10 June 2001
 Bush Gets Private Tutorial On Europe by Outside Policy Experts Sworn to Secrecy;
Admits He Has 'Gotten Off On the Wrong Foot' With Europeans

NEW YORK, June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- President George W. Bush was given a private tutorial at the end of May by foreign policy experts outside the administration -- who were sworn to secrecy -- ahead of his first summit with European leaders this week, Newsweek has learned. Meeting over soft drinks were experts handpicked by national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice and included: Russian expert Michael McFaul of the Hoover Institution; Democratic investment banker Felix Rohatyn, former Clinton ambassador to France; British author and Europeanist Timothy Garton Ash; and journalist Lionel Barber, a European specialist at the "Financial Times," report Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas and Chief Diplomatic Correspondent Roy Gutman.

Rice had already trooped in a procession of heads of state and foreign ministers through the Oval Office to contribute to Bush's education, and this outside group was sworn to secrecy in part to avoid the impression that the president needed remedial training. Newsweek has learned that the visitors warned Bush that European allies were complaining about the new administration's "unilateralism," America's apparent determination to go it alone in the world. Bush acknowledged that he had "gotten off on the wrong foot" with the Europeans, Newsweek reports in the June 18 issue (on newsstands Monday, June 11). He also made a rare reference to his father's presidency, talking about fulfilling No. 41's vision of a Europe "whole and free." But Bush was adamant about his intention to push ahead with missile defense. "He was like [former President Ronald] Reagan," one participant said, "but without the charisma."

With the president somewhat unschooled in foreign affairs, his administration has lurched about on the world stage as two key lieutenants, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, have fought a tug of war to dominate policy, Thomas and Gutman write. So far, Rice has served as a kind of personal gatekeeper who has Bush's ear and his respect. Newsweek reports that Bush is obviously comfortable with Rice, routinely inviting her to Camp David or to his Texas ranch for the weekend. A prominent GOP defense expert describes her as a "control freak," carefully vetting what Bush hears and whom he sees on foreign affairs. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is said to be put out over his limited contact with Bush now that the Republicans have retaken the White House.

With Russia being Rice's area of expertise, she wants Bush to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin that missile defense is in Russia's long term interest, that both nations should abandon the ABM treaty as a relic of the Cold War and begin the difficult task of backing away from mutual assured destruction by whittling down their massive nuclear arsenals. But Bush has great faith in his own personal powers of persuasion. At the May tutorial he kept asking his outside teachers, "What motivates Putin?" He aims to "look Putin in the eye" when they meet next week for their summit.