The Truth and Nothing but the Truth--But Sometimes Not the Whole Truth

Mr. Kralev: Mr. Secretary, does the need to keep secrets and not disclose confidential information lead to misleading, or even deceiving, reporters?

Mr. Rubin: I try to avoid that--it's one of my big challenges. I don't believe I have ever deliberately misled or deceived a journalist. I think what I've said is that my job is to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, but sometimes not the whole truth, because there are diplomatic exchanges or intelligence information that guide our policy and that we may not be able to talk about for very good reasons. And if I get to that point, I try to just simply stop talking if saying more would mislead or deceive. Journalists know that there are things I'm not going to talk about: whether it's a covert operation or a piece of intelligence or the timing of a military operation.

K: How is your interaction with the reporters at the State Department different from your experience at the United Nations, where you spent four years with Secretary Madeleine Albright?

R: One of the big differences is that the United Nations is a microcosm of the world, and there are media representatives of all major countries. One of the things you learn very quickly--and it took me longer than it probably should have--is how much reporters learn from diplomats and from each other about what goes on: The French representatives tell the French press what's going on, the British tell the British journalists. So, often, American journalists would get information from their British, French, or Russian colleagues. It took me awhile to realize how few secrets there were at the U.N. and how important it was for the United States to explain its positions quickly rather than wait to have them caricatured by others.

At the State Department, there are only U.S. officials. On the other hand, in Washington you have the same phenomenon of having ambassadors from all countries, and they often operate the same way.

K: How do you deal with reporters on the plane during a foreign trip?

R: The plane is one of the worst experiences for someone in my job and the part that I hate most. We take twelve highly intelligent journalists who feel that they have quite important jobs, and we put them in the back of the plane and treat them like luggage for a week and then wonder why they are grumpy. I recognize that often, when we are engaged in negotiations, there could be a lot of tension. There is a real art of keeping them happy in the sense of getting them the information they need and not interfering with what the mission might be. The hardest cases are things like the Middle East peace process because they have deadlines to write stories and we don't have a deadline for an agreement. And if we help them write their stories, we might reduce the chances of getting the agreement.

K: To what extent has the PR and celebrity element, which sometimes seems to take precedence in the media, taken away the substance of what your job is about?

R: One of the problems is that we in government feel that if we don't have an immediately available position and analysis about events around the world, there is a tendency to give a lot of attention to stories like "Administration surprised by development X," or "Administration at a loss to respond to development Y," or "Administration in disarray" because one part of the government said something slightly different from another part. That tends to generate in us the unfortunate premium of simply saying the same...