CLELAND: Mr. Chairman, I also find this a very historic occasion. The secretary of state -- former Secretary of State Dean Acheson wrote a marvelous book called "Present at the Creation," which described his involvement in determining the foreign policy of this nation some 50 years ago after World War II.
Madame Secretary, do you feel like you're present here at the creation of a brand new thing that has yet to be determined, and that we're all involved in birthing this baby here and trying to determine exactly where it is we're going to go, particularly with something that was, in effect, formed 50 years ago, virtually -- NATO -- designed for the threats and the concerns of those days? And now what to do with it?
I think it's fascinating that we -- I do feel kind of present at this new era. Do you?
ALBRIGHT: Well, Senator, probably more than you know and think. I came to this country as a result of the fact that Europe was artificially divided. So my whole life has been affected by -- by that fact, and I consider it a historic opportunity to be able to move this process forward.
Also having created three children, I know that when they begin, they are suited to do certain activities. And as they grow up, they change and adapt and adapt to new conditions. And I think that what we have here is an example of where we can take a brilliant institution and recreate it in a way, keeping its central core, and then allowing it to serve our best national interests at a time that is entirely different.
So I consider it a great personal privilege to be sitting where I am at this historic time, and a privilege to work with all of you on the way that our predecessors managed to fashion a system that worked for 50 years.
And I hope that we have the same good luck.
CLELAND: Me, too.
The Russians, of course, were the focus of that effort -- so much effort and blood, sweat and tears -- for the last 50 years. And of course, now concern arises about how the Russians do perceive or would perceive NATO expansion, whether they would perceive it as a dagger pointed at the heart of Mother Russia, and therefore, become -- to use some of the adjectives that Secretary Cohen used -- more
nationalistic, more militaristic, more antagonistic.
CLELAND: I gather that you feel that this would not be the case. Is that your judgment?
COHEN: Are you directing that to me?
CLELAND: Actually, I was directing it to Madame Secretary.
ALBRIGHT: Yes.
CLELAND: But you can comment, Mr. Secretary, if you like.
ALBRIGHT: Let me say, Senator, I think that it is very important for the Russians also to understand that we are dealing with an entirely new situation. They have asked us, and we agree, that they are not the old Russia, that they have -- are moving very, I think, systematically towards a democratic process, free market system, that they want to be seen differently.
We want to treat them differently. And at the same time, they need to understand that this is not the old NATO.
There are serious perception problems. There is no question. I think you have, as you have here, people who -- I mean, in the United States -- you have people who have viewed NATO as a particular way and saw the Soviet Union over there. And life was, you know, fairly clear: There were good guys and the bad guys.
I think now, we are looking at new threats. I think some of the discussion here earlier is we have to figure out ourselves how to deal with the new threats.
But the Russians need to understand that they're dealing with a situation where there are no sides, where we are in this together, and it's a perception that we have to help them with. And there are clearly those in Russia who oppose this, and they will continue to oppose this.
But at the same time, I think they are much in favor of what NATO is trying to do in terms of negotiating a different relationship with them through the NATO-Russia charter.
CLELAND: Mr. Secretary.
COHEN: Well, Senator, we have a representative from the Czech Republic here in the audience, or he was here when we started. He probably -- he left a long time ago, perhaps by virtue of the length of the hearing.
But I think most of you were here when Vaclav Havel came to the join session of Congress. And he said something that, I think, caught my attention.
He said, "Things are happening so fast we have little time to be astonished."
And of course, he was talking about the world of future shock, where all of our customs and values, our heritage itself, is being shaken in the hurricane winds of change.
And so it's important, as we're living in this era of future shock and rapid change, that we have some solid anchors, that we have some roots and some stability that we can hold on to as these winds whip various peoples and nations and rivalries around in the rapid change.
And that's what really is involved here -- how do we take something that has been rock solid? How do we extend it to embrace other countries who share the same values that we do, to give them some stability as these winds of change are sweeping through?
Also, there's a book I would recommend; I know you're a great reader. But many of you may have read the book written by Stephen Covey. I don't have to promote it. It's been on the best seller list for a long, long time now -- but "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."
COHEN: And perhaps the habits of seven highly effective people, but nonetheless, one should read that book. There is a portrait in the book that has never left my mind ever since reading it. It draws an outline and it has the face, what appears to be the face of a very young, vivacious, attractive woman.
And he asks you to look at that drawing on page, let's say, 17. And about 20 or 30 pages later, he says, look at it again. And by changing just one angle of an eyelash, and you force yourself to look at that picture again, suddenly it's not this young, vivacious woman, but it's an older, heavier, peasant woman with a shawl over head instead of a beautiful hat. And you will never look at that picture again the same way.
It's the same kind of principle involved here. We have to look at things differently today. We have to be willing to challenge and doubt our first principles. We have to be willing to re-examine structures. We have to be willing to look at an entire way in which we are doing business.
And that's what's involved here as well, persuading the Russians that this is not the old NATO, it's a new NATO, having the Russians persuade us they're not the old Russians but the new Russians. That all involves a willingness on the part of each of us, all of us, to drop old assumptions, old prejudices, biases, and be willing to engage each other in ways that we haven't done before, and that's what I think it means to be present at the creation.
This is -- we're moving into an entirely new 21st century. There will be rapid changes that we can't even contemplate today that will occur over a short period of time, and so it is our hope that we can provide some stability by taking an institution which has given us that stability in the past, that we can expand upon it and utilize its lessons to bring more stability in the future.
CLELAND: Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.