Profile | Meet this year’s Senior Fellows: James Story
“Every place has its challenges and opportunities, but if you focus on the challenges, you miss all the good stuff that’s out there.”
Nicole Butler
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.
Q: Can you tell us about your path to the foreign service? What led you to become a diplomat and why did you decide to pursue the career?
A: When I graduated college at the University of South Carolina, I had a year at the University of Costa Rica on a Rotary Fellowship. I would often go to the reading room at the embassy in San Jose Costa Rica just to read Newsweek and Time and these kinds of magazines to keep up on things because I’m a news junkie.
I was there on my birthday in November of 1993, I was 23 years old, and my mother sent me a birthday card that said, “Enjoy this year abroad, no one will ever pay for you to travel again.” As I was reading this card at the embassy, I saw a sign in the reading room that said “See the world. Join the Foreign Service.” It piqued my interest because I’ve always been interested in other cultures and people. So, I finished the year, went back to South Carolina, and started to do some research on the Foreign Service at the public library–which is where you researched before Google existed–and I found that Georgetown University was the place to prepare for the Foreign Service exam. I applied for and was accepted to Georgetown in the MSFS program.
While waiting for Georgetown to start the following year, I worked as a high school Spanish teacher, a zookeeper, and a baseball coach. I got to Georgetown and at the end of my second year, I took the exam and passed it. I was certainly prepared, and Ambassador Chet Crocker was instrumental. After that, the process was quite lengthy. I graduated from Georgetown in 1997, went back to South Carolina for a short period, and eventually joined the Foreign Service in 1998.
Q: How would you say your time specifically at Georgetown as an MSFS student shifted your professional trajectory?
A: Well, first is the cohort that I graduated with. One is now the executive director of Freedom House. Another one is very high-level at the Inter-American Development Bank. Another runs a boutique public relations firm and does amazing work on the environment. Others are in extractive industries or the Foreign Service with me. So, I have this network and spend time engaging with thoughtful people who ask the right questions: Why is it this way? Why are our relationships the way they are with a certain country?
Second is recognizing that to understand a place you have to understand the history and you have to read about it. You have to get into the culture and understand a place before you can attempt to make a difference as a diplomat. Professor McNeill was a huge influence on me and taught me about the interconnectedness of the development of countries in certain ways. The interplay between economics, society, culture, and politics: How does it all affect everything else? I think this is extraordinarily important and that lesson stayed with me throughout my career. So now as I prepare to go abroad, I will focus and read as much history on a place as I possibly can. Both the relatively ancient history as well as the more modern contemporary history.
Also understanding the culture. It is important to see a place through the lens of culture, you see the soul of a place and you understand more fully their decision-making and logic system which could be completely different from our own.
Q: Are there certain books that have stuck with you, that have been impactful for certain postings, or just your career in general?
A: Well, I mean I recall reading Guns, Germs, and Steel for Professor McNeill. I loved that book. Another book that impacted me was Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano. Not because it was particularly well-written or well-researched, nor that I would agree with any of it, but rather because it enabled me to understand how some people in Latin America sometimes can see the United States, especially on the far left of the ideological spectrum. This is a book that I recommend with eyes wide open, but that book kind of stuck with me.
More recently, Bill Burns’ The Back Channel and Richard Holbrooke’s To End a War were instrumental to me as I considered US-Venezuela policy. But it’s more than any particular book. It’s about how books and ideas encourage you to think in different ways about a problem.
Q: Where has your career taken you? What have been some of the most rewarding postings, and what have been some of the most challenging postings?
A: Our family motto is “bloom where you’re planted.” And I think we have had a great time everywhere we’ve ever been posted. For lots of reasons our posting in Rio de Janeiro was our favorite, but a close second would’ve been Maputo, Mozambique even though we had very challenging times there. We lost two Marines, and it was right after 9/11. So, every place has its challenges and opportunities, but if you focus on the challenges, you miss all the good stuff that’s out there.
But I started in Washington first, and I already spoke Spanish. Then they sent me to New York to be an Ambassador Staff Assistant for six months at our mission to the United Nations. Iraq was the biggest issue at that point in time in 1998. Then I went to Guadalajara, Mexico where I served two years as a Consul Officer. After Guadalajara, I went back to Washington to learn Portuguese before going to Maputo as a Political Economic Officer. There I did everything from commercial work to environmental work to understanding political parties in the country. After that, I took a job at the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in Washington. It was a lot of fun, and I had the opportunity to work on the Dolphin-Safe Tuna agreements, import agreements regarding sea turtle protection, and was a member of the negotiation team that meets annually on the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.
From there I took the job that I joined the Foreign Service for and had set myself up with the skills to get it, which was the Regional Environmental Affairs Officer in Brasilia. I did environmental affairs for all of South America from a hub in Brasilia. These “hub jobs” were a platform for regional engagement and I really enjoyed the work; however, at the time, funding for our environmental priorities was at an ebb so when I was offered the Political Economic Chief position in Sao Paulo, I took it. While this was a bit of a promotion for me, it meant leaving the job that I joined the Foreign Service for. One thing I tell people is to have a five-year plan. Understand what skills you need to take the next job, but then be flexible because you never know when an opportunity might arise.
I went to Sao Paulo running our political and economic shops and serving as the nominal deputy principal officer. From there I was a Senior Civilian in Southeastern Afghanistan covering four provinces. I learned that I had a knack for working closely with the military and intelligence community and understanding counterinsurgency theory and practice, which led to my recruitment to be number two in the Narcotics and Law Enforcement Office in Bogota, Colombia. I moved up into the Director’s position for two more years before coming back to Washington to run counter-narcotics for International Narcotics in Law Enforcement for the Western Hemisphere.
So, at this point, I’ve been kind of doing tough jobs for a while and was able to convince WHA PDAS [Western Hemisphere Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary] John Feeley to allow me to go to Rio Janeiro as Consul General during the 2016 Olympic Games which was just an incredible experience. I worked with Ambassadors Ayalde and McKinley there who were mentors and continue to be great friends of mine.
At the end of those three years, I was sent to Venezuela in July 2018 originally as the Deputy Chief of Mission, but the Maduro regime expelled both the Chief of Mission, Ambassador Todd Robinson, as well as the DCM, Brian Naranjo, therefore I showed up as a Chargé d’Affaires from day one and I was there for the closing of our embassy in March of 2019. After our expulsion, we established the Venezuela Affairs Unit (a remote embassy within the bilateral mission in Bogota) where we continued to run our Venezuela policy. I was nominated by the President to become Ambassador of Venezuela and confirmed by the Senate in November 2020 and stayed in that position until May 2023. Difficult circumstances to be sure, but for all of us working on Venezuela, it was more a mission than a job. Seeing the injustices happening in that country and working with so many dedicated people working to restore democracy was nothing short of inspiring. I doubt that I will ever truly “leave” Venezuela due to the impact it has had on me both professionally and personally.
Now I’m here at Georgetown where I’m enjoying using muscles that I haven’t exercised in a while and engaging with students. And I am in a vetting process for another Chief of Mission position in Africa, hopefully, to be announced in the next couple of months.
Q: How do you go about preparing for your various missions, especially when you’re moving from say South America to Africa or a place like Afghanistan?
A: You know in my 26 years of doing this, I’ve spent a lot of time between Brazil and Colombia, frankly so I know the histories of these countries. Having said that, the first two times I was in Brazil I spoke very good Portuguese, but I didn’t feel I got the culture down until I went to Rio and I started hanging out with some Bossa Nova singers. The lyrics to these songs, considered subversive in the late 1950s, opened my eyes to what Brazil was like before democracy. And then I started practicing Muay Thai in a favela, going to samba schools, engaging with different cultural groups, etc. These days my wife Susan certainly does much more of these things than I do, but for both of us, engaging with the cultural community opened our eyes to Brazil in new ways and created lasting friendships from across socio-economic groups in the country. Similarly in Colombia much has changed from my INL posting in 2010–2013 and because of the peace agreement with the FARC, we were able to travel the country more widely and get deeper into the Colombian culture. There are places in that country that are simply magic.
One of the things that you must do before going to a posting is read deeply about the country. Not just on contemporary things but also the history, the culture, and read from a variety of sources and gain different perspectives. Also listening to music, watching TV shows, it’s all really important. When more junior Foreign Service Officers come to post, we put together a reading list, but we advise them to think more broadly than just these and come up with a historical perspective. Because again, if you don’t understand the perspective, you may inadvertently lose an opportunity to present something in the most culturally appropriate way, or you may not understand why something simply is not working.
I’ll give you an example. When I worked on environmental issues in Brasilia, I did not understand that there is a conspiracy theory that the United States is trying to turn the Amazon into something that’s not Brazil — either a dependency of the United States or some sort of patrimony of humanity. That thinking runs deep among certain people in Brazil. So, the Brazilians were very much against our idea of the Amazon Basin Conservation Initiative to work with Peru, Columbia, and Brazil on the Amazon. Our approach didn’t work because we failed to understand that there’s a line of thinking there that is very suspicious of our motives vis-a-vis the Amazon.
I spoke to junior Department of Agriculture employees today, and one of the things I pointed out to them is to try to have meetings with people before you have to ask them for something. Get to know people. It’s basic diplomacy. And then if you understand the people you’re working with and their issues and agendas–and you have the historical context–then when a hard issue comes you’ll be able to present it in a way that allows you to find a win-win.
Q: You’re teaching a capstone class on the rise of illiberal states in Latin America. Why did you choose this topic and what have you most enjoyed so far about this experience?
A: I mean the quality of the students is just extraordinary. If I had to apply to Georgetown today, vice-1995 when I came here, I don’t think they’d accept me. I mean everybody is extraordinarily bright and driven and thoughtful. People’s ability to manage complex themes and find information; it’s just different. The students here are extraordinarily sophisticated. So, I’ve enjoyed the students the most. I also enjoy going to all the other events and having the opportunity to learn from practitioners and expand my knowledge and network by doing that.
I chose this topic as democracy is in retreat in many countries in the hemisphere. Not just the act of voting, but rather that the instruments of state are being co-opted in many instances and no longer act as checks on centralized authority, nor do they play a role in knitting together the social fabric of a nation. We are looking at what US policies and programs can strengthen democracies and stop democratic backsliding and what should be our posture towards those states that have turned autocratic. We also need to understand fully that the US isn’t the only actor in the region and that China plays a crucial economic role for many in the hemisphere.
This last point is important. The US is not in the same position we were in at the end of the Cold War. If we frame our policy approaches through that perspective– the one existing when most policymakers came of age–I think we will make mistakes. Countries have options and we have to consider carefully our approaches across the region though I do think we have many advantages already “baked in” given our proximity, cultural affinity, and historical ties. The fun part of this class is thinking through as a group the questions of how we engage with a completely illiberal state or what tools we have to strengthen institutions in the region and keep states from democratic backsliding. How do we look at this in a new way? And as the director of the class, we’re learning this together. And that’s the fun part.
Q: What are you most excited about for the future of your career?
A: You know Venezuela was hard, bringing down the American flag finally on March 14th, 2019 was very difficult. As a diplomat, I believe in engagement, and when you’re not in the country, you’re not engaging fully or effectively. So, what I’m most excited about if I’m confirmed to lead another mission, is the ability to do all of the people-to-people engagement that was so difficult to do from a distance on Venezuela.
Certainly being in Bogota people could cross the border and come see me, so I was very much engaged, but it’s different than being in the communities that maybe are economically deprived or don’t have as much political clout and are not as socially connected as the political and economic elites. Those are the types of things that give you a better understanding of a country and perhaps open a window to how best to represent the US and seek mutually beneficial outcomes.
So, in this particular country, I look forward to visiting every single province and being present in every single place to the extent that security allows me. To engage not only the government but also all of the various communities of practice, because at the end of the day, I’m selling something called the United States of America, I’m selling what we stand for. I’m selling the idea of liberty and democracy — the possibility of it. And I’m also there to understand their society so that I can be more effective in doing my job. I’m very excited about those types of things and we’ll see what the future holds.
Q: Any tips for the FSOT or the OA [Foreign Service Officer Test or Oral Assessment]? I know a lot of people have it coming up.
A: It was Ambassador Chet Crocker who helped me out with the oral assessment. On the FSOT itself, read broadly. I’ve met a lot of people who have not been invited to the oral assessment but passed the Foreign Service Officer Test, and upon further reflection, they didn’t have enough time living and working abroad so I encourage that as both a way to improve your resume, but also for what it provides you personally in the way of growth.
Regarding the OA, I would say that they’re not looking for people to win different parts of the assessment, but to be team players. They’re looking for people who have a moral compass, who can assimilate information and write short, declarative sentences back to Washington. The number one asset for a foreign service officer is interpersonal skills and the ability to work across the interagency. Therefore, in the team exercise the intent here is not for you to win, but for you to maintain relationships, find the best result, and help move a process along to find a solution. Remember these are your colleagues and you’ll need their support one day as well.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Nicole Butler is a research assistant at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. She is also a graduate student in the Security Studies Program at the Walsh School of Foreign Service concentrating in international security.
While James Story is a career U.S. diplomat, the views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of State or the U.S. government.
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