News Flash for the Pentagon: U.S.–Russian “Reset” Failed
On Wednesday, Under Secretary of Defense Jim Miller argued that the Obama Administration’s “reset” policy with Russia had succeeded. According to Miller, rapproachment with Russia… Read More
The White House Disinformation Campaign on the Libya Attack
The Obama Administration has now acknowledged the glaringly obvious: that the four Americans who died in the September 11 attack in Libya “were killed in… Read More
The Death of U.S. Public Diplomacy and Lessons on How to Resurrect It
“The death of U.S. public diplomacy” was how one Twitter user last Tuesday described the now-infamous apology from the U.S. embassy in Cairo for the… Read More
Limits on Free Speech? A Dangerous Message
Diplomats abroad represent the government of the United States. They must, therefore, speak with tact, but also with honesty. After all, most of the people… Read More
Islamists Storm U.S. Embassy Grounds in Cairo
A crowd of Salafi Islamists swarmed over the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo today, tore down the American flag and replaced it with… Read More
New State Dept. “Fact Sheets” Push More Government, More Spending on Foreign Aid
Recently, The Heritage Foundation reported that the State Department is making major changes to its venerable series of “Background Notes”—transforming them from useful reference materials… Read More
$50 Million Government Polling Contract with Gallup Attracts Scrutiny
An example of government waste and bad planning—the exorbitantly expensive Gallup Organization contract with the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)—is finally coming under a long-overdue… Read More
State Department Website Morphs into the World According to Obama
The State Department is continuing to edit its website into a more Obama-centric story of the world. As reported by The Heritage Foundation’s Jim Roberts,… Read More
Red Tape Tangles Aid to Iranian Victims
U.S. government red tape is preventing American Iranians from sending much-needed aid to the thousands of victims of Saturday’s two earthquakes in northern Iran, aid… Read More
Morning Bell: Obama Edits Official State Department Documents to Tout Himself
Inserting himself into the biographies of past presidents on the White House website apparently wasn’t enough for President Obama. His State Department is now editing… Read More
Obama Transforms State Department “Background Notes” Into Campaign Material
Production by U.S. embassies of the State Department’s long-running series of annual “Background Notes” covering every country in the world had long been considered a… Read More
Public Diplomacy Mission: Defining America as a Resilient Nation Built on Individual Dreams
In a recent speech to the American Security Project, Tara Sonenshine, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, laid out her vision for her tenure in… Read More
LawNews
International Religious Freedom Report: Time to Back Up Tough Talk with Tough Actions
Yesterday, the State Department issued its 2011 International Religious Freedom Report, which represents the culmination of an annual review the State Department must undertake pursuant… Read More
Americans Deserve to Know What the U.S. Government Is Broadcasting
Americans deserve transparency about what their government is doing, as long as that transparency doesn’t threaten national security. Transparency should also be the guiding principle… Read More
State Department Still Balking on Calling Out Terrorists in Nigeria
There is some confusion in Foggy Bottom as to how the United States ought to define Boko Haram, an Islamic militant group based in northern… Read More
OAS and State Department Make Right Call on Paraguay
In his report to the permanent council of the Organization of American States (OAS), Secretary General Miguel Insulza made the correct call. After traveling to… Read More
A Billion Here, a Billion There: The State Department’s Wacky Budget Process
Even by U.S. government standards (not a high one these days), the State Department’s budget process is a mess. In almost every budget cycle, billions… Read More
News
The State Department’s Confusion over Confucius Institutes
On May 17, Robin J. Lerner, deputy assistant secretary for private sector exchange at the State Department, made a valiant attempt to correct the troubling… Read More
Smith–Mundt: Myth and Reality
Controversy has swirled around the Smith–Mundt Modernization Act since it passed mark-up as an amendment to the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act last… Read More
Smith-Mundt Modernization: Better Late than Never
The House Armed Services Committee clearly acted in the U.S. interest when it voted to modernize the Smith–Mundt Act last week, as an amendment to… Read More
State Department to Grant Visa to Cuban Dictator Raul Castro’s Daughter
The U.S. State Department has decided to grant a visa to Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of Raul Castro, the country’s President and Premier, neice of… Read More
Russian Roulette at Voice of America
Depending on Russian government-funded media to broadcast news from Voice of America (VOA) is about as brain-dead as depending on Russian spaceships to send American… Read More
Embarrassment in Beijing
On her first visit to China in 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Chinese leaders that she considered human rights secondary to other, greater… Read More
Human Rights Activists: Obama Must Stand With Chen Gaungcheng
A top activist for human rights in China warned on Thursday that if the United States wants to maintain its image as a global human… Read More
Most Americans Agree: War on Terrorism Not Yet Won
Last week, experts fired back at the assertion by an unnamed senior State Department official that “The war on terror is over.” Yet, according to… Read More
Is the War on Terror Over? Are Islamists Now ‘Legitimate’?
There’s a bunch of good news coming from one senior official in the State Department. According to this unnamed source, “the war on terror is… Read More
News
U.S. Nods to India’s Closing Missile Gap with China
India’s successful test of the Agni-V, a nuclear-capable long-range missile, is a major step forward for New Delhi in attaining nuclear deterrence against regional rival… Read More
Urgent Challenges for New Public Diplomacy Chief
Rolling up her sleeves should be new Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Tara Sonenshine’s first act in office. For the chief of the U.S. government’s outreach… Read More
House to Hear about Chinese Public Diplomacy
There used to be a saying about the Chinese: “They work while we sleep.” In the field of public diplomacy, it is absolutely spot on…. Read More
House Members Ask Hillary Clinton Not to Promote ‘Fracking’ Propaganda
Thirty-two members of the House of Representatives have asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove a factually inaccurate environmentalist documentary from the list of… Read More
