What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a…
Dark Times in the City of Light
Paris is one of the most beautiful and glamorous places in the world. But like most urban centers, it also…
The Palmer Case and the Changing Role of Women in the Foreign Service
There have been a number of prominent women who have served in the State Department over the past century: Francis…
“Like Star Wars and Fiddler on the Roof” — Life with the Sinai Field Mission
The relative peace between Israel and Egypt, particularly on the Sinai, has been one of the few bright spots in…
NSFW FSOs
Diplomats by training, if not by disposition, are calm, level-headed types. They may be called on to deliver a harsh…
Life in Ceausescu’s Romania
Romania in the 1970s was a study in contrasts. Traditionally a rich agricultural breadbasket, its backward economy could not provide…
Bill Burns, A Consummate Diplomat
William Joseph Burns, known as Bill to his colleagues, stepped down as Deputy Secretary of State in October 2014 after…
The Achille Lauro Hijacking — “These sons of bitches must be prosecuted”
On October 7, 1985, four men, including mastermind Muhammad Zaidan, aka Mohammed Abul al-Abbas, from the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)…
ADST is On the Air!
(From Left to Right): The U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, after a bomb attack in 1983; Marine Corps Sgt. Clayton…
The Grisly Tradition of Beheading
The act of beheading has been used as a means for execution and retribution for millennia. The guillotine, which was…