Foreign service officers typically must demonstrate adaptability and proactivity to accomplish their missions smoothly and effectively, but sometimes they find…
Women Working Together to Rebuild Liberia after the Civil War
The Liberian Civil War was doubtless one of the most devastating conflicts in recent history. Spanning from 1989 to 2003,…
The Variety of a Foreign Service Career: Bananas, Beaches, and a Plane
Robert Reis, a longtime State Department official, is a perfect example of how far one can come from the American…
In the Heat of the Cold War: Diplomats in a Divided Germany
Ever since the Foreign Service’s infancy, Foreign Service spouses have traveled with their partners to all corners of the world,…
We are the World: Development Support in Africa
The work of the U.S. Foreign Service encompasses more than just advancing U.S. interests abroad. A critical part of it…
Do You Hear the People Sing?—Democratic Promotion in Haiti, Mozambique, and Iraq
E Pluribus Unum. The average American will unwittingly encounter these very words on a daily basis and hardly give them…
Fiscal Relief in a Tumultuous Time—The Paris Club in the Nineties
At the end of World War II, Argentina was entrenched in debt and on the verge of defaulting to its…
Fighting the War on Drugs with Bus Stops and Law Books: USAID in Bolivia
As the Cold War died down, U.S. assistance to Latin America shifted focus to a new war: the war on…
The U.S. Response to the 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia
The Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami of 2004 killed over 275,000 people in 14 different countries. In Aceh, Indonesia alone,…
“Jesus, now I can really do some business”—Jump starting the Economy of War-Torn Bosnia
Bosnia, 1995: utterly decimated infrastructure, near-universal unemployment, and a state bank straight out of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Such were the conditions…