Each and every job has a certain set of requirements and restrictions. Alcohol has played a large role in diplomacy,…
Smashed Cars and Tall Blondes
For many diplomats, the time spent under constant surveillance while in Soviet bloc countries during the Cold War could lead…
A First-Class Spy Flap: CIA Agents Compromised in Ghana
Relations between the United States and Ghana were strained in the early 1980s. Its leader, the enigmatic former Flight Lieutenant…
“Never get into an elevator with a Polish blonde” — More Honeypots
During the Cold War and beyond, Western diplomats had to constantly keep their wits about them when serving in the…
The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project is one of the largest scientific research programs the United States has ever seen — and certainly…
The Seychelles – Gangsta’s Paradise
A country of white sand beaches and palm trees, the Seychelles is an exotic tourist destination. It also happens to…
Books, Defectors, and Song — The Cuban Missile Crisis, as Seen from Moscow
The Soviet Union, in Churchill’s famous words, was a “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”; as such it made…
The Tumultuous Economy of 1990s Japan
The Lost Decade marked a tumultuous time in Japan’s economic history, as corporations and banking systems played fast and loose…
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…
“You’re Outta Here!”: Getting Declared Persona Non Grata
When a nation declares a diplomat “persona non grata,” it is essentially kicking him or her out of the country.…