State Department

By the end of the year, the United States government will need to successfully complete negotiations on the renewed Compacts of Free Association (COFAs) with the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia to maintain these enduring partnerships. At the same time, the United States government…

It’s all a lie Can a people, their identity, and their language disappear? The Etruscans were a people largely living in present-day Italy, who, most historians will explain, existed from around 900 BC to 27 BC when they were “absorbed by Rome,” as Professor Wikipedia helpfully explains. …

This overview of the IX Summit of the Americas was sent as part of NWC’s “Sunday Read” series that aims to educate supporters about whistleblower stories and whistleblower legislative or policy initiatives and current events. For more information like this, please join our mailing list. On June 6–10, the Ninth…

The Foreign Service is losing the perspectives it needs the most This piece is part two in a miniseries on the importance of generalists to the mission of the U.S. State Department — and how the department’s leadership can work to retain them. It is a part of ISD’s ongoing…

There’s a reason the “too many cooks ..,” cliché is a cliché. It’s almost always true. Too many people working on the same task can (and often does) degenerate into conflict and chaos. The job, if it gets done at all, gets done poorly. Perhaps the U.S. government will be…

America’s diplomat corps is the latest victim of diversity uber alles. Choosing diplomats for the 21st century is now about the same process as choosing which gummy bear to eat next. …

We spoke with Melissa Oppenheimer, World Learning’s vice president of Global Programs, to ask her about exchange programs and their role in the diplomatic process today. She shared her thoughts on this and more, including what the last three feet of diplomacy means, how exchange programs can help in post-conflict…

This piece is part of ISD’s blog series, “A better diplomacy,” which highlights innovators and their ideas for how to make diplomacy more effective, resilient, and adaptive in the 21st century. As anyone who has worked in government can attest, many of our systems and bureaucracies are built layer by…