There’s never a dull moment in the life of a USAID social anthropologist! The foreign service can indeed present a…
Advancing Unity in the Aftermath of War – Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Mid-1990s
Foreign service officers typically must demonstrate adaptability and proactivity to accomplish their missions smoothly and effectively, but sometimes they find…
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…
Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum
Diplomacy as an Instrument of Statecraft: A Practicum Remarks to the Washington International Diplomatic Academy Ambassador Chas W.…
Commemorating Colin Powell
On October 18, 2021 America lost a remarkable leader and public servant. Colin Powell served as the highest ranking soldier,…
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…
A Dramatic Turning Point: Turkey’s Last Pride Parade
On the same day that the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, US diplomat Chuck Hunter witnessed police forces…
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…
Restoring Trust and Preserving the U.S.-Japan Alliance: The 1995 Okinawa Rape Incident
It’s hard to imagine U.S. foreign policy in East Asia without its closest partner and ally in the region: Japan.…
Life as a Diplomatic Courier: Connecting China to the World
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to jet off across the world continent-to-continent at a moment’s notice?…