Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training

Dealing with Dragons, Bears, and Some Nice People Too A Diplomatic Chronicle by B. Lynn Pascoe
2024-11-19 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Dacor-Bacon House, 1801 F Street NW, DC, United States
THE ASSOCIATION FOR DIPLOMATIC STUDIES AND TRAINING
and
DACOR, An Organization of Foreign Affairs Professionals
request the pleasure of your company at
a reception to celebrate the 76th volume in the
ADST-DACOR Diplomats and Diplomacy Series for
“Dealing with Dragons, Bears, and Some Nice People Too A Diplomatic Chronicle”, by B. Lynn Pascoe
Tuesday, November 19, 2024, from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
RSVP (Acceptances only) to programs@dacorbacon.org or 202.682.0500 x20
About the Book
To order the book
Printable order form for mailing

ADST 2024 Annual Distinguished Speaker - Steve Coll
2024-10-01 14:00 - 15:30 | Dacor-Bacon House, 1801 F Street NW, DC, United States
Steve Coll – “From Ghost Wars to the Achilles Trap: Lessons from a Foreign Policy Journalist and Scholar”
Here is the video of the event: https://youtu.be/H531TCBSVb8
Please join us as award winning journalist and scholar Steve Coll shares what he has learned while researching and writing about the greatest foreign policy challenges of modern times. His most recent book, The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq, drew partly from ADST’s oral history collection to explain miscalculations on both sides of the conflict. Coll won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for his earlier book, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Visiting senior editor at The Economist and former Washington Post managing editor, Coll served as Dean of Columbia University’s Journalism School from 2013 to 2022. A discussion will follow his remarks.

2023 ADST Annual General Membership Meeting: Distinguished Speaker Professor Philip Zelikow on “Diplomacy and the Mysteries of the How”
2023-10-18 15:00 - 16:30 | Dacor-Bacon House, 1801 F Street NW, DC, United States
An accomplished academic and historian with a distinguished career in public service, Professor Zelikow will examine the mysteries of the art of diplomacy. Drawing from his experiences as a diplomat, Counselor of the State Department, White House and Pentagon advisor, and faculty member at Harvard and the University of Virginia, Zelikow will share his views on how diplomacy actually gets done.
His most recent publication, The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Turning Point of the Great War, 1916-17, unveils the secret diplomatic efforts that could have ended World War I two years and millions of lives earlier. A discussion and question and answer session will follow Professor Zelikow’s remarks.
Register HERE to attend in person or HERE to register to attend virtually.

Join us for a Book Launch for: Africa, You Have a Friend in Washington An American Diplomat’s Adventures South of the Sahara by Herman J. "Hank" Cohen
2023-09-19 18:00 - 19:30 | Dacor-Bacon House, 1801 F Street NW, DC, United States
Ambassador Herman “Hank” Cohen joins us in inviting you to celebrate publication of his new book at DACOR Bacon House on Tuesday, September 19, at 6:00–7:30 p.m., including refreshments and book-signing.
Click the following links for the book announcement, a form for those who wish to order the book, and an invitation to the reception.
Please RSVP (acceptances only): programs@dacorbacon.org or 202-682-0500 x20
DACOR Bacon House is located at 1801 F Street, NW, Washington, DC.
“Both experience and insight are keys to good professional memoirs. Ambassador Cohen dishes up large servings of these qualities with objectivity and sympathy. Read it and learn.”
––Edward Marks, U.S. Ambassador (retired)
In his 38-year career as an American diplomat, Hank Cohen experienced many encounters with African leaders, as he recounts along with much more in this latest volume in the ADST Memoirs and Occasional Papers Series. Following his youthful attraction to international service and early postings to Paris and the world of cultural exchange, he specialized in the emerging nations of Africa. He recounts growing a new embassy in Uganda, fighting white supremacy in Southern Rhodesia, the end of colonialism in Zambia, coping with chaos in Zaire, serving in Paris under Kissinger’s scrutiny, and becoming ambassador to Senegal and The Gambia.
Stateside assignments included the intelligence community, personnel management, the National Security Council under Ronald Reagan, heading the Africa Bureau under George H. W. Bush, followed by the World Bank’s Global Coalition for Africa, and, in retirement, heading his own international consulting firm. Throughout, Cohen focused on U.S. relations with economically underperforming sub-Saharan Africa’s postcolonial independent governments. Despite significant development assistance, poverty levels remained high, while private investments in business ventures remained low.
“Ambassador Cohen’s extraordinarily frank memoir draws back the curtain to reveal the complexity of decision-making . . . while shedding light on a basic issue: what kind of foreign policies best promote the American national interest, especially in Africa. It is also fun to read.”
––Dr. Bernard E. Brown, Emeritus Professor of Political Science
City University of New York Graduate Center
Hank Cohen retired from the Foreign Service with the top rank of Career Ambassador. He took a special interest in the economics of developing nations and specialized in U.S. relations with sub-Saharan Africa. Overseas posts included Paris, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, DRC, and, as ambassador, Senegal. At home he served as assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, the president’s special assistant on Africa, deputy head of State’s Intelligence and Research Bureau, World Bank senior adviser on Africa, president of Cohen and Woods international consulting firm, and adjunct professor at SAIS. He is the author of Intervening in Africa: Superpower Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent, which won the 2000 Douglas Dillon Award; The Mind of the African Strongman: Conversations with Dictators, Statesmen, and Father Figures (2015); and U.S. Policy Toward Africa: Eight Decades of Realpolitik (2020).

Oral Histories of U.S. Diplomacy in Afghanistan, 2001–2021: Fireside Chat with USAID Mission Directors
2023-08-16 17:00 - 19:30
IN PERSON & LIVE WEBCAST
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2023
5:00-5:45 PM LIGHT HORS D’OEUVRES & DRINKS
5:45-7:30 PM FIRESIDE CHAT AND Q&A
DACOR BACON HOUSE, 1801 F ST NW, WASHINGTON, DC
The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST) is pleased to announce that eight United States Agency for International Development (USAID) former Mission Directors in Afghanistan will participate in a “fireside chat” to share insights and reflections on key themes from their times in Afghanistan, including comparing experiences and lessons learned related to development across time periods and USAID mission leadership. While Afghanistan turned out to be America’s longest-running war, the demands on USAID in Afghanistan since 2002 pushed it well outside its traditional boundaries. Expectations were high that USAID would provide development to match the major U.S. military effort: delivering enduring development results in a war zone and with billions of dollars of assistance in the face of ever-changing priorities and urgency in a country torn apart by decades of civil war.
The event is part of the “Oral Histories of U.S. Diplomacy in Afghanistan, 2001-2021” special project, which was launched last year with generous gifts from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Rockefeller Foundation to capture valuable firsthand accounts about the U.S. intervention in and withdrawal from Afghanistan from more than 30 key leaders. The interview collection will go live on ADST’s website on the day of the event.
INTRODUCTION
Ambassador Anne Patterson
ADST President Susan Johnson
Afghanistan Project Manager Dr. Eva Meharry
PANELISTS
Former USAID Leaders to Afghanistan Bambi Arellano, Jim Bever, Craig Buck, Tina Dooley-Jones, Alonzo Fulgham, Earl Gast, Herbie Smith, and Ken Yamashita
MODERATOR
Bill Hammink

Please contact the Afghanistan Project Manager Dr. Eva Meharry with any queries at eva.meharry@adst.org.
This event is co-sponsored by ADST and the USAID Alumni Association, with generous gifts from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Rockefeller Foundation.

"How NATO is Meeting the Moment” with Ambassador Julianne Smith, U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO
2023-08-15 09:00 - 10:30
Our 2023 Administration Distinguished Speaker Event this year will take place on Tuesday, August 15 from 09:00 to 10:30 am and will feature Ambassador Julianne Smith, since November 2021 the U.S. permanent representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). I hope that you will be able to join us for this special occasion. It promises to be an excellent and timely conversation and we are grateful to Ambassador Smith for making time in her schedule to be with us.
This will be an off-the-record hybrid event, in-person at DACOR with virtual participation via Zoom by non-transferable invitation only. ADST Board Chair Ambassador Anne Patterson will introduce Ambassador Smith and ADST Board Member Abigail Golden-Vazquez will moderate the discussion. A question and answer session will follow.Please RSVP as soon as possible if you would like to attend in-person (seating is limited) and no later than Friday, August 4 via an email to: info@adst.org.
If you would like to participate virtually, please click the registration link to register to join via Zoom, also before August 4. Please note that this event is by invitation only and the invitation is non-transferable. By registering, you agree to respect the off-the-record nature of the event.

NCSS Conference: Revolutionary! Ideas and Actions Change the World.
2022-12-02 08:00 - 2022-12-04 17:00
Heather Ashe, ADST Oral History Program Manager and Monica Johnson, Oral History Program Assistant will be participating in this NCSS conference in Philadelphia, building on their work with the Library of Congress, presenting ADST’s Foreign Affairs Oral History program, for use as a primary source in the education arena.

Senior Advisor for Special Collections Ben East
2022-11-30 12:30 - 14:30 | International Studies Classroom
November 30: Sr Advisor for Special Collections Ben East will engage with an International Studies class at St Leo’s University in Florida to discuss the State Department’s work, pathways into foreign affairs careers, the origins and the impact of the Peace Corps, and ADST’s contributions to U.S. diplomatic storytelling.
