In 1989, French counterintelligence agents watched Felix Bloch as he dined in Paris with known Soviet spy “Pierre Bart.” Bloch…
Rough Landing: Controlled Aircraft Crash in Honduras
Towards the end of his posting in Honduras, Ambassador Frank Almaguer received multiple requests from other countries’ ambassadors for transportation…
A Georgian Spring Amidst Autumn: The Rose Revolution from a U.S. Perspective
Revolutions are always exciting times for U.S. Foreign Service personnel, and the November 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia was no…
Not so Sudan-ly—Six Years for Independence
Allan Reed’s extraordinary relationship with Sudan can be traced all the way back to the late 1960s, when he joined…
How Soviet Astronauts Met Stars in America
Two Soviet astronauts—a general and a scientist—come to visit the United States. They ride roller coasters at Disneyland, donkeys at…
“I am a Plant:” An Apparent Iraqi Spy Among U.S. Diplomats
Would you be willing to hire a potential foreign intelligence agent if it meant direct access to an antagonistic, elusive…
Pakistan, Population, and Development in the Early 1960s
You might never guess that the work of a USAID Program Economist could result in a trip to the Vatican…
Lessons Learned: USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake
USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) is perhaps the world’s premier international disaster assistance agency. It was not always…
Latino American Ambassadors
Latino Americans have some of the lowest rates of participation in the federal workforce making it incredibly difficult for them…
Tracking the Politics of Burma (Myanmar) After the Flawed 1990 Elections
While democratic elections were held in Burma (Myanmar) by the military-led government in 1990, the elected parliament was never allowed…