The United States is allowing a ship carrying Scud missiles from North Korea to Yemen to continue to its destination, Secretary of State Colin Powell said December 11.

The ship was stopped and boarded December 10 by Spanish and U.S. sailors.

"The Spanish stopped the ship, we searched it and discovered as we had suspected that there were Scud missiles aboard that had come from North Korea, one of the great proliferators on the face of the earth," Powell said.

"And we have been making this case and pointing this case out to the world that there was a danger from this country proliferating this kind of technology. But at the same time, we recognized that it was going to a country that we have good relations with.

"And after a flurry of phone calls, and after getting assurances directly from the president of Yemen, President Salih, that this was the last of a group of shipments that go back some years and had been contracted for some years ago, this would be the end of it and we had assurances that these missiles were for Yemeni defensive purposes and under no circumstances would they be going anywhere else.

"And on that basis, and also in acknowledgement of the fact that it was on international water and it was a sale that was out in the open and consistent with international law, a little while ago we directed the ship to continue to its destination. And I conveyed that to the president of Yemen just a little while ago," Powell said.

The secretary was speaking at a December 11 luncheon at the State Department where he received the 2002 Walter and Leonore Annenberg Award for Excellence in Diplomacy, presented by The American Academy of Diplomacy -- a private, non-profit, non-partisan, elected society of men and women who have held positions of major responsibility in the formulation and implementation of American diplomacy.

Also awarded were James C. Lehrer of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer who received the academy's 2002 Media Award, and John Boykin who received its 2002 Book Award for his book "Cursed is the Peacemaker."

In his remarks, Powell also discussed Iraq, China, Russia, and the importance of diplomacy to the people of the United States.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, D.C.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell at the American Academy of Diplomacy Annual Awards Presentation Luncheon
December 11, 2002

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you so very much, Dick, for presenting me with this award. But beyond that, let me also take this opportunity to thank you for your friendship and your support and your understanding over the years. And congratulations on your assuming leadership of the Committee, and I look forward to working with you very closely as we have in the past in the months and years ahead.

Ambassador Sisco, Ambassador Laingen, and many other distinguished guests present, if I ever started around the room we would be here for the rest of the afternoon because as I look around the room, a good part of my life passes before my eyes, whether it's Jim Lehrer, who yea, verily did put me on television one terrifying afternoon about 15 years ago when Carlucci found some tennis game he had to play and he shipped me off to, (laughter) to your show -- Frank did that a lot -- (laughter), or whether it is Frank and his mentorship over the years or the Oakleys, or so many others in the room who have been an influence in my life over the years. And so this award means a lot to me because it comes in the name of the diplomatic service, it comes from people who have been great public servants to the nation over the years.

I am privileged to be a member of this Academy, although currently in an inactive status, and I look forward to the day when I'm allowed by the ethics counselors to return to an active status, and I'm especially pleased to be able to receive this award alongside Mr. Lehrer and Mr. Boykin, who has written a tremendously successful book and I hope it does very, very well.

What's also especially moving for me is that I've got lots of military medals and other kinds of awards, but this is an award for taking care of the Diplomatic Service. I say Diplomatic Service because I don't always see it just in terms of the Foreign Service, I see it in terms, also, of our technicians, our foreign service nationals and the civil servants who come here everyday to serve the nation.

When I first came into the Department, I spent a long time getting ready. My good friend Tom Pickering was an enormous help in the transition period. And my wife warned me, nay, she threatened me -- it is not a military unit, it is not an infantry battalion or a corps. You are no longer in the Army. Don't have them call you General and don't act like a general.

Yes, dear. (Laughter.)

I came to work, and I immediately forgot everything she had told me. Because as soon as I walked into the Truman Building on the ground floor and saw the people who were waiting to greet me, I felt like I was back in a family, back in a unit, back with people who were serving their nation just as those soldiers I was privileged to serve with for 35 years were serving their nation; people who were just as dedicated, just as committed. People who go in harm's way everyday.

And I walked past a wall that showed the names of those that had lost their lives in the Diplomatic Service of their nation as a result of accidents or hostile acts, and I knew that I was taking over an organization that was facing dangers around the world. And I believed that I had an obligation, all the other members of the team coming in with me had an obligation, to do everything we could to support them and to serve them.

And so I say to my staff all the time and senior members of my staff convey this throughout the Department that we represent the foreign policy establishment. I'm the principal Foreign Policy Advisor to the President, but I'm also the Chief Executive Officer of this Department, and it is my responsibility to fight for the resources that the men and women of the Diplomatic Service need in order to do their job.

Whether it's the right compensation, whether it's the right promotion system, whether it's insurance for foreign service technicians, there is nothing that we will not get involved in at the most senior level of this Department if it helps put our people in the best position to do the job, and to let them know that the American people honor them, respect them and are going to give them what they need to do their job. And they're doing a great job. They're doing a marvelous job.

All of you have been in missions. You have traveled around the world. I don't have to recount for you the kinds of challenges that they face out there. I don't have to spend a lot of time describing to you the thrill that comes from going to an embassy and standing in a "meet and greet," and seeing these wonderful foreign service nationals and civil servants -- people from so many departments but also, of course, the core of it the Foreign Service itself, and to see how proud they are to serve America. And the mission I give to all of them is to represent us well.

The face of America is not the Secretary of State, it's not even the ambassador, it's each and every one of those employees who, everyday goes out and by their very person represent the values, the ambitions, the beliefs of the American people to another country, and they do it so well. And I am proud to be a member of that team and I will do everything I can to make sure they have what they need.

I would be remiss if I did not thank Senator Lugar and all the other members of Congress who are here present for the support that they have provided to my team over the last almost two years now. We have gotten tremendous support from Congress. Congress understands the importance of the Diplomatic Service. Congress understands the need to invest in it. We're doing everything we can to break down any green doors that used to exist between Congress and the members of the Department. I want all of my Assistant Secretaries and Under Secretaries up on the Hill talking to members of Congress, educating the American people directly and through members of Congress.

We put an office up on the Hill in the House of Representatives. And I'm in a little, small war I may need your help with, Dick, to get an office on the Senate side. Why? I want to provide constituent servants to members of Congress on the Hill. The House office is doing great, the Senate office will do great -- all for the purpose of showing our people that we are linked with our legislature and we are linked with the American people. They're doing a great job and we need them to do a great job because the challenges before us as we enter this 21st century are great challenges, important challenges, challenges we must meet.

As all of you also know, your day tends to be driven by the crisis de jour. I'm sorry I was a little late getting up here, but this was supposed to be and easy day. Yesterday and the day before, my staff had filled every available hour with a meeting with somebody. Today was a nice, relaxed day until about a quarter to seven. (Laughter.) And then it began.

We had a couple of situations that had to be dealt with. First, there was a ship that you all have been reading about carrying Scud missiles from North Korea. And with the help of our Spanish friends -- coalition, alliance working together -- that multinational interdiction effort -- the Spanish stopped the ship, we searched it and discovered as we had suspected that there were Scud missiles aboard that had come from North Korea, one of the great proliferators on the face of the earth.

And we have been making this case and pointing this case out to the world that there was a danger from this country proliferating this kind of technology. But at the same time, we recognized that it was going to a country that we have good relations with. And after a flurry of phone calls, and after getting assurances directly from the President of Yemen, President Salih, that this was the last of a group of shipments that go back some years and had been contracted for some years ago, this would be the end of it and we had assurances that these missiles were for Yemeni defensive purposes and under no circumstances would they be going anywhere else.

And on that basis, and also in acknowledgement of the fact that it was on international water and it was a sale that was out in the open and consistent with international law, a little while ago we directed the ship to continue to its destination. And I conveyed that to the President of Yemen just a little while ago.

So that was part of the morning. The other part of the morning was following up on UN Resolution 1441. It's the Resolution that your diplomats in New York did a great job, along with a terrific backup team here in Washington, State, NSC, Pentagon, all coming together to get a 15 to 0 vote on that Iraqi resolution. It had tough standards in it: acknowledge receipt of the resolution within eight days. The Iraqis did that. Provide a declaration within 30 days. The Iraqis did that with a day to spare.

We have no illusions that suddenly Iraq has seen the error of its ways. They're responding in this way because it was a 15 to 0 vote. The entire international community is unified behind the disarmament of Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. And the other reason they did it was a threat of force, the certain knowledge that if they do not cooperate, if they don't come clean this time, then force will be used to make sure that they are disarmed.

The declaration came in on Sunday night, late, and there's a bit of controversy about that, but the simple answer is that with this 12,000 page document, it was important that we go through this 12,000 page document to make sure that before it was widely distributed, it didn't contain information that might tell someone how to proliferate either a chemical or biological or nuclear technology or capability. It was sensible to do.

And under the leadership of the President of the Security Council this month being the Colombian Permanent Representative in New York, we worked out an arrangement. It was both a technical arrangement and a sound policy arrangement. The technical arrangement was, how do you duplicate a 12,000 page document quickly. It was here in the United States, we had the capacity to do that and we volunteered to use our assets to reproduce that document.

And the second question was, how do you review it quickly to make sure that you have identified things you don't want to make too widely known, but at the same time, be faithful to the resolution. And the decision that was made by the Colombian Presidency with our full support was that the United States would reproduce it, provide it to all of the Permanent Members of the Security Council who have the experience and the ability to make judgments about these kinds of technologies. And as soon as it has been reviewed for that purpose, make it available to the ten elected members of the Security Council. So all fifteen would have that which we believe it appropriate for all fifteen to have.

It was a sound judgment and within 24 hours, we had accomplished the first part and the documents were on the way back to the Permanent Members of the Security Council. All five of us are now reviewing it along with UNMOVIC and IAEA. And as soon as that review is completed and we have properly protected anything in there that should not be widely distributed, then that document will be made available to all members of the Security Council and it will not be a problem, I don't think, notwithstanding some controversy about it.

This is a typical day in the life of a Secretary of State. When you find yourself almost an action officer rather than Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the United States. But we make sure that even in the course of the day, as we're dealing with the crisis of the hour or the crisis of the moment, we keep our eye on the bigger picture. We don't just let ourselves get dragged into the problems. We look at the opportunities that are ahead of us. We look at the challenges that are out there. And we look at these challenges as to how to convert them into opportunities, how to take advantage of them. And I think we've been relatively successful.

A couple were touched on earlier. We have got now a good, solid, sound relationship with the Russian Federation. A good colleague, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation is here. The President and President Putin have met a number of times. We dealt with some very difficult issues. A spy issue that I will not belabor, Mr. Ambassador.

From that, we dealt with the Treaty of Moscow, which reduced our strategic weapons and we did it at the same time removing the ABM Treaty as an irritant in the relationship. And people were saying, the United States is acting in a unilateral way and it's going to break up the relationship with Russia and then, in turn, affect our relationship with Europe. We worked our way through that, came through it with the Treaty of Moscow and with a stronger strategic relationship than we had before, and with that irritant in the relationship behind us.

Same thing with China. Not looking to make China an enemy. China is moving in a new direction. We still have concerns about its human rights policies. We have concerns about some of its proliferation activity. But at the same time, we treat China as a developing, mature country that has economic needs and let's embrace it in the global economic system. And sooner or later, China will see the benefit of shaping its policies to make it a better partner in the international community. And I think we have as good a relationship with China as has existed in many years.

We're going after major challenges -- an open trading system, Free Trade Area of the Americas, a Community of Democracy here in the Americas, going after HIV/AIDS. We're the ones who started the effort last year with Kofi Annan to develop a global health fund for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and malaria, one of the greatest scourges on the face of the earth right now.

Starting the WTO Round again. That's another initiative that I think we can take some credit for. The enlargement of NATO, working with EU to see if we can get Turkish accession, or a date for accession in the near future. These are not examples of unilateralism. These are examples of multilateralism. These are examples of the United States understanding the importance of friends and allies around the world, and working to develop such alliances, but always doing it from the standpoint of our own principles of what we believe is in the best interest of the United States.

So I think this is an exciting time for us to be assembled here. It's an exciting time for me to have the privilege of being the Secretary of State and the privilege of supporting a terrific President who has captured, I believe, the value system of the American people and is conveying it to the world, and a wonderful time for me to have the opportunity to serve as the CEO of the men and women of the State Department who are serving this nation so proudly.

It is an honor for me to, once again, be given the chance to command. We'll take care of them. We'll reward them. We'll make sure they know that the American people love them. And I accept this award this afternoon, not on my behalf, but on behalf of each and every one of those great men and women who are serving the nation in our Diplomatic Service.

Thank you so much.