SECRETARY POWELL: Good morning, Hannah.

MS. STORM: An emotional day for so many Americans. Can you describe your feelings about laying this fine man to rest, this man that you served under?

SECRETARY POWELL: It's a sad day for me, but also a day of celebration. He was a wonderful man. He lived a full and long life. He served his nation in so many ways. He was not only my boss and my Commander-in-Chief, both in my capacity as a soldier, but also as his National Security Advisor. But we became very good friends, both during the two years that I worked with him and in the years after he retired, as I did with Nancy Reagan.

So it's a sad day, but we're celebrating a life well lived.

MS. STORM: I know that you've had some time to spend with Mrs. Reagan over the past week. How is she doing?

SECRETARY POWELL: She's doing well. I spoke to her on Sunday -- President Reagan died Saturday -- and I called her from my airplane on Sunday as I was heading from Normandy to Ecuador. And we had a nice chat and what she said to me was that she had been expecting it for years, but nevertheless, when it came, it was as deeply a shock as if she hadn't been expecting it at all.

She was totally devoted to him, as you know. They had a wonderful marriage of 52 years, and even though, as she has said, he left her for real some time ago -- she couldn't get to him because of this terrible disease of Alzheimer's -- it was nevertheless different when he finally passed from this veil.

MS. STORM: What is the single greatest lesson that you learned from him?

SECRETARY POWELL: How to stay calm in the in the midst of turmoil, how to have a vision, how to never lose sight of that vision, no matter what storms come along. So many lessons. How to have a sense of humor to break the tension, how to make sure that the vision you have is the same vision that people working for you have so that you can accomplish things as a team. And above all, the optimism that he showed in everything he did, in the way he walked, the way he talked, his facial expressions. Things are going to be all right, here comes Ronald Reagan. Just look at me, I believe in America; therefore, you should believe in America. And it was infectious, affecting not only his fellow Americans, but affecting people around the world who believed in him.

MS. STORM: So is there something, given what you just said, in his legacy, something that our leaders of today could take a page out of his book as we face these challenges of rebuilding our international relationships, in the wake of some deep divisions over the war in Iraq?

SECRETARY POWELL: I think we are, to some extent, following what President Reagan would have told us to do, and that is, reach out to our friends and partners. There are going to be disagreements. There were disagreements during Reagan's time. He took actions that were not widely accepted: the work we were doing to help the Contras in Central America, the introduction of intermediate-range missiles in Europe. These were not popular actions. They were met with considerable resistance in Europe, in Central America, but they turned out to be the right thing to do.

So when you know you have to do something and you're confident it's the right thing to do, do it, even though it may result in temporary disfavor. If you've done the right thing, those partners will come back and join you in that greater effort. I think what we have seen in recent days, in Rome last weekend and in Paris, as well as the beaches of Normandy, and now in Sea Island with the G-8 for the last few days, is that President Bush is bringing an international consensus to bear on our efforts in Iraq. And I think the unanimous vote on the UN resolution is an example of that.

We know we need friends and partners; we've always known that. But friends and partners also need leadership to accomplish a great purpose. And I think President Bush has provided that leadership in many areas.

MS. STORM: And yet the President has announced now that he does not expect NATO to provide troops or to bolster American forces in Iraq. Is this a setback, in your mind?

SECRETARY POWELL: No, none of us went to Sea Island, or saw the G-8 unfold at Sea Island, with the expectation that suddenly a door would be opened and there stood large numbers of additional NATO troops. Sixteen of the 26 nations of NATO have troops in Iraq now. A number of countries, such as France and Germany, said they would not be providing troops. And we had no illusions that they would suddenly reverse that position.

What we have seen now, though, is that they're all coming together politically to endorse the plan that we are on, and some will be making additional contributions: police training, finances, assistance in other ways. And also keep in mind that the Iraqi sovereign government is really interested in building up its own troops. They're not that anxious to see additional foreign troops come, except perhaps to defend the UN personnel that will be coming back. Our real focus should be on building up Iraqi forces so they can take care of themselves, even though additional contributions of foreign troops would be useful to relieve the burden on our troops. But the priority has to be build up Iraqi troops.

MS. STORM: Secretary of State Colin Powell, thank you so much, as always, for joining us this morning.

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you. You're welcome, Hannah.