E Pluribus Unum. The average American will unwittingly encounter these very words on a daily basis and hardly give them…
9/11 Terror Attacks: A Consular Officer’s Perspective on Visas and Government Intelligence
September 11, 2001 marked one of the worst ever terror attacks on American soil. Two hijacked planes crashed into and…
The Last Ones Left: Inside the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
With a simple “good luck” from President Richard Nixon, Ambassador Joseph Farland set out to Pakistan, unsure of what to…
The U.S. Response to the 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia
The Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami of 2004 killed over 275,000 people in 14 different countries. In Aceh, Indonesia alone,…
The Felix Bloch Affair: An Unsolved Case of Cold War Espionage
In 1989, French counterintelligence agents watched Felix Bloch as he dined in Paris with known Soviet spy “Pierre Bart.” Bloch…
“Am I Going to Watch a U.S. Senator Get Shot?”—Observing the Fall of the Marcos Regime in the Philippines
Senator John Kerry bravely pushed aside armed hostile Philippine military personnel and policemen, rushing into the barricaded church in front…
Freezing in the Dark: the First Years of the USAID Mission in Ukraine
Using candles for light, huddling into the warmest room, tapping into government telephone lines to make calls—these were the conditions…
Building a USAID Program in a Country With No Roads: The Case of South Sudan
USAID Mission Director William Hammink’s troubles began shortly before his 2009 arrival in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital; President Omar al-Bashir…
“A Sea of Golden Grain”: USAID’s Response to Russia’s Invasion of Georgia
In the aftermath of Russia’s five-day war with Georgia in 2008, the National Security Council (NSC) met to review U.S.…
Benazir Bhutto, USAID, and Girls’ Education in Pakistan
Nine days after David Sprague arrived in Pakistan to work for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a plane…