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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize With deft portraits of many world figures, Dean Acheson analyzes the processes of policy making, the necessity for decision, and the role of power and initiative in matters of state. Acheson (1893–1971) was not only present at the creation of the postwar world, he was one of its chief architects. He joined the Department of State in 1941 as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and, with brief intermissions, was continuously involved until 1953, when he left office as Secretary of State at the end of the Truman years. Throughout that time Acheson's was one of the most influential minds and strongest wills at work. It was a period that included World War II, the reconstruction of Europe, the Korean War, the development of nuclear power, the formation of the United Nations and NATO. It involved him at close quarters with a cast that starred Truman, Roosevelt, Churchill, de Gaulle, Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Attlee, Eden Bevin, Schuman, Dulles, de Gasperi, Adenauer, Yoshida, Vishinsky, and Molotov.
Kori Schake shows how the deficiencies in focus, education, and programmatic proficiency impede the work of the State Department and suggests how investing in those areas could make the agency significantly more successful at building stable and prosperous democratic governments around the world. She explains why, instead of burdening the US military with yet another inherently civilian function, work should focus on bringing those agencies of the government whose job it is to provide development assistance up to the standard of success that our military has achieved. Schake presents a vision of what a successful State Department should look like and seeks to build support for creating it—a State Department that makes possible the projection of US civilian power as well as US military force.
Toward "Thorough, Accurate, and Reliable" explores the evolution of the Foreign Relations of the United States documentary history series from its antecedents in the early republic through the early 21st century implementation of its current mandate, the 1991 Foreign Relations statute. This book traces how policymakers and an expanding array of stakeholders translated values like "security," "legitimacy," and "transparency" into practice as they debated how to balance the government's obligation to protect sensitive information with its commitment to openness. Determining the "people's right to know" has fueled lively discussion for over two centuries, and this work provides important, histo...
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Adolph Dubs was commuting from his residence to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on February 14, 1979, when four men abducted him. A man dressed as a policeman stopped the Ambassador's car and said that he had orders to search it. Aiming a gun at the chauffeur's head, the “policeman” ordered the chauffeur to remain still while he and three men got into the car. At gunpoint, the chauffeur drove to the Kabul Hotel, arriving at about 8:50 a.m. The kidnappers ordered Dubs out of the car and took him to a second floor room. The chauffeur was instructed to go to the U.S. Embassy and inform the Americans of the situation. A large number of Afghan police, military, and fi...
State Department Publication 10316. Edited by C. Thomas Thorne, et al. General Editor: Glenn W. LaFantasie. One of a series of volumes on the foreign policy of the Truman administration. Also advertised with the subtitle: Intelligence and Foreign Policy. Includes high-level governmental plans, discussions, administrative decisions, and managerial actions that established institutions and procedures for the central coordination of intelligence collection and analysis and covert action. Documentsthe advice, actions, and initiatives of principals and groups in other departments and agencies, who helped to lay the foundations for the centralized intelligence bureaucracy.
A veteran counterintelligence agent presents a revealing chronicle of his State Department investigations into intelligence leaks and spying on US soil. On October 7th, 1974, Robert D. Booth swore an oath to support and uphold the United States Constitution as a special agent of the State Department’s Office of Security. As a member of the Special Investigations Branch, he investigated numerous information leaks, losses of classified documents, and instances of espionage. Now, in State Department Counterintelligence, Booth reveals some of the most egregious leaks, spies, and lies that have adversely affected national security over his decades-long career. Booth tells the story of his pivotal role in three major counterespionage assignments as well as numerous investigations into unauthorized disclosures—including the unmasking of Fidel Castro’s most damaging US citizen spy. With the narrative style of a political thriller, Booth brings readers inside the real world of counterintelligence.
"America's network of international relationships is its foremost strategic asset, even as the agency charged with advancing U.S. interests through diplomacy-the Department of State (DOS)-has fallen into a deep and sustained period of crisis," write former diplomats Uzra S. Zeya and Jon Finer. In Revitalizing the State Department and American Diplomacy, they argue that "left unaddressed, the challenges that DOS faces risk causing irreparable damage to America's standing and influence in the world, ability to advance its interests overseas, and security and prosperity at home." The authors note that "despite the decades-long failure to implement essential reforms-and even in the face of susta...
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