Condoleezza Rice is an academic and government official who was the second woman and the first African American woman to hold the post of U.S. Secretary of State (2005–09). Prior to becoming secretary of State under President George Bush, Rice served as a national security adviser (2001–05). She describes herself as a moderate Republican. Currently, Rice is the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution and professor of political science at Stanford University.

As secretary of state, Rice initiated several innovative policy moves, which included dedicating her department to “Transformational Diplomacy.” This focused on building and sustaining democratic, well-governed states around the world (and the Middle East, in particular). Among the strategies implemented were the relocation of American diplomats to ...