On the morning of September 19, 1985, an 8.1-magnitude earthquake hit the western states of Mexico and including Mexico City. …
ADST is On the Air!
(From Left to Right): The U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, after a bomb attack in 1983; Marine Corps Sgt. Clayton…
Ambassador Skip Gnehm on the Middle East
The Middle East has been a complicated, if not violent, region for millennia, which has only been exacerbated by recent…
Oil, Blood and Steel: The Failed Attempt to Create a Democratic Congo
This is the story of how a corrupt multinational oil company, a self-centered dictator, lingering ethnic tensions, and lack of…
“The State Department has always been a whipping boy”
Charles “Chip” Bohlen (August 30, 1904 – January 1, 1974) served in the Foreign Service from 1929 to 1969 and…
The Grisly Tradition of Beheading
The act of beheading has been used as a means for execution and retribution for millennia. The guillotine, which was…
“The Worst Day” — 9/11 and the International Response
“It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.” –Senator…
Turning the Tables: An Interview with Stu Kennedy
In this interview with the Foreign Service Journal, Charles Stuart Kennedy talks about his Foreign Service career and pioneering work creating American…
From Nation-Building to Black Hawk Down: U.S. Peacekeeping in Somalia
Somalia has become synonymous with well-meaning but ill-fated humanitarian intervention. Live television footage of American soldiers being dragged in the…
The Fight to Ratify the Panama Canal Treaty
Since Panama’s independence from Colombia in 1903, the Panama Canal had been a dramatic and ongoing point of discussion. The…