Talent: You know it when you see it.

OK, I feel better now.

The relatively new policy director and Undersecretary at the State Department is Jake Sullivan, a fresh faced kid by comparison to the old grey headed suits and military uniforms
listening to him with silent attention from the overflow room with tables I sat in today at the Risk and Reward Fifth annual conference of the Center for a New American Security.

He scored 100, hit the ball out of the Park. He graciously took all questions after delivering probably the most comprehensive foreign policy speech I have ever heard. It traversed continents and conflicts and noted that an ounce of prevention saves you billions over preemption, a theme echoed the day before at the USIP- US Institute for Peace.

I can't tell you how many times I have been in foreign countries watching TV from a hotel room when the US State Department spokesperson comes on- in past it was attrocious. The guy with the baldman hair plugs for example. You sit there and wonder- who the Heck thought that this or that person was so telegenic they should be the face of the State Department broadcasting to the world.
Jake Sullivan should be the Face of the State Department everywhere. He is the brightest light I have seen in this Administration. Fairly young, just a 2004 graduate of Yale Law (I am reminded and can hardly believe it that my twenty-fifth law school reunion is next year at Georgetown and I and everyone like me should get a prize for still practicing law that long)- he was a Rhodes Scholar which is a nice way to see England, and clerked for Justice Breyer. Whether or not you ideologically align with his policies (and he is open to suggestions-actually begging for some) one must admit that this is one smart young fellow- and deserves to go places. Actually apparently he already has as he noted referencing briefly his State Dept. travelogue. I am inclined to think he may be a bit on the Irish side with a name like Sullivan which makes me all the more want to high five him. I also love that the State Department actually thought of giving seeds to Afghanis to replace the poppy production. Wouldn't you rather eat than shoot up? The State Department is also taking a keen interest in domestic economic issues because a strong US economy is vital and essential to our being able to lead the world in bringing peace and prosperity. Who thought of the domestic economy being a piece of state department craftsmanship? One thinks typically of USAID and international Aid and Development as critical to stabilizing regions but rarely is it heard that the strength of the US economy is vital to world peace. They are putting the pieces together there.
If all the other pieces line up, Jake Sullivan looks Presidential- in a few years time.
And you have to love that he threw his hat in the ring working on Hillary's Presidential campaign, and works as Undersecretary to a Woman.
Many thanks to the Center for a New American Security-- what looks to be a post-partisan Blue-Red thinktank for the good of all the world.