The Bosnian War, which began April 5, 1992, was the result of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Pressure began to build…
When Ambassadors Were Rock Stars
It is difficult in this day and age to imagine any ambassador being on the cover of a major magazine…
Inside Foggy Bottom
Foggy Bottom, so called because its location alongside the Potomac made it susceptible to dense concentrations of fog and industrial smoke, refers not only…
Up or Out — The Challenges of the State Department Personnel System
The United States Department of State is not the monolithic entity it may at first appear to be. The lack…
My Lai — Atrocity and Cover-up in the Midst of Vietnam
On March 16, 1968, in what was one of the most shocking incidents of the Vietnam War and in the…
![Dealing with the MacArthurs and their Notorious Pet Cat](https://adst.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Cat-1.webp)
Dealing with the MacArthurs and their Notorious Pet Cat
This is a story about a demanding ambassador’s wife, who was “an ogre and an alcoholic,” a demanding ambassador, and…
Castro’s Cuba – The Early Days
On January 1, 1959, after a sustained armed revolt led by Fidel Castro and others took control over most of…
In Ambassador We Don’t Trust: Working Under the Leadership of the Infamous Turner Shelton
As movies like “The Devil Wore Prada” attest, bad bosses can make everyone’s life miserable (and can be quite entertaining…
The Lockerbie Bombing and Its Aftermath
On December 21, 1988, Pan American flight 103 flying from London Heathrow to JFK Airport in New York exploded over…
The Civil War in China, Part I – The Bureaucratic Fight in Washington
Oftentimes the greatest foreign policy struggles are not with the host government but rather with the government bureaucracy back home.…