This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Jon Huntsman is going to be ambassador to Russia.
That's the current plan, at least.
The former governor, ambassador and GOP presidential candidate was offered the Moscow position months ago and is in the midst of preparing for the move. But as with so many of President Donald Trump's diplomatic picks, Huntsman's nomination has not been formally submitted to the Senate for confirmation. So technically, he's not allowed to talk about it.
"As a diplomat, you're supposed to say nothing when there's something to say, and something when there's nothing to say," quipped Huntsman. "So I'm caught between a cliche and an indiscretion."
Which made for some interesting banter at Monday's black-tie dinner of the Atlantic Council, the international affairs think tank where Huntsman has served as chairman for the past three years. At the VIP reception, he was surrounded by guests congratulating him, asking when he was headed overseas or whispering the latest tidbit they'd heard at the Capitol.
"I was just up seeing my friend Rand Paul today and he said, 'When is Huntsman going to come up for a hearing?' " shared Richard Burt, former ambassador to Germany. "I said, 'I think it's going to happen in July or August.' What do you think?"
Huntsman flashed his dazzling smile and answered without answering: "You're a smart man. You know these things."
A moderate Republican, Huntsman has sailed through the confirmation process twice before: in 1992, when he was approved as ambassador to Singapore by a unanimous vote, and again in 2009, when he was again confirmed unanimously as President Barack Obama's choice for ambassador to China.
His name surfaced again in March, when administration sources confirmed that Trump had asked Huntsman, 57, to take the highly sensitive job. But no one knows exactly when the nomination will become official, and whether the ongoing probe into possible Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election will delay the process even further.
"I can't even speculate on it until I'm formally nominated," said Huntsman. But he acknowledged that, if confirmed, his experience in China might be helpful: "There are elements of big power relationships that are similar, and the way that large, complex embassies function is also similar."
Still, the topic was an open secret among the 750 military, international policy and diplomatic leaders at the Ritz Carlton on Monday night.
"Speaking of ambassadors ... oh, I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to talk about that," said Atlantic Council President Fred Kempe in a tribute to Huntsman. "You personify the Atlantic Council's ethos of principled, untiring engagement, not shying away from the very toughest of challenges."
The annual dinner, traditionally weighty and pretty wonky, had a renewed energy and relevance this year. The council was founded on the need for a strong relationship between the United States and NATO countries, and the guest list included NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg; Adm. Michelle Howard, the commander of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command in Naples; former secretary of state Madeleine Albright (wearing a Roman numeral V pin to signify her support for NATO's Article Five); and Dusko Markovic, the prime minister of Montenegro, which officially became the 29th member of NATO on Monday.
Albright's remarks included a couple of pointed jabs at Trump ("It's very good to see you up front this evening" she told Markovic, whom Trump pushed aside at a photo op at last month's NATO meeting in Brussels to stand in the front row) and a more serious warning.
"Here in America, we are facing a great danger — and that danger is not a foreign enemy," she said, noting that 2017 is the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. "It is the possibility that we fail to hear the example of Marshall, that we will take for granted the institutions and principles upon which our own freedom is based, and forget what the history of the past century reminds us: Problems abroad, if left unattended, will come home to America, and the United States is stronger when it has allies and friends who share our interests and our ideals."
Many of the Atlantic Council's members were unimpressed by Trump's blunt speech at NATO headquarters, so it wasn't a huge surprise that Vice President Mike Pence dropped by to reinforce the administration's relationship with its international partners.
"Let me assure you, the United States will continue to build — to reach new heights of prosperity and security — and we will continue to strengthen the bonds between our nation and the nations of Europe for the benefit of our peoples for generations to come," said Pence to polite applause. "And make no mistake: Our commitment is unwavering. We will meet our obligations to our people to provide for the collective defense of all our allies. The United States is resolved, as we were at NATO's founding and in every hour since, to live by that principle that an attack on one of us is an attack on us all."