Policy
State Department Lost 12% of its Foreign Affairs Specialists in Trump’s First 8 Months
The department also lost 6 percent of its overall workforce in the first year of the new administration.
Science & Tech
State Dept. Reverses Course, Plans to Launch Cyber and Digital Economy Bureau
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier shuttered a cyber coordinator’s office with similar duties.
Business
What ‘Buy America’ Looks Like at an Overseas Air Show
State Department officials say they’re upping their presence at the Singapore Airshow this week as part of the administration’s push to sell more arms abroad.
Ideas
Rex Tillerson's Syria Policy Is Sensible—But It's Fanciful
The resources the administration is willing to commit are at yawning variance with its ambitious goals.
Policy
Senators Press State Dept. to Drop Hiring Freeze and Shine Light on Reorg Plan
Reforms could hurt 'America's Foreign Service and Civil Service professionals' and put diplomacy at risk, one letter says.
Ideas
As AI and Cyber Race Ahead, the State Department Is Falling Behind
Technology is reshaping the global order. America’s diplomats need to start thinking ahead.
Ideas
Rex Tillerson Must Go
If he does remain, it will be yet another sign of the collapse of self-respect among those who are now willing to serve in senior positions in government.
Science & Tech
Analysts Are Quitting the State Department’s Anti-Propaganda Team
The Global Engagement Center is struggling to keep up with its missions: countering ISIS recruitment and Russian disinformation.
Policy
Former State Dept. Cyber Coordinator Says It Was a Mistake to Close His Office
Chris Painter worries the United States is stepping back from its role as a global cyber leader.
Ideas
US Cyber Diplomacy Has Bigger Problems Than the Closure of its Coordination Office
The Trump administration isn’t making it a foreign policy priority.
Science & Tech
State Dept Will Still Run Int’l Cyber Policy, Even If It Closes Cyber Office
A White House official also outlined how federal agency leaders will be held accountable for network breaches.
Ideas
Trump’s Afghanistan Reset Needs a Soft-Power Mission, Too
Reconciliation and peace-building can only occur if there is an open dialogue and people are working towards a shared, communal interest.
Ideas
The Silence of Rex Tillerson
Sooner or later, someone needs to explain what Trump’s foreign policy is. But the secretary of state does not seem to understand his job.
Ideas
America's Foreign-Policy Voice Is Fracturing. Trump’s Cuts Would Make Things Worse
The post-9/11 explosion in security-assistance funding has muddied the roles of diplomats and generals. A re-empowered State Department could help fix that.
Policy
ISIS War Generals to Congress: We Need the State Department
One week after Trump proposed shifting billions from the State Department to the Pentagon, two of the top U.S. generals in the Middle East and Africa say they need diplomatic help.
Ideas
Want to Win Wars? Fund Soft Power, Trump’s Generals Say
The president’s proposal to boost military spending at the expense of diplomacy and foreign aid won't lead to victory.
Policy
Trump’s State Department Anxiously Awaits its Future
Shaken up and set adrift, a foreign-policy bureaucracy confronts the possibility of radical change.
Ideas
Mapped: America's Collective Defense Agreements
The United States has agreements to come to the defense of more than 50 other nations.
Policy
'We Are Better than this Ban': US Diplomats Plan Official Dissent
White House to State Department: “They should get with the program or they should go.”
Ideas