Bush taps Rice

WASHINGTON — President Bush named Condoleezza Rice as his new secretary of state on Tuesday, continuing the metamorphosis of his foreign policy team by elevating a black daughter of the segregated South to one of the world's elite government jobs.

"The secretary of state is America's face to the world," Bush said during the announcement in the White House Roosevelt Room. "And in Dr. Rice the world will see the strength, the grace and the decency of our country."

And at State Department headquarters in Washington's Foggy Bottom area, employees will see a new boss more finely attuned to the president's way of thinking than was the old boss, Colin Powell. Bush and Rice both paid tribute to Powell, whose resignation was announced Monday, ending a tenure in which he often was a voice of moderation against a backdrop of administration hawks including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has deflected questions about whether he will be around for the second term.

Perhaps seeking to allay skepticism from some at the State Department who might be concerned about the arrival of a top presidential confidant, Rice took care to offer words of praise for the "great people of the Foreign Service and the Civil Service" at the department.

"One of my highest priorities as secretary will be to ensure that they have all the tools necessary to carry American diplomacy forward in the 21st century," she said.

Also Tuesday, Bush announced his selection of Stephen Hadley to replace Rice as national security adviser. Hadley has been serving as Rice's top deputy. In another change at the State Department, Richard Armitage, Powell's top deputy, will be leaving.

The changes — and more to come — are part of a second-term merry-go-round now spinning at the White House. It began last week with the resignations of Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Attorney General John Ashcroft and continued Monday with the announcements of the resignations of Powell, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Education Secretary Rod Paige.

Bush is expected to name longtime aide and White House Domestic Policy Adviser Margaret Spellings as his new secretary of education, a decision that could be announced as soon as Wednesday.

In putting Rice at the State Department, and with Spellings' expected appointment, Bush continued a developing trend of placing White House insiders in key agencies. Last week, he named White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to replace Ashcroft at the Justice Department.