President George W. Bush allowed his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and lead North Korea negotiator Christopher Hill to give away this leverage in 2007 in return for Pyongyang's promise to come clean about its nuclear program.

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"There are very few people with greater experience over a longer period of time, " said Nicholas Burns, a former career ambassador who has served every secretary of state since Warren Christopher, and was most recently undersecretary for political affairs under Condoleezza Rice.

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"There are very few people with greater experience over a longer period of time, " said Nicholas Burns, a former career ambassador who has served every secretary of state since Warren Christopher, and was most recently undersecretary for political affairs under Condolleezza Rice.

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