Foreign service officers typically must demonstrate adaptability and proactivity to accomplish their missions smoothly and effectively, but sometimes they find…
Working as a Woman in Intelligence: Alice Shurcliff
Unlike many women’s stories that highlight the immense challenges women face, Alice Shurcliff highlights in her oral history advantages she…
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…
Combating Terrorism in Iraq and Syria: Stephen Kontos and the Counter-ISIS Coalition
In the midst of war, terrorism, and instability, Stephen Kontos was tasked with uniting a coalition to combat one of…
Fighting for Peace: Serving During the Sri Lankan Civil War
As a USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) officer serving in Vietnam during the firefights and bombings of the Tet…
The Rocky Beginnings of the U.S.-ASEAN Relationship
What does the beginning of a diplomatic partnership look like? Though the image that comes to mind is elegant diplomacy,…
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…
Peace Corps to Ambassador: David Greenlee and Bolivia
It’s very common for Peace Corps volunteers to feel disheartened, as David Greenlee did as a Peace Corps volunteer in…
Through Peace and Prosperity: An Armenian-American finds the American Dream
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This line from “The New Colossus,” by…
Political and Ethnic Strife in the South Sudanese Civil War
After nearly fifty-five years of civil war, the Sudanese people are no stranger to immense violence and devastation. The First…