Chief U.S. Advocate of Indian Nuclear Deal to Resign

The Bush administration’s chief champion of a bilateral nuclear trade deal with India is resigning his post, the Washington Post reported today.  Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will step down in March, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has asked him to work as a special envoy to advance the nuclear negotiations, U.S. officials said (see GSN, Jan. 8).

Burns has worked in the Foreign Office since 1983.  He is stepping down for personal reasons, particularly to better support his children’s college educations, a senior State Department official said.

“This is a very bittersweet time for us because Nick Burns had decided that it is time for him to retire," Rice said today.  “He has decided that it’s the right moment to go back to family concerns.”

Burns would be replaced by U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns, Rice said (Robin Wright, Washington Post, Jan. 18).

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