Burns, US negotiator on Iran, is latest top diplomat to resign

Envoy to Moscow chosen to replace ex-Mass. resident

R. Nicholas Burns announced his resignation yesterday as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice looked on. (Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)

WASHINGTON - R. Nicholas Burns, one of the highest-profile diplomats at the State Department and a former Massachusetts resident, is resigning and will be replaced by US Ambassador to Moscow William Burns, the State Department said yesterday.

As undersecretary of state for political affairs, R. Nicholas Burns dealt with many of the most controversial issues facing the Bush administration, including negotiations with India on its nuclear weapons program and the future of Kosovo.

He is the top negotiator on Iran, spearheading the effort to break the deadlock on a UN resolution imposing new sanctions.

Burns was so close to Rice that conservatives frequently said he was responsible for the pragmatic aspects of her diplomacy. "His influence on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is so surprising that critics use the word Svengali," columnist Robert Novak wrote in April 2006.

In an interview yesterday, Burns said the United States is "on the verge of a strategic partnership" with India that could help stabilize South Asia. On Iran, he said Washington must contain Tehran and keep negotiations on the table. Both pivotal initiatives, however, have been long stalled.

Burns, 51, is the latest of nearly 20 top diplomats to depart over the past year. He is leaving for personal reasons and has not committed to another job, US officials said.

"This is a very bittersweet time for us," Rice told reporters of Burns's departure. "He has decided that it's the right moment to go back to family concerns."

A Foreign Service officer since 1983, Burns has served as US ambassador to Greece and to NATO and as State Department spokesman. He has held top jobs under Republican and Democratic administrations. He worked on Russian affairs at the National Security Council under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Clinton from 1990 to 1995.

Although one of Rice's closest advisers, he was also spokesman for two secretaries of state, Madeleine K. Albright and Warren Christopher.

Burns has cast an optimistic gloss on US diplomacy. On a 2006 trip to Moscow, he said that Rice's meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had gone smoothly, unaware that reporters had overheard a tense lunch conversation.

Burns said he will join the private sector in March because it's "time for me to meet my obligations to my wife and three daughters, and it's time to pursue other ventures outside the government." After he leaves the State Department, he will stay on as a special envoy on India.

Officials who know him discounted speculation that he might seek elected office in his home state of Massachusetts.

Burns, a native of Buffalo, was raised in Massachusetts and received a bachelor's degree in European history from Boston College. He earned a master's degree in international economics and American foreign policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Burns's official biography notes that he is a member of "Red Sox Nation."

William Burns, his successor, is a former assistant secretary of state for the Near East and ambassador to Jordan.

In 2002, William Burns coauthored an internal memo with Ryan Crocker, current US ambassador to Iraq, titled "The Perfect Storm." It bluntly predicted that toppling Saddam Hussein could unleash sectarian and ethnic tensions, that the Sunni minority would not easily relinquish power, and that neighbors such as Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia would try to influence events.

William Burns's replacement in Moscow is not expected to be announced immediately.

William and R. Nicholas Burns are not related. Nicholas Burns is the most senior of top State Department officials to have resigned or retired since December 2006 as Bush's second term nears an end. They have included three undersecretaries of state and four assistant secretaries, most of whom are returning to academia or business ventures.

Many vacancies have remained for weeks and months. The speed with which Bush announced his choice to replace the man with the Iran portfolio was telling. Three officials have left under heavy criticism for Iraq-related issues. Another, Randall Tobias, director of the US Agency for International Development, resigned after being implicated in an alleged Washington prostitution ring.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.