The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the primary training institution to prepare American diplomats to advance U.S. foreign affairs interests,…
The Siberian Seven: Escaping Religious Persecution in the U.S.S.R.
From its inception, the Soviet Union became the first state in the world to actively attempt to eliminate religion from society.…
The ACDA-USIA Merger into State — The End of of an Era
As the Cold War began to go into full swing, the United States soon realized the need for distinct agencies…
“A Box Sealed for 70 years” — Opening U.S. Embassy Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
A mountainous country in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan was ceded by China and formally incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876.…
Persistence, Vision and Luck: Creating a Center for Diplomatic Training
Can you imagine the bureaucratic struggles involved in persuading the Department of Defense to hand over acres of prime real…
Redesigning the Foreign Service Exam
The Foreign Service Exam is one of the most selective of its kind in the United States. Of the thousands…
The Foreign Service Exam – Finding a More Diverse FSO
The process to become a Foreign Service Officer is long and grueling. If you successfully pass the Foreign Service Officer Test…
The Panama Riots of 1964: The Beginning of the End for the Canal
When President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama in 1903, the United States gained sovereignty over the portion…
The U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands gets Addicted to Pac-Man
July 2016 saw the explosion of the global phenomenon Pokémon Go, where people walk around town (and often into traffic…
Sputnik, The Ugly American, and the Push to Improve FSI Language Training
In the depths of the Cold War, the USSR in 1957 launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the earth.…