Turkey attack casts pall as Kerry sworn in

WASHINGTON (AFP) – John Kerry was sworn in Friday as America’s secretary of state, less than two hours after Hillary Clinton swept out of office on a day marred by yet another attack on a US diplomatic post.

Supreme Court judge Elena Kagan administered the oath of office to Kerry during a private ceremony on Capitol Hill. He was joined by his wife Teresa, daughter Vanessa, brother Cameron and his Senate staff.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan (R) shakes hands with John Kerry (L) after swearing him in as Secretary of State. AFP

But a pall was cast over the historic events by an attack on the US embassy in Ankara that killed a local Turkish security guard.

It came less than five months after the September attack on the US outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died, and two weeks after the militant hostage crisis in Algeria.

“I am very proud of the work we have done together,” Clinton, 65, told hundreds of cheering staff just before she left the State Department, having tendered her letter of resignation to President Barack Obama.

“Of course, we live in very complex and even dangerous times, as we saw again just today at our embassy in Ankara, where we were attacked and lost one of our foreign service nationals, and others injured.

“I know that the world we are trying to help bring into being in the 21st century will have many difficult days,” she added.

But the former first lady and New York senator said she was “more optimistic today than I was when I stood here four years ago” because of the agency’s work to help ensure “peace, progress and prosperity” around the world.

US officials said they were probing the Ankara attack, when a bomber wearing a suicide vest blew himself up at the first checkpoint on the perimetre of the embassy compound. Three people were hurt, including one seriously.

The bombing once again exposes the vulnerability of the army of 70,000 US

diplomats – many of whom operate in the world’s hotspots. Kerry told The Boston Globe he would begin working on diplomatic protection when he starts at 9:00 am (1400 GMT) Monday, and in a seamless transition, his picture and biography were already gracing the State Department’s website.

“There are certain things I intend to issue instructions on, the minute I come in,” Kerry told the leading daily paper in his home state of Massachusetts, where he served as senator for 28 years.