As Richard A. Buckley watched the uncensored footage of the remains of what was just earlier the U.S. Embassy Nairobi…
Putin in the Making—A Sour First Impression?
Who exactly is Vladimir Putin and how was his experience with U.S. high-level officials as a Russian deputy mayor? To…
Ending South African Apartheid: Guiding U.S. Policy Towards South Africa with Secret Knowledge
In a one-on-one meeting in 1989, the future president of South Africa, F.W. de Klerk, gave Assistant Secretary of State…
“Till Death Do Us Part”—Relationships for Women in the Foreign Service
Women have come a long way in fighting for equality within the workforce. This has inevitably shaped relationships for women…
Siberia and Samizdat: Moscow’s Underground During Communism
Long regarded as a monolithic entity where any dissension was ruthlessly suppressed by the KGB, Western audiences often ignored the…
Counterinsurgency and the Vietnam War
The United States Intelligence Community was, infamously, heavily involved in the Cold War. The tensions between the United States and…
The Felix Bloch Affair: An Unsolved Case of Cold War Espionage
In 1989, French counterintelligence agents watched Felix Bloch as he dined in Paris with known Soviet spy “Pierre Bart.” Bloch…
Promoting International Tennis Diplomacy in Bahrain
In the heat of the Iran-Iraq War, paranoia and uncertainty engulfed the region, with many American allies looking to the…
The Struggle for Equal Rights: LGBTQ Advocacy in the Foreign Service
While working at the U.S. embassy in Seychelles in 1985, David Buss fell in love with a Peace Corps volunteer,…
Fighting LGBT Discrimination, and Fighting to Stay in the Foreign Service
Up until the late 1990s, Foreign Service careers were denied to openly gay men under the pretense of security concerns.…