In a one-on-one meeting in 1989, the future president of South Africa, F.W. de Klerk, gave Assistant Secretary of State…
“I Heard Something Ticking Away”—Diplomats Dealing With Explosives
Managing personal security is an important part of a Foreign Service Officer’s training. Weapons of mass destruction, sexual assault, cyberattacks,…
Ethic Tensions Boil Over in Malaysia’s 13 May 1969 Incident
A single election can have many impacts, but one in particular unmasked a deep, controversial issue based on ethnic tensions.…
George W. Bush and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
Forty million total cases. Three million deaths. One year. This was not the casualty of a bloody global conflict, but…
Wars that “Must Never be Fought”—Nuclear Disarmament in the Wake of the Cold War
From the words of President Reagan to the fears of people all over the world, unease over world-ending technology being…
Pandemic Pandemonium: International Cooperation in the Face of Crisis
Several devastating pandemics have plagued human civilization throughout history. From the Black Death (1350) to the deadly Coronavirus, each outbreak…
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…
The Velvet Divorce: A Peaceful Breakup in Post-Communist Czechoslovakia
Most divorces do not end well, and those between countries tend to be the messiest of all. The dissolution of…
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…
A City Torn Apart: Americans in Berlin
A U.S. army tank manned by a defecting soldier crashed straight through a Berlin Wall checkpoint manned by Russian troops.…