Richard Lee Armitage (born April 26, 1945) was a distinguished naval officer, a Republican politician who was appointed the 13th United States Deputy Secretary of State at the State Department, serving from 2001 to 2005 under George W. Bush.[1] He has acknowledged that he publicly released the classified information that Valerie Plame Wilson was a secret agent for the CIA, triggering the Plame Affair, though he has said it was inadvertent.[2]
Armitage was born in Boston, but graduated from St. Pius X Catholic High School, in Atlanta, GA in 1963. In 1967 graduated from the United States Naval Academy with the rank of ensign.
He served on a destroyer stationed off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War before volunteering to serve what would eventually become three combat tours with the riverine/advisory forces for the Republic of Vietnam Navy.[3] According to Captain Kiem Do, a Republic of Vietnam Navy officer who served with him in Vietnam, Armitage "seemed drawn like a 'moth to flame' to the hotspots of the naval war: bedding down on the ground with Vietnamese commandos, sharing their rations and hot sauce, telling jokes in flawless Vietnamese."[4] Instead of a uniform, Armitage often dressed in native garb, and was nicknamed "Tran Van Phu" by the Vietnamese.[4]
Several associates who fought alongside Armitage and other politicians (including Ted Shackley)[5] have since said publicly that Armitage was associated with the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) highly controversial and clandestine Phoenix Program.[5] Armitage has denied a role in Phoenix and has stated that - at most - CIA officers would occasionally ask him for intelligence reports.[6]
In 1973, Armitage left active duty and joined the office of the U.S. Defense Attache in Saigon. Immediately prior to the fall of Saigon, he organized and led the removal of South Vietnamese naval assets and personnel from the country and out of the hands of the approaching North Vietnamese. Armitage told South Vietnamese naval officers to take their ships to a designated place in the ocean where they would be rescued by U.S. forces and their ships destroyed. When Armitage arrived at the designated location he found 30 South Vietnamese Navy ships and dozens of fishing boats and cargo ships with as many as 30,000 Vietnamese refugees.[7][8][9] With transportation options limited for removing the floating city, Armitage, aboard the destroyer USS Kirk, personally decided to lead the flotilla of ships over 1000 miles to Subic Bay, Philippines in 1975 against the wishes of both the Philippine and American governments. Armitage personally arranged for food and water to be delivered by the U.S. Defense Department before negotiating with both governments for permission to dock in Subic Bay.[3][7]
After the end of the Vietnam War Armitage moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as a consultant for the United States Department of Defense. He was almost immediately sent to serve in Tehran, Iran until November 1976. Following that posting, he moved to Bangkok and operated an import/export business in the private sector for the next two years. In 1978, he returned to the U.S. and started working as an aide to Republican SenatorBob Dole.[citation needed]
In late 1980, Armitage became a foreign policy advisor to Republican President-electRonald Reagan. Following that role, he was made a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, a high-ranking post in the Pentagon. He served in this position from 1981 to 1983.
In June 1983, he was promoted to Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy where he represented the Department of Defense in developing political-military relationships and initiatives throughout the world. He helped to spearhead U.S. Pacific security policy including the USA-Japan and U.S.-China security relationships, managed all Defense security assistance programs, and provided oversight of policies related to the law of the sea, U.S. special operations, and counter-terrorism. Armitage earned the Secretary of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.[10] He played a leading role in Middle East security policies.[citation needed] Armitage left that post in 1989 to serve as a special negotiator for the President on military bases in the Philippines, and as a mediator on water issues in the Middle East.
In 1991, he was appointed a special emissary to King Hussein of Jordan. Following that, he was sent to Europe with the title of ambassador; his assignment was to direct U.S. foreign aid to the countries that had been formed out of the fallen Soviet Union. He occupied that post until 1993, when he became the director of a US data aggregation company ChoicePoint.[11]
In 1998, Armitage signed "The Project for the New American Century" letter (PNAC Letter) to PresidentBill Clinton. The letter urged Clinton to target the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power in Iraq due to erosion of the Gulf War Coalition's containment policy and the resulting possibility that Iraq might develop weapons of mass destruction.
During the 2000 Presidential election campaign, he served as a foreign policy advisor to George W. Bush as part of a group led by Condoleezza Rice that called itself The Vulcans.[citation needed] The United States Senate confirmed him as Deputy Secretary of State on March 23, 2001; he was sworn in three days later. A close associate of Secretary of State Colin Powell, Armitage was regarded, along with Powell, as a moderate within the presidential administration of George W. Bush.
According to President Musharraf of Pakistan, shortly after 9/11, Armitage presented him with demands for assistance in the campaign against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban which were non-negotiable. Should Pakistan accept, it would be considered a United States ally. Should it decline, Pakistan would be considered an enemy. According to Musharraf, Armitage further averred that, should Pakistan decline, the United States would bomb it 'back to the Stone Age.' Armitage denies having used those words.
Armitage tendered his resignation on November 16, 2004, the day after Powell announced his resignation as Secretary of State. He left the post on February 22, 2005, when Robert Zoellick succeeded to the office.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, in an interview with CBS News60 Minutes on September 21, 2006, alleged that Armitage called an ISI general immediately after the September 11, 2001 attacks and threatened to "bomb the country (Pakistan) back to the stone age" unless they supported the US-led fight against Islamic terrorism. Presently, Musharraf has refused to provide details, commenting that he is unable to provide details due to restrictions by the publisher (Simon & Schuster) of his book In the Line of Fire: A Memoir.[citation needed]President Bush on the other hand has mentioned that he only became aware of these comments as late as September 2006, when he read them in the newspapers. Armitage confirmed he had held a conversation with the Pakistani general to whom Musharraf had sourced the comments, but denied using a threat of military action couched in such terms on the claimed basis that he was not authorized to do so.[26]
There was some media speculation that President Bush would appoint him to a key security position such as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Director of National Intelligence or Defense Secretary. As of the start of July 2007, Armitage had not re-entered public service. On May 10, 2006, he was elected to the board of directors of the ConocoPhillips oil company.
In October 2006, Armitage lobbied – on behalf of the L-3 Communications Corporation, a company providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance products – some key people in Taiwanese political circles regarding the possible sale of P-3C marine patrol aircraft to the ROC military. Those who received his personal letter included Premier Su Tseng-chang, President of the Legislative YuanWang Jin-pyng, and opposition People First Party leader James Soong.
Armitage stated in the letter that he wished the Taiwan government would reconsider the purchase from Lockheed Martin, the dealer the United States government had designated. Instead, he hoped that the right to negotiate the purchase should be made through an open and fair bidding process.[27] The letter was made public by PFP Legislators on October 24, 2006 in a Legislative Yuan session discussing the military purchases.[28]
Since January 1, 2010, Armitage has been a Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the American-Turkish Council, a Washington based, corporate membership NGO dedicated to the promotion of the strongest possible business, military and foreign policy relationship between Turkey and the United States.[29]
On 1 July 2010, Armitage was appointed an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's "for eminent service to strengthening the Australia-United States bilateral relationship".[30] He was invested with the award at a ceremony at the Australian Ambassador's residence on October 13, 2010.[citation needed]
Armitage and his wife Laura have eight children. He is fluent in Vietnamese and well versed in many other languages. He is an avid powerlifter[31] and loves to play basketball. He was also a football linebacker at the United States Naval Academy and a teammate of Roger Staubach.
| Name | Armitage, Richard |
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| Date of birth | April 26, 1945 |
| Place of birth | Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
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