According to a January 11 article in The Boston Globe, John Bolton will not be continuing as the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs in the second Bush administration.  The Globe reported that Bolton will be replaced by Robert G. Joseph, the former special assistant for national security. Joseph’s international record – although not unblemished – could constitute a marked improvement for globally-minded citizens concerned about the unilateral direction of US foreign relations under President Bush. 

Bolton, who once remarked that “The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If it lost ten stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference,”  is now one of the State Department's loudest and most hawkish voices.  He has been a fierce opponent of U.S. multilateral engagement.

Provocative statements and his single-minded pursuit of policies despite a lack of substantiating evidence have become hallmarks of Bolton’s tenure at the State Department. In one of his most outrageous accusations, Bolton claimed that Cuba was operating a biological warfare program and selling the weaponry to “rogue” states. The Bush administration was forced to distance itself from Bolton’s unsubstantiated claims.

Bolton has not hesitated to make public his extremist personal opinions, even when they are at odds with official State Department policy. When discussing relations with North Korea, Bolton said, "A sounder U.S. policy would start by making it clear to the North that we are indifferent to whether we ever have "normal" diplomatic relations with it, and that achieving that goal is entirely in their interests, not ours. We should also make clear that diplomatic normalization with the U.S. is only going to come when North Korea becomes a normal country."

The nomination of Robert Joseph to replace Bolton is controversial because of Joseph's involvement in releasing questionable evidence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program despite objections from CIA experts. It was at Joseph’s insistence that President Bush accused Saddam Hussein of attempting to buy uranium oxide from Niger in his 2003 State of the Union speech.

Despite doubts concerning Joseph’s record, he could bring a measure of finesse to the role of Undersecretary of State that Bolton lacked. However, Citizens for Global Solutions remains cautious about the direction Joseph's policies could take.

Don Kraus, Executive Vice President of Citizens for Global Solutions, says “Bolton’s resignation can be seen as a signal that President Bush will take a more constructive approach towards international institutions, particularly the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.”

Updated January 12, 2005