Philip-Michael Gary’s career with USAID put him face-to-face with then-Vice President

and Minister of Defense of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, in the aftermath of the infamous Rwandan genocide. Following the 1994 genocide, which led to the deaths of up to 800,000 Rwandans of Tutsi ethnicity, Kagame reached out to USAID to assist him in restoring order and rebuilding the infrastructure of the war-torn nation. Gary was instrumental in facilitating relations between Kagame and USAID as the two worked in tandem between the years of 1995 and 2000. (Rwanda’s de facto leader in the late 1990s, Kagame became president in 2000). Gary was recruited by USAID in 1981, and represented the organization in matters of international development during several notable events in recent world history. Such events include the Israel-Jordan Water Negotiations of 1988, and USAID’s response to the Haitian earthquake of 2009. Gary was interviewed by Carol Peasley in January 2017.

Read more

The rapid ascent of ISIS in 2013-16 was fueled by a flow of “foreign fighters” from

across the Middle East, North Africa and portions of Europe and Asia. Foreign fighters in ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known by other names, notably “Da’esh”) numbered up to 40,000 by some estimates. Interdicting the flow of these fighters was a major diplomatic, military and intelligence challenge for the United States and its partners. Thomas Krajeski was a senior advisor to Secretary of State John Kerry in 2015-16 and worked closely with the rest of the U.S. government to counter the movement of these fighters.

Krajeski’s career included appointments by President George W. Bush as ambassador to Yemen, and by President Obama as ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain during the Arab Spring. Krajeski also completed tours in India and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Ambassador Krajeski is a recipient of both the President’s Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, and five Superior Honor Awards. He retired from the State Department in 2016. This interview was conducted by ADST’s Charles Stuart “Stu” Kennedy in February 2016.

Read more

During the Six-Day War of June 1967 Israel fought and won a decisive victory against

Syrian, Egyptian, Iraqi, and Lebanese forces. As a result of America’s backing of Israel, U.S. government facilities and U.S.-based companies were targeted throughout the Middle East and North Africa. For many embassies and consulates, including the embassy in Jeddah, it was not until after the attacks had ceased that communication capabilities were restored. Until that point it was not known whether or not American diplomats and citizens elsewhere had been harmed or had found safety during the conflict. U.S. diplomat Tom Gallagher was serving as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and recalls what this period was like for American diplomats in Jeddah and throughout the region. Gallagher entered the Foreign Service in 1965, and to this day remains the youngest person to ever lead a U.S. diplomatic mission when he served at the U.S. consul general in Ecuador. After coming out in 1973, Gallagher also became the first openly homosexual foreign service officer in the history of the U.S. Department of State. Gallagher was interviewed by ADST’s Charles Stuart “Stu” Kennedy in October 2012.

Read more

Steven Browning was a third-tour Foreign Service Officer in Alexandria, Egypt when he found himself in the midst of the U.S. response to the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro oceanliner. Egyptian commandos rescued the ship from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists who seized it, but “the Italians were involved, we were involved; everybody wanted a piece of these guys,” Browning recalled. It was a long way from Odessa, Texas, where Browning grew up, and his theology studies at Baylor University. Browning joined the Foreign Service in 1981 and went on to a distinguished career that took him from Egypt to Sri Lanka to the Dominican Republic to Iraq. He served as our Ambassador to Malawi and Uganda. At the end of his career, Browning was enjoying the relative quiet of service as Diplomat-in-Residence at the University of California-Berkeley when he was recalled to Washington to coordinate the State Department’s response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Ambassador Browning was interviewed by ADST’s Charles Stuart Kennedy in August 2016.

Read more