Foreign Service Officers are posted to positions abroad for terms of one, two, or three years depending on locality, demand,…
George Hermann “Christmas Time”
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” This part of a song would describe the Christmases spent by George…
Why use diplomatic oral histories in the classroom?
Diplomacy is the art of conducting international relations, negotiating alliances, and exercising tact and skill in dealing with people of…
The Iran Hostage Crisis: Diplomatic Drama and Legal Innovation
Next to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, the Iranian seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979 and…
Development in South Asia and Latin America: USAID in the ‘90s
There’s never a dull moment in the life of a USAID social anthropologist! The foreign service can indeed present a…
Advancing Unity in the Aftermath of War – Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Mid-1990s
Foreign service officers typically must demonstrate adaptability and proactivity to accomplish their missions smoothly and effectively, but sometimes they find…
Senegal’s Locust Plague in the late 1980s
The year is 1986. A Senegalese farmer walks out in his field a short while after the drought season has…
Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum
Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum Remarks to the Washington International Diplomatic Academy Ambassador Chas W.…
Commemorating Colin Powell
On October 18, 2021 America lost a remarkable leader and public servant. Colin Powell served as the highest ranking soldier,…
A Look Back—First Director of the Population, Refugees, and Migrations Bureau
The Biden administration nominated Ambassador Julieta Valls Noyes to serve as assistant secretary of state for the department’s Bureau of…