Still4Hill

As everyone following the news today knows, Secretary Clinton spent most of today in the Situation Room attending a high-powered National Security Principals Meeting.   The State Department did not publish a Daily Appointment Schedule at their new website,  and this was not the only event she attended today, but there was no press coverage of her other activities.  I assure you, she was working!

I find it puzzling that the State Department goes to the trouble of designing and putting up classy-looking new website and then does not use it to promote the agenda of the Secretary of 21st Century Statecraft in the Administration of Transparency.  Not publishing a Daily Appointment Schedule (for which there is a link at the website) actually serves to foster the very damaging appearance that the Secretary is not hard at work.  It is the ultimate irony that one must visit sites other than the State Department’s Flickr account to find updated photos of her.   They seem not to understand that some people out there are ready to pounce on this absence of information and use it to her disservice, and that others are actively seeking information on what she is doing, saying, and yes, even wearing (since we have noticed her pantsuit-colored diplomacy).

*sigh*

Here are a few pictures taken today as she arrived at and left the White House with her Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills.

There are a few press release to share, however, regarding two future events on her agenda. The first being her Remarks on “Development in the 21st Century” which is scheduled for tomorrow. Here are the details.

Remarks on “Development in the 21st Century”
Secretary Clinton to Deliver Remarks on “Development in the 21st Century”

Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 5, 2010

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver remarks on “Development in the 21st Century” tomorrow, Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in Washington, D.C.

Secretary Clinton will outline how she plans to elevate and strengthen development as one of the three pillars of the nation’s foreign policy: defense, diplomacy, and development.

Nancy Birdsall, President of the Center for Global Development, will introduce Secretary Clinton.

The other event announced today is her Commemoration of the15th Anniversary of International Conference on Population and Development scheduled for Friday, January 8. Here is that announcement.

Secretary Clinton to Commemorate 15th Anniversary of International Conference on Population and Development

Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 5, 2010

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver a speech commemorating the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. in the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the Department of State.

During the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo, 179 nations reached consensus on actions needed to achieve over the next 20 years universal access to education, especially for girls; reductions in infant, child and maternal mortality, and universal access to reproductive health.

At this event, Secretary Clinton will declare the U.S. Government’s renewed support for and dedication to reaching the ICPD and other related UN agreements, including the Millennium Development Goals, by 2015.

The International Conference on Population and Development will livestream the speech at their website beginning at approximately 2:30 p.m. EST.