what does secretary of state do?

[wanna-b-ballin']

i need to know what the secretary of state does. in history class we have to do some RPG where we are some important people and we have been captured by terrorists and they have a big ransom.
anyway, i am secretary of state, and i have no idea what i am supposed to do. it was homework to find out what our roles are, and i've done some searching, and came up with little to no information.

this is all i have: "In most states, this is the state agency that is responsible for the formation and regulation of corporations. In some states, it is known as the department of state, or bureau of corporations"

it doesn't really tell me anything. so i have come to you AOers to find out what the secretary of state does.

does anybody know?

thankyou.

[Kevmaster]

the secretary of state is in charge of the state department...duh!

but seriously...

the state department is akin to the foreign ministry in other countries. it handles all diplomatic relations with other countries and international organizations. so like when we're mad at north korea and are having talks with them, we send an under secretary of state (kind of like an assiistant) to go talk with htem.

which brings me to the seccy of state. the seccy of state is the head diplomat at the state department. he is the big boss man of all diplomats. he (actaully...she now Condi Rice is our seccy of state now) is one of the president's best advisors (one of the top three along with the seccy of defense and vice president).

does that help?

[wanna-b-ballin']

ok. i am really bad a remembering things about the government. it sucks.
so what you said kinda confused me. can it be simplified?

so basically the secretary of state talks to other countries about something?

[WicKeD_WaYz]

Handles foreign relations.

[wanna-b-ballin']

omg i feel so retarded. so i would basically just deal with other countries? if they want to work out a deal, i would negotiate with them sorta thing?

[Kevmaster]

yeah

you talk to other countries and advise the president on what to do in issues that involve other countries

[skife]

well the secratary of state around here makes up stupid laws.

like the $300 fine you get if your pulled over and dont have your license with you
or the new $75 trailor plates ($300 for a semi-trailor)
makes you take a number to get in line.
requires 3 peices of ID to get a new lisence (i lost 2 so far) "Lady... i dont have any ID, thats why i'm here."
also there isn't an office in my town

[Warewolf50]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State

All the info u need, your searching must of not been very good cause all i did is type "what does the us secratery of state do" and that was the first link to show up.

[Eagle]

SecState is #4 in the continuity of government. If Washington were to get nuked (or some other disaster) and and the President bought it the people in charge after his demise would be: Vice-President, Speaker of the House of Representitives, Pesident Pro-Temp of the Senate, Secratary of State, Secratay of Defence, and after that I loose count (probably SecTreas next then who knows). So you're not the biggest burrito on the rescue list, but you're right up there.

[wanna-b-ballin']

alright. i did my job in the game. but for my group it ended fast. one of my partners decided to announce that we had killed osama and that now we want our hostages. that was pretty stupid.
so the response we got was that the hostages were killed and we lose.
oh well.

thanks for the help though.

[wanna-b-ballin']

oops. i got my first post wrong. our president was taken hostage along with important government people from some small nation. me and some other people were still free, and we had to get the hostages back.

[Army]

Takes notes, makes coffee, the usual stuff...

well the secratary of state around here makes up stupid laws.

like the $300 fine you get if your pulled over and dont have your license with you
or the new $75 trailor plates ($300 for a semi-trailor)
makes you take a number to get in line.
requires 3 peices of ID to get a new lisence (i lost 2 so far...

Actually, that would be your states House of Representatives and Senate who bring forth proposals for new laws.

[Albinonewt]

SecState is #4 in the continuity of government. If Washington were to get nuked (or some other disaster) and and the President bought it the people in charge after his demise would be: Vice-President, Speaker of the House of Representitives, Pesident Pro-Temp of the Senate, Secratary of State, Secratay of Defence, and after that I loose count (probably SecTreas next then who knows).

That's close, but wrong.

Presidential Order of Succession

[Eagle]

That's close, but wrong.

Presidential Order of Succession

Yeah, I just realized I was slightly off last night