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It's precisely that America-first approach that has caused such consternation over missile defense, where the unilateralists are rushing events along. Powell has to shoulder the so-far unsuccessful chore of pacifying allies and adversaries who take a dim view. In more than seven sit-downs with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, he has tried to persuade an unyielding Moscow to say O.K. Everyone who opposes missile defense or wants to slow it down looks to Powell as the go-to guy.
But if you listen to Powell, you'll note some miscasting. He was never more passionate during his interview with TIME than when he leaned forward to argue the wisdom of trying to devise a defense shield. "We would be irresponsible if we didn't find ways to see if we could protect the American people," Powell said. "It's a threat we believe we have the technical capacity to do something about. So why wouldn't the President be committed to do that? He feels very strongly about it. We all do and are all committed to it." He sounds as if he is a lot more conservative on this issue than has been made out. The White House says it loves what he's saying. "He's very good at explaining the Administration's position and rationale," says a senior official. "He's clearly internalized it."
That, or he's given up a fight he thinks he can't win. Powell knew from the outset that this was Bush's one cherished foreign policy. "It comes directly from the President," says a State official. "He's asking every day, 'How's it going? What progress is there?'" It colors everything else in the Secretary of State's portfolio. "The constant question is, How will this or that impact on missile defense?" says another senior diplomat. Missile defense isn't Powell's No. 1 priority, but a top official from the Reagan-Bush era says he has made the decision that if this is theology with Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush, "it's not his desire nor is it his style to go to battle on it."
That leaves Powell to tinker on the margins. He's not averse to walking away from the ABM treaty. He's for Rice's "grand bargain" to couple a new defense shield with way-low offensive arsenals. But he's at odds with the others on how and when to get out of the treaty. He would like to do it more delicately, while making a sincere effort to talk Russia into agreement.
Moderates look to Powell for that. Says a British diplomat: "We view him as someone who will be proved right in the end." But two weeks ago in Moscow, arms-control envoy Bolton implied that Bush wanted the "ranch summit" with Putin in November to constitute a deadline for a deal. Only hours later, Washington officials insisted that it was a mistranslation, but rumors still swirl of an impending deadline "a very few months away." An official deeply involved in the issue tells TIME, "There'll be something by Crawford, because the President is never wrong."