{"id":36313,"date":"2015-03-29T17:40:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-29T17:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2015\/03\/29\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:58:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:58:15","slug":"column-secretary-of-state-graham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2015\/03\/29\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: Secretary of State Graham?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Lindsey Graham is considering a run for the White House. Official Washington says the South Carolina Republican actually is running for secretary of defense. But could his eyes be on Foggy Bottom instead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea behind the straight-talking S<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">s<\/span>outherner&#8217;s would-be presidential campaign, analysts and aides say during idle chitchat, is to raise his national profile. Since his native South Caro<span class=\"-newsgate--ccix-command-130\">\u00ad<\/span>lina is an early GOP primary state, a strong showing in the Palmetto State could turn Graham into more of a household name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost no one is giving Graham a shot at the Republican nomination. For good reason. A recent CNN poll asked likely voters to pick from a menu of possible GOP candidates and then name the one they would support for the party&#8217;s 2016 nomination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How many chose Graham? One percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So what is he up to? Washington&#8217;s chattering class believes the Air Force Reserve colonel and longtime Armed Services Committee member wants to show the American people \u2014 and the eventual GOP nominee \u2014 that he&#8217;s got what it takes to be defense secretary under a Republican president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the more he speaks about foreign policy and national security issues, one wonders if Graham has his eyes on another senior post: secretary of state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Far-fetched? Consider his March 23 appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He told a luncheon crowd that he hopes a potential nuclear deal with Iran does not &#8220;break a relationship between the Congress and the United Nations itself.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What&#8217;s more, Graham called foreign aid &#8220;a tool to enhance our national security.&#8221; He went so far as to call those aide dollars &#8220;every bit as effective, if not more so, than kinetic tools,&#8221; almost immediately doubling down by calling kinetic tools \u2014 meaning military tools \u2014 &#8220;a smaller piece of the puzzle.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s all enough to make a longtime Graham watcher plop down under a Palmetto tree with a sweet tea, in need of a moment to ponder this new Lindsey \u2014 Candidate Graham. Diplomat Graham. Secretary of State Graham?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3744\" height=\"5616\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-77691\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg 3744w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3744px) 100vw, 3744px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Defense News reporter John Bennett at Gannett Government Media in Springfield, Va., on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. (Mike Morones\/Staff)\r<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span>Defense News reporter John Bennett at Gannett Government Media in Springfield, Va., on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. (Mike Morones\/Staff)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span>Photo Credit: Mike Morones<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Graham says he isn&#8217;t interested, telling CongressWatch that no Cabinet post has &#8220;any allure to me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But some of his Senate Republican colleagues say he&#8217;d be a good pick to run US foreign affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said Graham &#8220;could be president,&#8221; adding about the top diplomat post: &#8220;He could get that without running for president.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who has seen a dozen Senate-confirmed secretaries of state in his 38-year career, said of Graham: &#8220;He could hold a whole variety of positions \u2014 he has the intelligence, he has the good appearance, he&#8217;s articulate &#8230; so he can be almost anything.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has started calling Graham &#8220;my illegitimate son,&#8221; says Graham predicted almost every move Russia has made in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Graham&#8217;s hawkish past may prove to be an anchor too heavy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;My concern with him, in general, if you follow his comments the last 10 years, he would have gotten us into many wars,&#8221; Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said in a brief interview. &#8220;So I have a feeling that this leaning toward going to war, that&#8217;s not someone for the job.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Lindsey Graham is considering a run for the White House. But could his eyes be on Foggy Bottom instead?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,33,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1090],"class_list":["post-36313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-home","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FBGJAEHSLVHZ3DZVLXENWSPP3I","arc_canonical_url":"\/2015\/03\/29\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Column: Secretary of State Graham? - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sen. 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Bennett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Column: Secretary of State Graham?\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2015-03-29T17:40:27+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:58:15+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 581,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635630872907089912-graham-lindsey-0323jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Congress\",\n\t                \"Home\",\n\t                \"Pentagon\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Column: Secretary of State Graham? - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/congress\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/29\\\/column-secretary-of-state-graham\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/635630872907089912-graham-lindsey-0323jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2015-03-29T17:40:27+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:58:15+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Sen. 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