Some of the most bitter battles in Washington have been fought between the secretaries of State and Defense. In George W. Bush's first term, Secretary of State Colin Powell felt cut out by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. After a trip to Australia in the first year, Powell did not travel abroad with Rumsfeld.

　　So Washington insiders have noted with interest that Rumsfeld's Pentagon successor, Robert Gates, has taken three trips in the last 10 months with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. For security reasons, the two secretaries tend to fly separately even when headed to the same place. But last summer Rice abandoned her C-32 official aircraft to fly with Gates from Egypt to Saudi Arabia aboard his more cushy E-4B (similar to the jets that serve as Air Force One). In the past year, Rice and Gates have traveled twice together to Russia.

　　Rice and Gates are both believers in "soft power," emphasizing economic and diplomatic ties. Some right- wingers complain that the Rice/Gates axis is producing a moderate foreign policy, isolating a small circle of hard-liners around Vice President Dick Cheney (who remains influential).