Secretary of state followed by the rest of the Cabinet. President Barack Obama named Hillary Clinton as his choice for 67th Secretary of State on December 1, 2008. She was confirmed on January 21, 2009, the day after Obama's inauguration and is the third woman to hold the position. On December 21, 2012 President Obama announced his choice for Secretary of State during his second term, Senator John Kerry. His confirmation hearing took place on January 24, 2013, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The committee unanimously voted to approve him on January 29, 2013, and the same day the full Senate confirmed
Secretary of state State Secretary cannot attend a Council of State and the only minister is constitutionally responsible for all the "statssekretær"'s descions in office. In Portugal, a secretary of State (Portuguese: "secretário de Estado", masculine; "secretária de Estado", feminine; "secretários de Estado", plural) is a junior minister, of intermediate rank between that of cabinet minister and that of under-secretary of State. Although members of the Government, the secretaries of State do not usually participate in the Council of Ministers, unless summoned for certain meetings and, in those cases, without right to vote. Until the reorganization of the Portuguese Public Administration structure in