1 The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign ...

people who had worked with him, like Leon Fuerth, in the Senate. The Senate network
was very important. Leon Fuerth was a very good friend of mine, for example. I helped
him get a job on the Hill in the first instance – I was one of the very first to go to the Hill
in the Vietnam period, resigning from the State Department over Vietnam. A number of
others came to the Hill, for a variety of reasons, including Vietnam. Some came to the
Hill simply to have a new direction.
Dick Moose, who was head of State Department administration in previous
administrations, was back in that job. Brian Atwood, who had been a Senate aide when I
was in the Senate, was headed for AID, and he was in charge of personnel appointments.
He did the systematic work of reviewing resumes and evaluating qualities, and rankings. I
was very much involved, as you know, in Soviet matters during the period of perestroika,
as head of the International Foundation, the American Committee on U.S.-Soviet
Relations, and was being considered for either Moscow or Ukraine. Ukraine became a
very serious problem because of its nuclear arsenal, I was asked to consider going to
Ukraine, and this suggestion was made rather early, starting, I’d say, in December or
January after the election in November, because of the real concern about the disposition
of this third largest nuclear arsenal in the world. I said, “I’m more informed about what is
now Russia,” what had become Russia, but Ukraine sounded like a very interesting and
important challenge.
By January, they had made their minds up about who was going to the major embassies,
and the major positions in the departments had been chosen. Most positions went down
about three or four layers. There weren’t all that many of the 3,200 so-called “plums” for
executive appointment. There are really not that many, given the enormous size of our
government. The network of people who had been involved in the campaign, had worked
in the legislature with these people, had been involved in one way or another in their lives
over several decades, number three or four times that. The network of people who could
have a chance to be given a position number about 20,000 people who could appointed.
Far less than that, a few thousand, and you reduce that by a quarter and you have the key
ones. In the case of State, the secretary and the major assistant sec down to assistant
secretary, the key embassies, and everything else, filters out over time. So I was told very
early that I would be appointed ambassador and I began the lengthy arduous process of
filling out the security clearances and the financial statements. The full process takes at
least several months. The actual vetting of the forms, particularly the financial statements,
were done by the lawyers in Clinton’s White House. They were from Clinton’s Arkansas
group. Even though it was a routine matter it took considerable time. The Senate, of
course, had its processes of review, hearings and confirmation.
By June all the security and background vetting had been done and preparations were
made for the Senate hearings and the formalities of swearing in.
Q: Did you have any problem on the hearings?
MILLER: No, the hearings were a delight. Most of these hearings for confirmation, in
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