Unraveling the Libya Debacle: Biden’s Disregard for the Facts
Vice President Biden’s assertions during the debate last night showed either a lack of information or a willful disregard for the facts. Biden stated in… Read More
VP Debate: Joe Biden’s Three Most Misleading Foreign Policy Statements
During Thursday night’s vice presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden made numerous misleading or outright inaccurate claims regarding American foreign policy and the Obama administration’s… Read More
Libya Security Lapse: The Budget for Embassy Security Is Not Responsible
There has been some back and forth between Republicans and Democrats over funding for security in Libya in the wake of Ambassador Chris Stevens’s death…. Read More
House Oversight Committee Probes Security Arrangements at Libyan Diplomatic Mission
The Obama Administration’s continually evolving narrative about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, prompted the House Committee on Oversight and Government… Read More
Morning Bell: There Was No Protest, Only a Terrorist Attack, in Libya
The Obama Administration’s story on the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens has changed yet again. In advance of a hearing on diplomatic security in… Read More
An Incriminating Timeline: Obama Administration and Libya (VIDEO)
The latest incriminating information on the U.S. consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya indicates that the State Department turned down a request for additional security from… Read More
Libyan Consulate Attack: More Disturbing Facts Emerge
As the Obama Administration’s account of the terrorist attack on the Benghazi consulate continues to evolve, disturbing new information has emerged about the consulate’s security… Read More
Oversight Committee Seeks Answers About Libya Security Lapse
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is seeking answers from the State Department about its… Read More
Is the State Department Squelching Documents on Libya Attack?
Is the State Department trying to cover up for its own negligence that cost four Americans, including the American ambassador to Libya, their lives on… Read More
Morning Bell: The Administration’s Messy Story on Libya Attack
Washington is notorious for dropping news it doesn’t want scrutinized too closely on the last day of the work week. So last Friday was a… Read More
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
