Tag: State Department
-
Thoughts on a Departure
An author and former diplomat contemplates familiar Washington haunts, including the Kennedy Center, after his last act in service: cancelling his passport
-
Launch of New Podcast
—
by
Novelist Ben East introduces a new podcast about building international relations for a stronger America.
-
Notes from the Board
—
by
Today I fulfilled a long-held aspiration, joining the editorial board of the Foreign Service Journal. For nearly a quarter century this storied publication has followed me around the world from Jeddah to Nicaragua and Mexico City to Mumbai.
-
A writer in residence
I’ve taken on a surprising new assignment. I have a nice official title, but what it boils down to really is writer in residence. And what is this residence? I report to a cozy white cottage behind a row of heirloom corn off the beaten paths traversing the expansive training grounds of our nation’s foreign…
-
The United States Department of State
—
by
Referred to as the State Department, State, and DOS, the U.S. Department of State has recently been called by an unfitting new label. I don’t care about the insult. Hearing it called “deep state department” glances off as a meaningless jab. I’ve long inured myself against the public bluster. What concerns me more is the…
-
About Mohamed
Every year this time my thoughts turn to Mohamed (his story is here). I had reason to conjure his story this fall and found the image below. Pictured is the American Library, Kabul, circa 1958. Is this the building where Mohamed learned to love the United States? Where he read American authors and watched American movies?…
-
Swagger Stick
Not long ago, selecting deodorant came with a sense of… not humiliation, exactly. Not quite shame. Mild embarrassment? Here, in the grocery store, under fluorescent lights and warbling muzak, I admitted to an indefatigable human failing: my stinky pits. No more. Thanks to Old Spice, all dressed up for modern times, I need not hide…
-
Take Your Child to Work Day
My favorite work day of the year. The cafeteria never seems so alive. The visitor hall buzzes with energy. At State our children take the same oath of service—to uphold the constitution—that we took when we came on board. “I stachername, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United…
-
Let Us Not Be Quiet
Revisiting Remarque before peace eludes My copy of All Quiet on the Western Front is a tattered thing. The cover, already coming apart in brittle pieces, fell off entirely as I read. It was appropriate to the fate of narrator Paul Baumer to see that cover come away. It is the father of all modern war…
-
Foreign Service Readings
Continuing a short list of blogs and independent websites offering an insider’s view of U.S. diplomacy steeped in experience. Not officialdom. I previously posted this Foreign Service blog list. https://diplopundit.net Opinionated and often edgy, DiploPundit has no official connection to the U.S. Department of State. It wades into leadership issues, Foreign Service realities, international current events, and other developments in the…
Ben East Books 