In 2005, during the second term of President George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice became the first African American woman to serve as secretary of state. In this role, as well as in her capacity as national security adviser from 2001 to 2005, Rice was one of the most influential architects of the foreign policy of the Bush administration and its war on terror in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. She was a staunch supporter of military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. She also favored moves to stabilize the Middle East; in particular, she encouraged the Israeli government to withdraw from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and supported democratic elections in Palestine. Rice has described her policy as “transformational diplomacy,” a form of diplomacy that does not simply take into account the world as it is but actively seeks to change it by expanding democracy and the principles of a free-market economy—beliefs that she outlined in such documents as her “Transformational Diplomacy” speech at Georgetown University and her address to the World Economic Forum. Rice’s influential role in the foreign policy of the Bush administration, as well as her repeatedly stated loyalty to the president, made her a target of censure from critics of the military interventions that she so forcefully championed. As national security adviser she was also harshly criticized for the lack of effective measures to prevent the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, she has also been praised as an inspirational model for overcoming racial discrimination and forging a successful career first as an academic and then as a politician and diplomat.