Richard Armitage (government official)

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For other people with the same name, see Richard Armitage.

Richard Armitage
Harry Rowen
Personal details
Born
Richard Lee Armitage

(1945-04-26) April 26, 1945 (age 79)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseLaura Samford
Children8
RelativesIain Armitage (grandson), Euan Morton (son-in-law)
EducationUnited States Naval Academy (BS)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Navy
Years of service1967–1973
RankLieutenant
Battles/warsVietnam War

Richard Lee Armitage (born April 26, 1945) is an American former diplomat and government official. A graduate of the

U.S. Navy officer in three combat tours of duty in the Vietnam War as a riverine warfare advisor. After leaving active duty, he served in a number of civil-service roles under Republican administrations. He worked as an aide to Senator Bob Dole before serving in various posts in the Defense Department and State Department.[1]

During the

George W. Bush administration as deputy secretary of state,[1] holding the post from March 2001 to February 2005.[2]

Armitage's tenure at the State Department under Secretary Colin Powell became overshadowed by the Plame affair. Armitage acknowledged in 2006 that he leaked Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a CIA operative to columnist Robert Novak, who revealed her identity in a July 2003 column; Armitage claimed that the leak was inadvertent, said that this was a "terrible error on my part," and issued an apology.[3][4]

Early life and military career

Armitage was born in Boston, the son of Ruth H. and Leo Holmes Armitage. He graduated from

St. Pius X Catholic High School, in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1963. In 1967, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy
.

He served on a destroyer stationed off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War before volunteering to serve what would eventually become three combat tours with the riverine/advisory forces for the Republic of Vietnam Navy.[5] According to Captain Kiem Do, a Republic of Vietnam Navy officer who served with him in Vietnam, Armitage "seemed drawn like a moth to flame to the hotspots of the naval war: bedding down on the ground with Vietnamese commandos, sharing their rations and hot sauce, telling jokes in flawless Vietnamese".[6] Instead of a Naval uniform, Armitage often dressed in native garb. He adopted a Vietnamese pseudonym, "Tran Phu", which loosely translated meant "rich Navy guy".[6]

Several associates who fought alongside Armitage and other politicians (including

Ted Shackley)[7] have since claimed that Armitage was associated with the CIA's clandestine Phoenix Program.[7] Armitage has denied a role in Phoenix and has stated that at most, CIA officers would occasionally ask him for intelligence reports.[8]

In 1973, Armitage left active duty and joined the

USS Kirk, personally decided to lead the flotilla of ships over 1000 miles to shelter in Subic Bay, Philippines. This went against the wishes of both the Philippine and American governments. Nevertheless, Armitage personally arranged for food and water to be delivered by the U.S. Defense Department before negotiating with both governments for permission to dock in Subic Bay.[5][9]

Armitage is the recipient of several military decorations, including a

Combat V
.

Public service career

Armitage served as an aide to Republican

Secretary of the Army under Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, but the nomination was withdrawn the following month at Armitage's request, who cited a desire to spend more time with his large family.[11]

During the

ambassador.[1]

After leaving the government, Armitage joined the private sector as director of US data aggregation firm

ChoicePoint
.

Christic Institute and Khun Sa allegations

In 1986, Armitage was named in an affidavit filed in a civil lawsuit by the

Iran Contra Scandal.[13]

Similar charges were made in a 1987 letter from the Burmese warlord Khun Sa to the U.S. Justice Department. The letter, which was transmitted by James "Bo" Gritz, accused Armitage of organizing heroin smuggling from the Golden Triangle in the 1960s and 70s. Upon returning to the United States with this information, a key witness was held by the CIA in Oklahoma for a period of time.[14]

Armitage rebutted the charges from Sheehan and Khun Sa, observing that at dates he was said to be in Thailand, he was living in Washington D.C., working as an assistant to Senator Robert Dole.[13]

In 1988, the

attorneys fees and $79,500 in court costs.[12][15] The ruling was subsequently upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.[15]

Bush administration

NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson
meet in 2002

In 1998, Armitage signed a letter to

weapons of mass destruction.[citation needed
]

During the

Deputy Secretary of State on March 23, 2001; he was sworn in three days later. A close associate of Secretary of State Colin Powell
, Armitage was regarded, along with Powell, as a moderate within the presidential administration of George W. Bush.

Armitage tendered his resignation on November 16, 2004 to accompany Powell, who announced his resignation as Secretary of State the day before. He left the post on February 22, 2005, when Robert Zoellick succeeded to the office.

Role in Plame affair

The Plame affair was a political scandal concerning the outing of Valerie Plame as a covert intelligence operative during the administration of President George W. Bush in 2003. An American syndicated columnist, Robert Novak, had learned of her employment by the CIA from Armitage, who was then working for the State Department, and Novak had publicly identified her as the source of a recommendation given to the President in the course of her duties. Plame had to resign from the CIA because her identity was no longer secret. A criminal investigation into the revelation produced no charges against Armitage but several charges against Scooter Libby, an assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney, for lying to the investigators about the matter. Libby was convicted but his jail sentence was ultimately commuted by Bush, and he was subsequently pardoned by President Donald Trump on April 13, 2018.[17]

Armitage with President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, August 6, 2003

Armitage's defense that he had inadvertently made an off-hand remark during a probing interview with Novak, coupled with his candor and cooperation, was accepted, although the decision not to prosecute was not made until 2006. Meanwhile, the long and slow investigation played out in the press as a scandal, "the Plame Affair" or "Plamegate".

On November 15, 2005, journalist

redacted court document, suggesting he was a source for the Plame leak.[19] In August 2006, the Associated Press published a story that revealed Armitage met with Bob Woodward in mid-June 2003. The information came from official State Department calendars provided to the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.[20]

The Washington Note, Armitage had testified before the grand jury three times.[23]

Press reports continued to mount and pressure to build. On August 29, 2006,

Neil A. Lewis of The New York Times reported that Armitage was the "initial and primary source" for columnist Robert Novak's July 14, 2003 article, which named Plame as a CIA "operative" and which triggered the CIA leak investigation.[24] On August 30, 2006, CNN reported that Armitage had been confirmed "by sources" as leaking Wilson's CIA role in a "casual conversation" with Robert Novak.[25] The New York Times, quoting "people familiar with his actions", reported that Armitage was unaware of Wilson's undercover status when he spoke to Novak.[26] In the September 4, 2006 issue of Newsweek magazine, in an article titled "The Man Who Said Too Much", journalist Michael Isikoff, quoting a source "directly familiar with the conversation who asked not to be identified because of legal sensitivities", reported that Armitage was the "primary" source for Novak's piece outing Plame. Armitage allegedly mentioned Wilson's CIA role to Novak in a July 8, 2003 interview after learning about her status from a State Department memo which made no reference to her undercover status.[27] Isikoff also reported that Armitage had also told Bob Woodward of Plame's identity in June 2003, and that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
investigated Armitage's role "aggressively", but did not charge Armitage with a crime because he "found no evidence that Armitage knew of Plame's covert CIA status when he talked to Novak and Woodward".

On September 7, 2006, Armitage admitted to being the source in the CIA leak. Armitage claims that Fitzgerald had originally asked him not to discuss publicly his role in the matter, but that on September 5 Armitage asked Fitzgerald if he could reveal his role to the public, and Fitzgerald consented.[3] The Times claims that White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales was informed that Armitage was involved on October 2, 2003, but asked not to be told details. Fitzgerald began his grand jury investigation three months later knowing Armitage was a leaker (as did Attorney General John Ashcroft before turning over the investigation).

On March 6, 2007, a jury convicted

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, of "obstruction of justice, giving false statements to the FBI and perjuring himself, charges embodied in four of the five counts of the indictment".[28]
On July 2, 2007, President Bush issued a grant of executive clemency that commuted the prison term imposed on Lewis Libby.
Washington lobbyist Kenneth Duberstein, Armitage's political adviser, and William Taft IV, who was the State Department legal adviser when Armitage was deputy secretary".[30]

Pakistan and the fight against terrorism

September 11, 2001 attacks and threatened to "bomb the country [Pakistan] back to the Stone Age" unless they supported the U.S.-led fight against Islamic terrorism. Presently, Musharraf has refused to provide details, commenting that he is unable to provide details due to restrictions by the publisher (Simon & Schuster) of his book In the Line of Fire: A Memoir.[citation needed] President Bush, on the other hand, has mentioned that he only became aware of these comments as late as September 2006, when he read them in the newspapers. Armitage confirmed he had held a conversation with the Pakistani general to whom Musharraf had sourced the comments, but stated he had not used a threat of military action couched in such terms, as he was not authorized to do so.[32]

Life after government service

In October 2006, Armitage lobbied—on behalf of the

People First Party leader James Soong
.

Armitage stated in the letter that he wished the

Taiwan government would reconsider the purchase from Lockheed Martin, the dealer the United States government had designated. Instead, he hoped that the right to negotiate the purchase should be made through an open and fair bidding process.[33]
The letter was made public by PFP Legislators on October 24, 2006, in a Legislative Yuan session discussing the military purchases.[34]

In a 2009 interview, Armitage said that waterboarding, a tactic used by the CIA during the George W. Bush administration on suspected terrorists in 2002 and 2003, was torture, but that he did not believe CIA officials should be prosecuted for ordering its use. Armitage said that he did not know about the CIA torture program while he was Deputy Secretary of State, and that "I hope, had I known about it at the time I was serving, I would've had the courage to resign."[35][36]

Armitage has served on a number of boards for corporations and nonprofits. Since January 1, 2010, Armitage has been a Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the

America Abroad Media advisory board until 2014,[38] and the board of ConocoPhillips until May 2018. He also was the chairman of the Project 2049 Institute until January 2020.[39]

In the

opposed Republican Donald Trump.[40][41]

In 2020, Armitage, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."[42]

Honors and awards

Armitage received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2013.[44]

Armitage received an Honorary Doctorate from Keio University in 2017. The program is the Richard Lee Armitage Commemorative Program: Building New Foundations for the Robust Japan-United States Relationship.[45]

Personal life

Armitage and his wife Laura have eight children. He is fluent in

powerlifter and loves to play basketball.[46] He was also a football linebacker at the United States Naval Academy and a teammate of Roger Staubach. He graduated in 1967. His grandson is actor Iain Armitage
, from his daughter Lee.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Remarks to the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations: Richard L. Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State, Marc Susser, Historian of the State Department, Washington, DC, June 5, 2003.
  2. ^ Richard Lee Armitage (1945–), Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
  3. ^ a b Smith, R. Jeffrey (8 September 2006). "Armitage Says He Was Source of CIA Leak". The Washington Post. p. A03.
  4. ^ David Johnston (7 September 2006). "Armitage Says He Was the Source in C.I.A. Leak". New York Times.
  5. ^ a b ""Deputy Secretary of State Richard Lee Armitage" (bio)". WhiteHouse.gov. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  6. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-181-5
    , 1998, p. 164
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-670-03299-9
    , page 42
  8. ISBN 0-670-03299-9
    ; p. 43
  9. ^
    ISBN 0-670-03299-9
    . p. 52.
  10. ^ Shapiro, Joseph; Bartlett, Sandra (1 September 2010). "At War's End, U.S. Ship Rescued South Vietnam's Navy". All Things Considered. NPR.
  11. ^ a b c Robert Mackay (25 May 1989). "Bush withdraws nomination of Army secretary". United Press International.
  12. ^ a b "Suit Alleging Plot by Contras, CIA Dismissed : Arms-Drug Smuggling, Conspiracy Charges Unproven, Judge Says". Los Angeles Times. AP. 24 June 1988. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  13. ^
    ISSN 0040-781X
    .
  14. ^ House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hearings of July 30 and July 15, 1987
  15. ^ a b Henderson, Greg (13 January 1992). "Court lets stand $1 million award against Christic Institute". UPI. UPI. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  16. ^ Richard N. Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice Simon & Schuster, New York, 2009, p. 170
  17. ^ Karl de Vries (13 April 2018). "Trump pardons ex-Cheney aide Scooter Libby". Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  18. ^ VandeHei, Jim (14 March 2006). "Magazine: Bradlee Knows Woodward's Source on Plame". The Washington Post. p. A02. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  19. TypePad
    . Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  20. ^ "Calendars mark Armitage-Woodward meeting". NBC News. 22 August 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  21. ^ "Transcript for August 27". Meet the Press. NBC News. 27 August 2006. p. 7. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  22. ^ Bazinet, Kenneth & Meek, James Gordon (20 May 2006). "Ex-deputy secretary of state new figure in CIA leak probe". New York Daily News. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  23. ^ Clemons, Steve (19 May 2006). "Insiders: Richard Armitage Will NOT Be Indicted". The Washington Note. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  24. ^ Lewis, Neil A. (30 August 2006). "First Source of C.I.A. Leak Admits Role, Lawyer Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  25. ^ King, John & Todd, Brian (30 August 2006). "Sources: State Department official source of Plame leak". CNN.com. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  26. ^ Johnston, David (2 September 2006). "Leak Revelation Leaves Questions". The New York Times (final). p. A-1. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  27. ^ Isikoff, Michael (4 September 2006). "The Man Who Said Too Much". Newsweek National News. MSNBC.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  28. ^ Stout, David and Lewis, Neil A. (5 March 2007). "Libby Guilty of Lying in C.I.A. Leak Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Bush, George (2 July 2007). "Grant of Executive Clemency". Office of the Press Secretary. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  30. ^ Novak, Robert D. (16 October 2006). "Who Said What When: The rise and fall of the Valerie Plame 'scandal'". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  31. ^ "Musharraf: In the Line of Fire". CBS News. 21 September 2006.
  32. ^ "Richard Armitage interview" (ASX (video)). CNN.com. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007. [dead link]
  33. ^ 軍購／軍火商搶標？ 橘營指內幕重重 要蘇揆說清楚 (in Chinese). ETToday.com. 24 October 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  34. ^ 軍購案遭擋 橘委批政府與美軍火商同陣線 (in Chinese). ETToday.com. 24 October 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
  35. ^ Pamela Hess, Ex-Bush official says waterboarding is torture, Associated Press (April 15, 2009).
  36. ^ Armitage denounces harsh tactics, Associated Press (April 16, 2009).
  37. ^ http://www.the-atc.org/data/aboutus/110318ATCboardofdirectors.pdf[permanent dead link]
  38. ^ "Richard L. Armitage | AMERICA ABROAD MEDIA". americaabroadmedia.org. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  39. ^ "Introducing the Project 2049 Institute's New Chairman: The Honorable Randall G. Schriver – Project 2049 Institute". Project 2049 Institute. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  40. ^ Crowley, Michael (16 June 2016). "Exclusive: Armitage to back Clinton over Trump". Politico. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  41. ^ Blake, A. 78 Republican politicians, donors and officials who are supporting Hillary Clinton.. The Washington Post. December 7, 2016.
  42. ^ "Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden". Defending Democracy Together. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  43. ^ "Honorary Knighthoods Awarded 1997-2006". data.parliament.uk. 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  44. ^ Distinguished Graduates, U.S. Naval Academy.
  45. ^ [1]. Keio University Global Research Institute.
  46. ^ Source: Bob Woodward book.

External links

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Articles
Political offices
Preceded by Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
1981–1985 		Succeeded by
Harry Rowen
Preceded by United States Deputy Secretary of State
2001–2005 		Succeeded by
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