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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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
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  • 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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  • 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
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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • State Department Stonewalling Has Made for a Tough Year for the Benghazi Select Committee

    It’s been a year since the House Select Committee on Benghazi began its work, and although the committee has produced an interim report and its share of headlines, it has not come close to completing its mission. And, according to the committee, most of the delay can be traced to the snail’s-pace response from the…
    Helle Dale
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  • Emails Show State Department Aides Knew Early On Benghazi Attack Had Terror Ties

    On Sept.11, 2012, State Department aides knew that the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya was under attack by armed assailants and soon after, that a terrorist group was claiming credit for the attack, according to documents from the U.S. Department of State obtained by Judicial Watch and released Thursday. “These emails leave no doubt that…
    Kate Scanlon
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  • Has the State Department Learned the Lessons of Benghazi?

    A Veteran’s Day feature from the Associated Press showcased the improved training of diplomatic security agents, with a view to demonstrating that the lessons of Benghazi have been absorbed by the State Department. In a simulation in a location in Virginia dubbed Erehwon (“nowhere” spelled backwards), State Department security staff beat back an attack resembling the attack on the ill-fated U.S. consulate in Benghazi…
    Helle Dale
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  • The Not So Cold War: State Department Bans Ice Bucket Challenge for Diplomats

    With terrorists running rampant in Iraq and Russian convoys violating Ukrainian borders, the U.S. State Department is fussing over a new unnerving threat: its own diplomats taking the “Ice Bucket challenge.” The ice bucket challenge is this summer’s social media fad with a philanthropic twist (donations go to the ALS Foundation, which funds research to…
    Helle Dale
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  • State Department Rejects Most Critical Security Recommendations Post-Benghazi

    The State Department released a report earlier this month on implementation of the Best Practices Panel’s (BPP) recommendations on diplomatic security. Interestingly, the two most important ones were rejected by the State Department. The panel of five seasoned security experts was established according to the recommendation of the Benghazi Accountability Review Board (ARB). The BPP…
    Helle Dale
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