When USAID employee Judith Gilmore was asked to play First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS), it wasn’t because a…
Hurricane Mitch Devastated Nicaragua, But Helped Improve Relations With the U.S.
Slow-moving, coast-hugging Hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua in October 1998. The United States organized a massive disaster response, and President Clinton…
Death Squads in El Salvador, the Taliban in Afghanistan: a Diplomat’s Challenges
American Foreign Service Officer Todd Greentree served in El Salvador from 1981-82, a time when violence from local “death squads”…
USAID: Working With State and DOD on Counter Terrorism – and with Oliver North in Honduras
Elizabeth Kvitashvili’s USAID career took her from Afghanistan to Honduras to Russia. She led efforts to provide humanitarian assistance amidst crisis…
Getting the U.S. President to Write to the President of Guatemala About Human Rights (Hint – It’s Who You Know)
With the end of the Cold War, the U.S. began to put greater emphasis on enforcing its policy of protecting…
Drogas y Derechos Humanos: Changing U.S. Policy towards Guatemala
In June 1954 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, concerned about the threat of communism in Guatemala, assisted in the overthrow…
Hong Kong Returns to China, Part II
As the formal handover of Hong Kong to China approached, many grew concerned about Beijing’s intentions. Tens of thousands of…
One Laptop Per Child — A Paradigm Shift in Education
According to a 2015 Brookings study, while the number of children attending primary school globally has grown dramatically over the…
Nancy Reagan and the Runaway Chopper
When the First Lady of the United States comes to town, it requires almost as much planning and fanfare as…
Winning the Peace – USAID and the Demobilization of the Nicaraguan Contras
In the 1980s, one of the focal points of U.S. foreign policy was the rise of leftist militants throughout the…