Department of State News

The Daily Signal reports on Department of State news with analysis and commentary on American diplomacy, foreign policy decisions, embassy operations, international agreements, and the State Department’s role in advancing U.S. interests abroad.
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  • news

    Legal Watchdog, Citing Secret Material in Clinton Emails, Presses State Department in Court
    In federal court hearings this week, a watchdog legal group keeps the heat on the State Department for answers about the exposure of classified information during Hillary Clinton’s use of unsecure email to conduct official business when she was secretary of state. A hearing is set Friday in U.S. District Court in the nation’s capital…
    Kevin Mooney
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  • opinion

    The Clinton State Department’s Major Security Breach That Everyone Is Ignoring
    Peter Strzok’s testimony about the email server scandal involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised headlines because of his defiant, disrespectful, and unapologetic attitude about the bias revealed in his text messages that permeated his work at the FBI. Then, there was the verbal combat between him and Republican members of the two committees…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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  • opinion

    State Department Needs Mike Pompeo
    The president’s decision to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the next secretary of state is wise and timely. Pompeo grasps the complex nuances of the national security challenges America faces around the globe. As CIA director, he has honed his leadership skills by running one of the most complex organizations in the U.S. government…
    David R. Shedd | James Carafano | Walter Lohman | Terry Miller | Luke Coffey | Nile Gardiner
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  • news

    Conservative Leaders Back Mike Pompeo as ‘Change Agent’ at State Department
    CIA Director Mike Pompeo would be a “positive agent for change” as secretary of state, more than 100 conservative leaders say in a memo supporting his nomination by President Donald Trump. The memo from the Conservative Action Project applauds Trump’s selection of Pompeo to replace Rex Tillerson at the State Department as a positive move…
    Kyle Perisic
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  • opinion

    America Needs a Stronger State Department, Not an ‘Independent’ Foreign Aid Agency
    President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development to come up with a plan to reorganize themselves to improve their efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability. After decades in which trillions of taxpayer dollars have been sent overseas in the form of foreign assistance, it is not an unreasonable…
    James M. Roberts
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  • opinion

    How the Trump Administration Is ‘Draining the Swamp’ at State Department
    The State Department’s special envoys have long needed reform. That reform could be just around the corner if Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s new proposal pans out. Earlier this week, Tillerson sent a letter to Chairman Bob Corker of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee detailing his plans for eliminating and reorganizing nearly 70 special envoys,…
    Brett Schaefer
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  • news

    Rex Tillerson Plans Major Staff Cuts in State Department Restructuring
    The State Department is planning to reduce staffing by thousands as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson moves forward with efforts to streamline the agency that conservative critics say has outgrown its core functions. As many as 2,300 foreign and civil service positions—about 9 percent of the Americans in State’s workforce worldwide—will be cut over the next…
    Will Racke
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  • news

    After State Department Snub, Senators Look to ‘Other Means’ to Investigate Tax Dollars Propping Up Soros Work
    This article has been corrected and updated since publication. Details about changes are at the end of article. Republican senators could investigate U.S. tax dollars funding liberal billionaire George Soros’ networks abroad “through other means” if the Trump administration’s State Department doesn’t provide answers. Six GOP senators wrote Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in March…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    State Department Confirms Iran Compliant With Nuclear Deal, but Warns Tehran Still on Notice
    With a new White House, many have wondered about the fate of the 2015 nuclear agreement made between the Obama administration and Iran. The Trump administration’s stance on the agreement became a little clearer on Tuesday when the administration notified Congress that Iran is complying with the terms of the agreement, and that the United…
    James Phillips
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  • opinion

    How Trump’s State Department Is Honoring Women
    The most headline-grabbing observance of Women’s History Month last month may have been “A Day Without a Woman.” On March 8, the feminist-led event marked International Women’s Day by staging “a demonstration of economic solidarity” in which women were encouraged to take the day off, avoid shopping, and wear red. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department…
    Grace Melton
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  • opinion

    State Department Gives Long Overdue Approval to Keystone XL Pipeline
    If you had a child when TransCanada first submitted its application to build the Keystone XL pipeline, he would be halfway through the first grade by now. Seven years after TransCanada submitted its first permit application for the Keystone XL pipeline, the Trump administration has overcome the prevaricating defeat-by-delay strategy of the last administration. The…
    Nicolas Loris | Katie Tubb
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  • opinion

    Why Trump’s Budget Proposal for the State Department Makes Sense
    President Donald Trump has made some promising proposals to trim government spending in his recently released budget blueprint. Trump’s significant 2018 budget cut of 28 percent for the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other U.S. government foreign affairs agencies makes a lot of sense. The cut seems dramatic, but comes…
    James M. Roberts
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  • opinion

    State Department Announces Plans to Circumvent US Law in Order to Advance Climate Agenda
    State Department spokesman John Kirby announced that the Obama administration plans to circumvent U.S. law in order to advance its climate agenda. This should come as no surprise, as the president has already circumvented the Constitution through not submitting what is clearly an international climate change treaty to the Senate. U.S. funding for the United Nations…
    Brett Schaefer | Steven Groves
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  • opinion

    State Department Loses Another Round in the Clinton Email Fiasco
    In a second loss in less than two weeks, a federal court has once again ruled against the Obama administration, this time in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) tussle with Judicial Watch over the Clinton email fiasco. Previously, on March 22, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Justice Department and the IRS…
    Hans von Spakovsky
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  • opinion

    State Department Finds ISIS Guilty of Genocide. What’s Next.
    Secretary of State John Kerry declared that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) committed genocide against Yazidis, Christians, and Shiite Muslims. Genocide, as defined by the U.S., constitutes “[w]hoever, whether in time of peace or in time of war and with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national,…
    Olivia Enos
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  • news

    Ukraine War Freezes Over as State Department Updates Travel Warning
    KYIV, Ukraine—As the Ukraine war approaches its third calendar year, daily skirmishes threaten to unglue a shaky truce. The consequences of Russia’s military pivot to Syria, meanwhile, remain foggy. The U.S. State Department on Monday updated its travel warning for Ukraine, urging all U.S. citizens in the eastern Donbas region and in Russian-occupied Crimea to…
    Nolan Peterson
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  • news

    Experts Urge John Kerry to Include Christians in State Department Middle East Genocide Finding
    A silent persecution of Christians tantamount to genocide is ongoing in the Middle East, according to experts in Washington. Last week, at a panel organized by The Heritage Foundation to discuss modern Christian martyrs, academic, religious, and media leaders discussed the persecution—as well as the inattention being paid to the issue by developed nations including…
    Madaline Donnelly
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  • opinion

    State Department Fumbles Response to Palestinian Violence
    For a brief moment the State Department got its reaction right to the Palestinian knife attacks against Israeli citizens last week. A very brief moment. Then it was back to business as usual. Posting on Oct. 15, the State Department on its official twitter account correctly characterized the attacks, advertising remarks by Secretary of State…
    Helle Dale
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  • news

    State Department Clamping Down on Speaking to Congress or Press?
    The State Department has quietly issued a new policy that some insiders view as designed to keep employees from freely speaking to Congress or the press about Benghazi and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email controversy. “It’s an absolute overreach,” says Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz. The State Department issued 19 pages of revised rules about official…
    Sharyl Attkisson
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  • opinion

    State Department Is Misleading Americans About Russia’s Treaty Violations
    The State Department isn’t being honest with Americans about Russia’s violations of arms control treaties and other politically binding commitments. Take the State Department’s annual compliance report, which was published earlier this month. The report outlines U.S. and international compliance with arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements, both legally binding and political. The State Department’s…
    Michaela Dodge
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