States suspended ANZUS treaty obligations with New Zealand in the wake of the USS Buchanan incident.

Clinton maintained her high approval ratings during 2010.^[132] An aggregation of polls taken during the late portion or all of 2010 showed that Clinton (and her husband as well) had by far the best favorable-unfavorable ratings of any key contemporary American political figure.^[133]

In late November,

On December 1, Clinton flew to a summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Astana, Kazakhstan.^[135][145] There she would encounter some fifty leaders who were subjects of embarrassing comments in the leaks, including President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev.^[135] A Kazakh official said that during such encounters, Clinton "kept her face. She didn't run away from difficult questions."^[135] During the encounters she emphasized that the leaked cables did not reflect official U.S. policy but rather were just instances of individual diplomats giving unfiltered feedback to Washington about what they saw happening in other countries.^[135] The situation led to some leaders turning her strong remarks about Internet freedom earlier in the year back against her.^[135] The OSCE summit also featured a meeting between Secretary Clinton and Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations.^[145] In an attempt to repair the strain caused by the Humint spying revelations, Clinton expressed regret to Ban for the disclosures, but did not make an apology per se.^[143][145] A U.N. statement relayed that Ban thanked Clinton "for clarifying the matter and for expressing her concern about the difficulties created."^[143]

Upon the December 13 death of veteran U.S. diplomat

As the year closed, Clinton was again named by Americans in Gallup's most admired man and woman poll as the woman around the world they most admired; it was her ninth win in a row and fifteenth overall.^[151]

2011

Secretary Clinton began the year 2011 abroad, attending the inauguration of Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, having been sent by President Obama to represent the U.S.^[152][153] Rousseff was the first woman to serve as that country's head of state. While there, she ran into Venezuelan ruler and U.S. antagonist Hugo Chávez, but the two had a pleasant exchange; Chávez said "She had a very spontaneous smile and I greeted her with the same effusiveness."^[154]

The 2011 Haitian elections are widely considered to be illegitimate due to international intervention,^[163] made possible by the actions of Hillary Clinton and other actors.^[164] Clinton strongly urged compliance with OAS election recommendations,^[162] none of which included what 45 Democrats considered to be the most important barrier to democracy in Haiti in a petition to the Secretary of State.^[165] According to the Prime Minister at the time, “We tried to resist and did, until the visit of Hillary Clinton. That was when Préval understood he had no way out and accepted.”^[164] The recommendations of the US-funded OAS mission, which removed the president's chosen candidate in favor of an elite-associated candidate, were later found to be incorrect.^[164] Wikileaks emails reveal Hillary Clinton's awareness of State Department staff activity, which included messages that discussed strategic influence of the Haitian public's opinion regarding the ongoing election.^[164] It is worth noting that in 2009, Hillary Clinton's State Department pressured René Préval into reneging on a law that raised minimum wage by 37 cents. The US embassy instructed Levi's, Fruit of the Loom, and Hanes to aggressively oppose the law.^[166]

The Egyptian protests became the most critical foreign policy crisis so far for the Obama administration, and Obama came to increasingly rely upon Clinton for advice and connections.^[160] Clinton had known Mubarak for some twenty years, and had formed a close relationship with Egyptian First Lady Suzanne Mubarak by supporting the latter's human rights work.^[160] Clinton originated the idea of sending Frank G. Wisner as an emissary to Cairo, to tell Mubarak not to seek another term as the country's leader.^[160] As Mubarak's response to the protests became violent in early February, Clinton strongly condemned the actions taking place, especially those against journalists covering the events, and urged new Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman to conduct an official investigation to hold those responsible for the violence accountable.^[167][168] When Wisner baldly stated that Mubarak's departure should be delayed to accommodate an orderly transition to another government, Clinton rebuked him, but shared a bit of the same sentiment.^[169] Mubarak did finally step down on February 11 as the protests became the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Clinton said that the U.S. realized that Egypt still had much work and some difficult times ahead of it.^[170] In mid-March, Clinton visited Egypt and indicated support for an Egyptian move towards democracy, but she avoided specific issues of U.S. aid and when elections should take place.^[171]

President Obama was reportedly unhappy with U.S. intelligence agencies following their failure to foresee the

Clinton testified to Congress in March that the administration did not need congressional authorization for its military intervention in Libya or for further decisions about it, despite congressional objections from members of both parties that the administration was violating the War Powers Resolution.^[182][183] During that classified briefing to Congress, she allegedly indicated that the administration would sidestep the Resolution's provision regarding a 60-day limit on unauthorized military actions.^[184] Months later, she stated that, with respect to the military operation in Libya, the United States was still flying a quarter of the sorties, and The New York Times reported that, while many presidents had bypassed other sections of the War Powers Resolution, there was little precedent for exceeding the 60-day statutory limit on unauthorized military actions – a limit which the Justice Department had said in 1980 was constitutional.^[185][186] The State Department publicly took the position in June 2011 that there was no "hostility" in Libya within the meaning of the War Powers Resolution, contrary to legal interpretations by the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.^[187][188] The State Department requested (but never received) express Congressional authorization.^[188][189] The US House of Representatives voted to rebuke the administration for maintaining an American presence with the NATO operations in Libya, which they considered a violation of the War Powers Resolution.^[190][191]

Clinton also saw the potential political changes in the Mideast as an opportunity for an even more fundamental change to take place, that being the empowerment of women (something Newsweek magazine saw as Clinton's categorical imperative).^[58] She made remarks to this effect in countries such as Egypt – "If a country doesn't recognize minority rights and human rights, including women's rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible" – as well as in Yemen, where she spoke of the story of the present Nujood Ali and her campaign against forced marriage at a young age.^[58] At home, Clinton was even more expansive, looking on a worldwide basis: "I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century. We see women and girls across the world who are oppressed and violated and demeaned and degraded and denied so much of what they are entitled to as our fellow human beings."^[58] She also maintained that the well-being of women in other countries was a direct factor in American self-interest: "This is a big deal for American values and for American foreign policy and our interests, but it is also a big deal for our security. Because where women are disempowered and dehumanized, you are more likely to see not just antidemocratic forces, but extremism that leads to security challenges for us."^[58] She subsequently elaborated upon this theme, saying "A lot of the work I do here in the State Department on women's or human-rights issues is not just because I care passionately – which I do – but because I see it as [a way] to increase security to fulfill American interests. These are foreign-policy and national-security priorities for me."^[66]

In the midst of this turmoil, which also included Clinton pledging government-level support to Japan in the wake of the devastating

Clinton continued to poll high, with a September 2011 Bloomberg News poll finding her with a 64 percent favorable rating, the highest of any political figure in the nation.^[206] A third of those polls said that Clinton would have been a better president than Obama, but when asked the likelihood she would stage a campaign against the president, she said, "It's below zero. One of the great things about being secretary of state is I am out of politics. I am not interested in being drawn back into it by anybody."^[207]

Following the October 2011 announcement by Obama that the

In November 2011, Clinton declared, in both a speech at the East–West Center and in an article published in Foreign Policy magazine, that the 21st century would be "America's Pacific century".^[217][218] The term played on the notion of the "Pacific Century". Clinton said, "It is becoming increasingly clear that, in the 21st century, the world's strategic and economic center of gravity will be the Asia-Pacific, from the Indian subcontinent to western shores of the Americas."^[217] The declaration was part of the Obama administration's "pivot to Asia" after the focus of the decade of the 2000s on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.^[217][218]

When the

In early December 2011, Clinton made the first visit to

As the year closed, Clinton was again named by Americans in Gallup's most admired man and woman poll as the woman around the world they most admired; it was her tenth win in a row and sixteenth overall.^[225]

2012

In a State Department town hall meeting on January 26, 2012, Clinton indicated her desire to remove herself from "the high wire of American politics" after twenty tiring years of being on it and added, "I have made it clear that I will certainly stay on until the president nominates someone and that transition can occur."

In February 2012, a spokesman for Clinton denied again that Clinton wanted the president of the World Bank job, saying, "She has said this is not happening. Her view has not changed."^[235]

At a keynote speech before the International Crisis Group, the secretary brought her view regarding the empowerment of women specifically into the area of peacemaking, saying that women's multifaceted ties with a community make them more compelled to concern about social and quality of life issues that prosper under peacetime conditions. Furthermore, women identify more with minority groups, being discriminated against themselves. Thus, "Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world. It is past time for women to take their rightful place, side by side with men, in the rooms where the fates of peoples, where their children's and grandchildren's fates, are decided."^[66] She also continued to believe that empowerment of women would continue to grow as people saw that it would lead to economic growth.^[236]

In April 2012, an

A late April/early May 2012 trip to China found Clinton in the middle of a drama involving blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng. He had escaped house arrest and, after finding his way to the Embassy of the United States, Beijing, requested an arrangement whereby he could stay in China with guarantees for his safety. After a deal towards that end fell through, he requested a seat on Clinton's plane when she flew back to the U.S. After further negotiations in parallel with the existing agenda of Clinton's trip, Chen left for the U.S. after Clinton's departure.^[242] Clinton had negotiated personally with senior Chinese diplomat Dai Bingguo in order to get the deal back in place.^[148] Despite an environment that had, as one aide said, "exploded into an absolute circus", Clinton managed to find a path for the U.S. that kept China from losing face and kept the overall agenda of the meetings intact.^[2]

Following the June 2012 killing of high-ranking al Qaeda figure

On September 11, 2012, an

The attack, and questions surrounding the U.S. Government's preparedness for it, and explanations for what had happened afterward, became a political firestorm in the U.S., especially in the context of the ongoing presidential election.^[261] The State Department had previously identified embassy and personnel security as a major challenge in its budget and priorities report.^[262] On the September 20, Clinton gave a classified briefing to U.S. Senators,^[263] which several Republican attendees criticized, angry at the Obama administration's rebuff of their attempts to learn details of the Benghazi attack, only to see that information published the next day in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.^[264] She did announce the formation of an Accountability Review Board panel, chaired by longtime diplomat Thomas R. Pickering and vice-chaired by retired Admiral and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen, to investigate the attack from the State Department's viewpoint.^[265]

On October 15, regarding the question of preparedness, Clinton said she was accountable: "I take responsibility. I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. ... I take this very personally. So we're going to get to the bottom of it, and then we're going to do everything we can to work to prevent it from happening again."^[261] Regarding the different explanations afterward for what had happened, she said, "In the wake of an attack like this, in the fog of war, there's always going to be confusion. And I think it is absolutely fair to say that everyone had the same intelligence. Everyone who spoke tried to give the information that they had. As time has gone on, that information has changed. We've gotten more detail, but that's not surprising. That always happens."^[261]

On November 6, 2012, Obama was re-elected for a second term as president. Clinton said shortly before the election that she would stay on until her successor was confirmed, but that "this is not an open-ended kind of time frame."^[266] Despite her continuing to express a lack of interest, speculation continued about Clinton as a possible candidate in the 2016 presidential election.^[236][266] A poll taken in Iowa, the first state in the nomination process, showed that in a hypothetical 2016 caucuses contest, Clinton would have 58 percent support, with Vice President Biden coming in next at 17 percent.^[267]

Later in November, Clinton traveled to Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Cairo, meeting with leaders

On December 19, the Pickering–Mullen Accountability Review Board report on the Benghazi matter was released.[273] It was sharply critical of State Department officials in Washington for ignoring requests for more guards and safety upgrades, and for failing to adapt security procedures to a deteriorating security environment.^[274] It explicitly criticized the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs:^[275] "Systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department ... resulted in a special mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place."^[273] Four State Department officials were removed from their posts as a consequence, including Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell (who resigned completely), a deputy assistant secretary for embassy security, Charlene R. Lamb, and a deputy assistant secretary for North Africa, Raymond Maxwell.^[275] The report did not criticize more senior officials in the department; Pickering said: "We fixed it at the assistant secretary level, which is, in our view, the appropriate place to look, where the decision-making in fact takes place, where, if you like, the rubber hits the road."^[275] Clinton said in a letter to Congress that she accepted the conclusions of the Pickering–Mullen report,^[274] and a State Department task force was formed to implement some sixty action items recommended by the report.^[276] On December 20, the Deputy Secretary of State, William J. Burns, and the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Thomas R. Nides, testified in her place before two Congressional committees, and said that many of the report's recommendations would be in place before year-end.^[276] Clinton planned to testify herself in January.^[272]

The Benghazi matter also had an effect on Clinton's successor as Secretary of State. Obama's first choice was Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice,^[277] but she came under heavy criticism from Congressional Republicans for what they felt were incorrect or deceptive statements in the aftermath of the attack, and by mid-December she withdrew her name from consideration.^[278] Obama then nominated Senator John Kerry for the position instead.^[279] By one report, Clinton had preferred Kerry over Rice all along anyway.^[280] Although still not well enough to attend the December 21 announcement of Kerry's nomination, Clinton was described by Obama as being "in good spirits" and, in a statement, praised Kerry as being of the "highest caliber".^[279]

Clinton was scheduled to return to work the week of December 31,

Clinton returned to work at the State Department on January 7. The illness put an end to her days of travel in the job.^[284][285] She finished with 112 countries visited, making her the most widely traveled secretary of state in history.^[284] Her total of 956,733 air miles ended up falling short of Condoleezza Rice's record for total mileage.^[284] That total, 1,059,207, was bolstered late in Rice's tenure by repeated trips to the Middle East.^[234][286] Clinton traveled during 401 days, with 306 of those spent in actual diplomatic meetings, and spent the equivalent of 87 full days on airplanes.^[284][285] Compared to other recent secretaries, Clinton traveled more broadly, with fewer repeat visits to certain countries.^[285]

On January 23, Clinton finally gave more than five hours of testimony on the Benghazi matter before hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.^[287] She said with a choking voice, "For me, this is not just a matter of policy, it's personal. I stood next to President Obama as the Marines carried those flag-draped caskets off the plane at Andrews. I put my arms around the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters."^[288] She again accepted formal responsibility for the departmental security lapses that led to the attack and deaths, but in explanation did not accept personal blame for them.^[289] She said, "I feel responsible for the nearly 70,000 people who work for the State Department. But the specific security requests pertaining to Benghazi, you know, were handled by the security professionals in the department. I didn't see those requests. They didn't come to me. I didn't approve them. I didn't deny them."^[289] She did acknowledge that she had supported keeping the Benghazi consulate open after an earlier debate about its deteriorating security, but said she had assumed the security personnel involved would address any issues with it.^[289]

Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican associated with the Tea Party movement, questioned her repeatedly on a different aspect, whether Ambassador to the UN Rice had misled the public after the attacks. This line drew the fieriest response from Clinton, who with voice raised and fists shaking, responded, "With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator."^[287] Other Republicans also attacked Clinton, with Representative Jeff Duncan accusing her of "national security malpractice" and Senator Rand Paul saying that the president should have dismissed her from her job for having failed to read security-related cables coming into the State Department^[287] (she had said there are over a million cables that come into the department and they are all formally addressed to her). Senator John McCain said that while "It's wonderful to see you in good health and as combative as ever", he was unsatisfied with her answers.^[289]

Clinton also took the opportunity to address the ongoing

The next day, January 24, Clinton introduced John Kerry before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as hearings were held on his nomination to succeed her. She called him "the right choice to carry forward the Obama Administration's foreign policy", and called out his testimony before the same committee in 1971 in opposition to the Vietnam War as "speaking hard truths about a war that had gone badly off track."^[290]

On January 27, 60 Minutes aired a joint interview with Obama and Clinton. The interview was Obama's idea and was the first he had done with a member of his administration.^[291] In it, Obama consistently praised Clinton's performance in the position, saying "I think Hillary will go down as one of the finest secretary of states we've had."^[292] Both said the relationship between them had been very comfortable, and that getting past their 2008 primary campaign battles had not been difficult for them personally.^[291] Regarding her health, Clinton said, "I still have some lingering effects from falling on my head and having the blood clot. But the doctors tell me that will all recede. And so, thankfully, I'm looking forward to being at full speed."^[292]

On January 29, Clinton held a global and final town hall meeting, the 59th of her tenure.^[293] Also on January 29, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Kerry's nomination unanimously and the full Senate confirmed the nomination by a 94–3 vote.^[294] In her final public speech, on January 31 before the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton returned to the themes of "smart power".^[295] She suggested that a new architecture was needed for relations within the world, giving an analogy of Frank Gehry compared to ancient Greek architecture: "Some of his work at first might appear haphazard, but in fact, it's highly intentional and sophisticated. Where once a few strong columns could hold up the weight of the world, today we need a dynamic mix of materials and structures."^[296] She added, echoing Madeleine Albright,^[297] "... we are truly the indispensable nation, it's not meant as a boast or an empty slogan. It's a recognition of our role and our responsibilities. That's why all the declinists are dead wrong. It's why the United States must and will continue to lead in this century even as we lead in new ways."^[295][298]

Clinton's final day as secretary was February 1, 2013, when she met with Obama to hand in her letter of resignation and later gave farewell remarks in a meeting with employees at State Department headquarters.^[299]

Overall themes and legacy

Although Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State was popular at the time among the public and praised by President Obama, observers have noted that there was no signature diplomatic breakthrough during it nor any transformative domination of major issues in the nature of

The divisions between Obama and Clinton that many observers had originally predicted, never happened.

Obama later referred to the Libya intervention when questioned about his worst mistake.[304] Obama asserted that he had been reluctant to intervene but that intervention had been championed by Clinton and Susan Rice.^[304] Obama cited the lack of preparation the Administration had made for a post-Gaddafi Libya, lack of followup by European countries and greater-than-expected intertribal divisions in Libya.^[305] However, Clinton's stance is that the intervention was beneficial because it avoided another Syria-like scenario.^[305]

Clinton's background as an elected politician showed in her touch for dealing with people, in remembering personal connections, in visiting State Department staff when overseas, and in sympathizing with the dilemmas of elected foreign leaders.^[2] It sometimes served to her detriment though, such as in Egypt when her personal relationship with the Mubaraks may have caused her to initially back them too long during the Egyptian Revolution.^[2] At least until the Benghazi matter, she retained personal support among a number of Republicans; in mid-2012, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said, "I think she's represented our nation well. She is extremely well respected throughout the world, handles herself in a very classy way and has a work ethic second to none."^[2]

Especially in the Mideast turmoil but elsewhere as well, Clinton saw an opportunity to advance one of the central themes of her tenure, the empowerment and welfare of women and girls worldwide.^[58] Moreover, she viewed women's rights and human rights as critical for U.S. security interests,^[66] as part of what has become known as the "Hillary Doctrine".^[306] Former State Department director and coordinator Theresa Loar said in 2011 that, "I honestly think Hillary Clinton wakes up every day thinking about how to improve the lives of women and girls. And I don't know another world leader who is doing that."^[307] In turn, there was a trend of women around the world finding more opportunities, and in some cases feeling safer, as the result of her actions and visibility.^[308]

A mid-2012

According to the

During 2014, the State Department failed to turn over documents to the Associated Press that it had asked for through a Freedom of Information Act request based on the possibility of Clinton running for president in 2016. The department said it "does its best to meet its FOIA responsibilities" but that it was under a heavy administrative load for such requests.^[313]

The ethics agreement between the State Department and Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation that was put into force at the beginning of the secretary's tenure came under scrutiny from the news media during early 2015. A

In early March 2015, a

In response to the attention, Clinton said she had in December 2014 turned over 55,000 pages of e-mails to the State Department following their request and that she now wanted them made public.[326] These 55,000 printed pages accounted for 30,490, or slightly less than half, of the 62,320 emails that Clinton had sent or received on her private email account during her time as secretary.^[328] At a press conference Clinton said she had set up the separate server as a matter of convenience so that she could carry one device and not two, but that in retrospect "it would have been better if I'd simply used a second email account and carried a second phone".^[329] She said that she had sent mails to State Department employees on their government accounts, ensuring such mails would be preserved, but it then turned out that the department did not automatically or routinely save such mails.^[330] After the revelations, questions were raised about whether Clinton, when she resigned in February 2013, had signed Form OF-109, a standard document declaring that she had turned over all work-related records. After searching, the State Department said it had "no record" that Clinton had signed the form, were "fairly certain" that she had not, and that it appeared neither of her two immediate predecessors as secretary had either.^[331] According to the text of the form, it warns individuals signing it that falsification is subject to criminal penalties under Section 1001 of Title 18.^[332]

A portion of the emails on Clinton's private server were emails sent in 2011 and 2012 by Sidney Blumenthal, a political supporter and campaign staffer who worked for the Clinton Foundation. Blumenthal prepared, from public and other sources, about 25 memos which he sent to Clinton during 2011 and 2012 which she shared through her aide, Jake Sullivan, with senior State Department personnel. In the form of intelligence briefings, the memos sometimes touted his business associates and, at times contained inaccurate information.^[333][334]

In August 2015, it was reported that Clinton had personally paid a State Department staffer, Bryan Pagliano, who had previously served as IT director for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, to maintain her private server while she was Secretary of State.^[335][336] According to a Clinton campaign official, this ensured that taxpayer dollars would not be spent on a private server that was shared by Clinton, her husband and their daughter, as well as several aides to the former president.^[335] On September 1, 2015, Pagliano's attorney sent letters to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which had subpoenaed Pagliano, and to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was inquiring about Pagliano's outside employment while a Federal employee, informing the committees that his client would invoke his constitutional Fifth Amendment rights not to answer any questions from the committees,^[335][336] and on September 10, in a closed-door session before the Benghazi Committee, Pagliano personally appeared to invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to testify before the committee.^[337]

Mishandling of classified information

On July 23, 2015,