Malaysia has a long history of racial tension, dating back to the influx of Chinese workers in the 19th century,…
Combining Forces to Counter Terrorism — The Birth of S/CT
U.S. inter-agency coordination on countering terrorism was limited, for bureaucratic and technical reasons, prior to the mid-1980s. As hijackings and…
Billion-Dollar “Plan Colombia” to End Decades of Civil War
Published January 2016 A guerrilla organization known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias…
Leveling the Playing Field in the Salvadoran Civil War
The Salvadoran Civil War, lasting from 1979-1992, pitted the military-led government of El Salvador against a coalition of five left-wing guerrilla…
Survivor of Two Concentration Camps, U.S. Ambassador to Three Countries
Robert Gerhard Neumann (1916–1999), seen at right with wife Marlen, served as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.…
Burundi: With Independence Came Genocide
Coordinated attacks in Burundi in recent years left hundreds dead and forced thousands to flee the country. The State Department advised…
Surviving the Coup that Transformed Liberia
Liberia erupted in violence on April 12, 1980 as Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe seized power from President William Tolbert,…
Pablo Escobar and the Siege of Colombia’s Palace of Justice
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, the wealthiest criminal in history once responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine entering the…
Indira Gandhi’s Assassination and the Anti-Sikh Riots, October 1984
Indira Gandhi was one of the most powerful women of the 20th Century, whose initial rise to power in 1966…
Drug-Sniffing Mongooses and Other Tales of the Sri Lankan Civil War
In July 1983, tensions increased between Tamil minority separatists and the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, erupting into civil war.…