Jim Wilkinson on the Secretary's Upcoming Trip to Alabama with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

MR. WILKINSON: As the Secretary said, one of the activities she wants to undertake as Secretary is to bring colleagues to see parts of America. As you know and as you're aware, and as some of you are painfully aware, we travel quite a bit to other parts of the world. She would like to bring some of them to see cities in America.

As she said, we want to begin with our closest ally. I thought I would walk you through the schedule sort of line by line so you have all the details. I think you really will want to be down there and cover this.

The day will begin, Friday, October 21st, that morning the Foreign Secretary and Secretary Rice will fly together to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They'll have a formal arrival ceremony there. They will then drive over to the Bryant Conference Center on the University of Alabama campus, where they will both give major speeches. As the Secretary said, hers will address democracy. I don't want to speak for the Foreign Secretary. I'll let him tell you what his speech will be about.

Just so you know, they will be giving speeches at the Blackburn Institute. Dr. Blackburn was Secretary Rice's father's mentor and so you'll all get a chance to meet him. He's a wonderful, wonderful man and he chairs the Blackburn Institute, which is at the University of Alabama.

She will then have lunch with the Blackburn Fellows, some British students and the Marshall Fellows. On all of the events, by the way, Jack Straw will be with her. They will then drive to Birmingham -- this is all still on Friday -- and they will tour the Brunetta C. Hill Elementary School. That was Secretary Rice's elementary school when she was a little girl.

After they visit the school, they'll travel to the University of Alabama Birmingham Medical Center, where they will do an event and be briefed on some of the modern technology advances at UAB.

Just so you know, one of our strategic objectives for the trip is to highlight some of the facets of the new Birmingham and the new Alabama. As you know, Alabama has a very diverse and vibrant economy. They also have a lot of -- have done a lot of advances on the medical front. Just as a point of reference, the UAB Medical Center was where they brought the preemie babies from the Katrina. That's where they airlifted a lot of the little babies from Katrina.

They'll then have a little down time at the hotel and then Secretary Rice and Foreign Secretary Straw that night will host a thank you reception for all the volunteers who worked on the Katrina relief. It will include the Alabama National Guard, it will include local citizens. But one of the things you'll see during the visit is a heavy emphasis on the Katrina relief. As you know, the United Kingdom provided a lot of relief there.

And then that night, guess what? Foreign Secretary Straw and the Secretary will have a press dinner with all of you and all the British press at a downtown restaurant. We're still working out where, but it's kind of a fun little event.

The next morning they will tour the Civil Rights Institute, which if you've not seen it, it's quite a moving institute. They will then go to the 16th Street Baptist Church, which, as you know, was where the bomb exploded that killed the four little girls, one of which was Secretary Rice's childhood friend. They will tour that church with surviving family members of the four girls. They will then walk across the street to Kelly Ingram Park -- it's adjacent to the church -- where they will do a fairly large dedication event for the city. They're actually going to unveil statues to the four girls who died in the 16th Street Church bombing. And the Secretary and Jack Straw will both make remarks there.

They will then drive over to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where they will tour the Alabama Crimson Tide football facilities. I've seen these facilities and let me just say this: They are quite extensive.

They will then go to the Alabama-Tennessee football game, where Secretary Rice and Foreign Secretary Straw will participate in the pre-game coin flip. I'm told -- we'll have to verify this. I'm told that the four living Medal of Honor recipients from Alabama will also participate in that ceremony.

After the game -- and by the way, they'll sit in the president's box. I should note that Ambassador Manning will be coming as well with his family. They will then go back to Birmingham that night for a family dinner with one of Secretary Rice's family. Sort of a large family dinner with the Foreign Secretary.

The next morning, Sunday, October 23rd, they'll conduct a joint press conference. Right now it's set for 10 o'clock that morning, but just so you know that's Sunday morning. They will then go to church together at Westminster Presbyterian Church. This was where she went to church as a young child. This is her father's church. And just as a point of reference, Secretary Rice's grandfather founded this church. Just a bit of reference point.

They will then travel to Oak Mountain Katrina Relief Site, which is where I'm told roughly 250 of the Katrina evacuees are still living today, and they will tour that site and be briefed on the latest relief efforts for Alabama and the region, meet with these evacuees, do a press avail there with you, then they'll fly back. We think they'll be back sometime early evening Sunday.

So sorry for all the detail, but I thought more was better. And that's what I know. And by the way, if you have any questions of any of the specifics, we're going to provide you, you know, much, much more detail, if you will, on all the different sites and we'll have pictures and bios and backgrounds and all that.

Oh, the one thing I should note is you all are aware the UK has a consulate down in Atlanta and they'll participate. They'll be a part of this. They're coming to be a part of this as well. I believe Jonathan can tell us -- they have a new CG there, but who's going to be a part of this.

QUESTION: He'll brief us afterwards?

MR. WILKINSON: Yes, Jonathan will brief after.

QUESTION: I'd like to get an idea of sort of the serious elements of the diplomacy here. This looks like a series of photo ops. This is, as you say, your closest ally. Why do you have to go to these lengths to bring someone to show them America? What's the goal there for diplomacy?

And on another front, this is a Secretary of State who usually travels abroad, who is a figure for the U.S. relations abroad. She's inserting herself into some very domestic arenas. Aren't you worried that she's going to be criticized for, you know, being a domestic player and using her title to look good in front of the cameras domestically instead of doing diplomacy?

MR. WILKINSON: No.

(Laughter.)

MR. WILKINSON: Well, she is -- first of all, she is Secretary of State, which means that the United States taxpayers pay her salary and our salaries, so as you know, she went to Princeton University and gave a speech. The aim to our trip is serious. As she said, Foreign Secretary Straw's visit, he's very keenly interested in the civil rights movement. He's interested as, you know, his district has a high percentage minority population. Also, as you know, just again as a point of reference, Secretary Rice's father's mentor was Blackburn. You have the Blackburn Institute. They noted that Blackburn is actually in his district. It's kind of a funny reference but a serious note.

But they're both going to give major policy addresses on Friday, which will be serious policy statements. They have a lot of diplomacy to do -- as you know, you've seen on this trip -- that they'll do over that weekend. And I think I've got to tell you, as a daughter of Birmingham, I can't think of a more serious and fitting place for her to be when they dedicate those statues to the four little girls, one of which was her friend, than to be there.

And I also -- you know, Birmingham represents and Alabama represents the best of America, and why not bring others to see our country? It's just a logical thing. As you know, when we travel, we visit other sites, as we did on this trip. It only makes sense to show them the best of America.

QUESTION: Whose idea was this, hers or his?

MR. WILKINSON: The Secretary's idea. And they've been talking about this for some number of weeks. And our name is "We'll"; when she says we'll do this, that's what we do.

QUESTION: The name of one of her friends, with the four girls. You don't know the name of her friend?

MR. WILKINSON: Let me go triple-check. I believe it was Denise McNair, but let me just go triple-check that.

Anything else?

QUESTION: How will you handle the coverage (inaudible)?

MR. WILKINSON: I'll defer to the experts here. Obviously, we're going to take press on the plane. We're working out with the British, you know, how we do that. They're going to have, as you saw, a lot of press avails. There's a lot of policy things that are going on that you'll need to talk to. So we're going to go to every extent possible to get as maximum access for you. We will -- in this case we have two press corps covering us. We'll have the British press corps as well.

QUESTION: When the Secretary went to Alabama and Mississippi after Katrina, you guys just brought, I think, wires, right? You didn't bring -- I think -- no, you brought maybe one wire representative, right? I think it's kind of a natural question why you would -- if she is, you know, a daughter of Alabama and she wants to bring Secretary Straw, she could have gone, you know, in a less flashy way than with a whole press corps traveling with her. Why did you feel it was necessary to bring the press corps on what is clearly a very personal and private trip by both of them?

MR. WILKINSON: Well, you have two choices: We can make all the events closed press, in which case you'll be mad; or we can invite you and know that you had decided to come. Again, remember, we do the inviting. You guys have to accept. And so I hope you all will come and be a part of what is an important, you know, diplomatic weekend. But you know, we don't -- you make that decision for news organizations.

QUESTION: I'm just wondering how this is necessary diplomacy with a close U.S. ally as opposed to a country perhaps that really doesn't understand our nation's history. And I mean, by the way, there are lots of books out there about the civil rights movement that Jack Straw, if he were really that interested, could read.

MR. WILKINSON: I mean, I hate to laugh. I just find the question comical. I mean, here we are flying to the United Kingdom so she can work on diplomacy with him and, I mean, he's going to fly to the United States --

QUESTION: (Inaudible, off-mike.)

MR. WILKINSON: Again, as I said, they're going to both give major speeches, they're going to both appear before you multiple times to talk about the issues of the day. You know, I don't know another way to be more clear on it. I just --

QUESTION: (Inaudible, off-mike.)

MR. WILKINSON: I mean, foreign ministers visit parts of America all the time. Foreign ministers travel around our country all the time.

QUESTION: Not with the Secretary of State.

MR. WILKINSON: And it's just perfectly natural that the Secretary of State for the United States of America might want to show foreign ministers the United States of America.

QUESTION: She hasn't done a domestic trip of this scope (inaudible).

MR. WILKINSON: I mean, she's gone to give speeches, as you know, all over. But no, she hasn't brought another foreign minister to another part of America since she's been Secretary. That's a fact.

QUESTION: (Inaudible, off-mike.)

MR. WILKINSON: This is the first one. I think, you know, periodically she might want to -- as the Secretary said, she might want to do this. But --

QUESTION: (Inaudible, off-mike.)

MR. WILKINSON: Not to my knowledge.

Anything else? Thank you.