Robert Reis, a longtime State Department official, is a perfect example of how far one can come from the American…
The Last Days Before the Fall of Saigon: Evacuating Vietnamese Refugees
The Fall of Saigon is perhaps one of the most infamous moments of the Vietnam War. Following the fall of…
Daily Life in Japanese Custody: Japan Takes Over U.S. Consulate in Vietnam During WWII
About one month before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States officially entered World War II, tensions were already…
The Pursuit of Perfection: Dilemmas in the Foreign Service
Capturing, preserving, and sharing the experiences of America’s diplomats. ADST’s maxim perfectly encapsulates the diverse nature of a Foreign Service…
Reiterating Strong Support for the Democratic Process
The ADST team joins many others in the foreign affairs community in condemning recent attacks on our democracy and welcoming…
Operation Sapphire: Nuclear Diplomacy in Kazakhstan
Working with nuclear materials is, by its very nature, volatile. Carrying out diplomacy over nuclear materials is even more so.…
National Elections Under Protest
As the United States watches its 2020 election season drag on longer than most presidential elections, the highly charged partisan…
Nettling the New Guard—PNGed out of Singapore
Singapore’s story of economic success under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew has catapulted the nation to the status of…
The Foreign Service at War (Part 2): Rice, Roads, and Winning Hearts and Minds
“Winning hearts and minds” is at the very core of diplomacy. Sometimes that takes place in an embassy or a…
Backchannels at Home: The Relationship Between Congress and the Foreign Service
In 1979 Congress did something both bold and unusual. That year, President Carter was attempting to build a stronger relationship…