The Bio
Claim to Fame: First woman U.S. secretary of state; former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Chairperson: National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
Polyglot: Speaks English, French, Czech, Russian, German, Polish, and Serbo-Croatian.
Pedigree: Born in Czechoslovakia, the daughter of a Czech diplomat who converted from Judaism to Catholicism to escape persecution—and later was Condoleezza Rice's professor.
Current Obsession: Fixing U.S. foreign policy, rebuilding bridges with international allies.

Travel Log
Next Trip: "Munich, then on to make a speech at the U.S.-Islamic Forum in Doha."
Favorite Trip: "The Czech Republic, where I was born. We spent time with President Vaclev Havel. The highlight was a jazz club where President Clinton played his saxophone."
Dream Trip: "A journey with stops in every country I've never visited: Good morning, Vanuatu! Hello, Tripoli! What's new, N'Djamena? And if political circumstances change, why not hotcakes in Havana and tea in Tehran?

CNT: You've talked about a decline in American credibility.

Albright: I'm very worried about our credibility, because to achieve our national interests it's important to work with other countries and to get their respect.

CNT: What can a new president do to rectify the situation?

Albright: The image of the Bush administration is that it works unilaterally. With a new president I think a different style has to be apparent very quickly. We need to end the war in Iraq. People my age, when we thought of America we thought of Omaha Beach and the Marshall Plan, but now people think of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. I also think it would be very useful to call a conference on global warming right away.

CNT: What do you mean by "different style"?

Albright: I mean understanding the importance of alliance structures, international organizations, and diplomatic consultation, not just telling everybody what to do.

CNT: Like "you're either with us or against us"?

Albright: Exactly. Right after 9/11, everybody was with us. Then we made the Iraq war a litmus test of loyalty and called Iran, Iraq, and North Korea the axis of evil, decreasing the countries that were with us.

CNT: You have talked about Americans being uninformed about the world. Does it matter?

Albright: I was born in Europe, and my father used to joke, when we drove from Denver to Seattle, "We've just gone from Prague to Moscow." We Americans have such a vast country. In Europe, everybody lives together; people know about one another, despite the different languages. Globalization has made the world smaller, so we need to know about the cultures and histories that we deal with.