Hughes to Head Efforts to Improve U.S. Image Abroad
March 12, 2005

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former White House counselor Karen Hughes, a longtime confidant of President Bush, will head the U.S. effort to turn a tide of anti-American hostility abroad, particularly among Muslims, an administration official said on Friday.

The State Department post of undersecretary for public diplomacy, designed to promote American values overseas, has been vacant since Margaret Tutwiler left last summer.

The White House declined to confirm Hughes' appointment but spokesman Scott McClellan indicated she would return in some capacity.

"I do expect there's going to be more to say soon on how she will continue to help out as part of the team," McClellan said.

Hughes, 48, has been a Bush adviser since he was governor of Texas. She moved to Washington when he won the 2000 presidential election but left her White House job in 2002 to return home to Austin, Texas, with her family.

In her new post, Hughes would lead the Bush administration's efforts to counter the negative image of the United States in many Muslim countries that was spurred by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and a perceived anti-Palestinian bias in Washington's Middle East policy