In the 1960s, in the depths of the Cold War, the world was viewed in terms of a zero-sum game:…
When Friends Spy on Friends: The Case of Jonathan Pollard
Former Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard delivered over 800 highly classified documents to the Israeli government over a 17-month…
Jesse Helms: The Senator Who Just Said No
Jesse Alexander Helms, a five-term Republican Senator (1973- 2003) from North Carolina, was known not only for his conservative beliefs…
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…
The Battle to Create the Foreign Service Institute
The art of diplomatic relations and negotiations is as old as civilization itself. However, the State Department did not have…
The INF Treaty, Part III — Crossing the Finish Line
A unified stance by NATO members and Gorbachev’s realization that it was better to go to global zero than to…
A Crack in the Iron Curtain: Freeing Sharansky
As General Secretary of the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev authorized the release of thousands of Soviet Jews who wanted to leave the…
A Blind Eye — Fighting Terrorism in the 1980s
The U.S. focus on terrorism began to intensify in the late 1970s and 80s. However, it was often difficult to…
A Dissident for Dinner — George H.W. Bush’s Ill-Fated Banquet in China
An essential part of being an ambassador is knowing how to push the envelope when it comes to dealing with…
Wordsmithing in the Fires of Olympus — Writing Speeches for Henry Kissinger
Words are the tools of diplomacy. When done well, high-flung rhetoric can help define an era, such as John F.…