Department of State
287 Articles

How to Fight Truth Decay: Protect the Truth Tellers
What better way of protecting the truth than by offering a safe haven for journalists who risk their lives to inform us.

How to Restore Ethics to the U.S. Department of State
The task demands accountability for the ethical scandals that have occurred at State during the Trump administration and a public commitment to rebuilding the infrastructure, including…

Good Governance Paper No. 23: Rebuild and Renew the Diplomatic Corps
Last in a series of top experts exploring proposals to restore and promote nonpartisan principles of good government, public integrity, and rule of law.

Loyalty Above All: The “Shallow State” of the Trump Administration
A compilation of executive branch positions deprived of competence and expertise, and filled instead with political loyalists.

Think Beyond the Beltway — Bring Mayors and Governors to the Foreign Policy Table
States, regions, and cities are already on the frontlines, as in the pandemic. The federal government should support these contacts for the global future.

Estrangement Over Engagement: How the Trump Administration is Bucking Bipartisan Human Rights Diplomacy at the UN
The practice of the Trump administration turning its back on rights at the United Nations goes well beyond the Human Rights Council.

Amnesty International Calls for India to Lift Account Freeze to Resume Vital Human Rights Work
Senior US officials traveling to India this month should urge the immediate lifting of the account freeze and press India to guarantee rights of civil society organizations to…

Shaky Hands in the Oval Office
Like another president's illness, Trump's bout with COVID-19 exposes the risks of a personalized foreign policy that dismisses national security structures.

Reclaiming the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the Pompeo Commission – Part 2
The panel's lengthy exegesis of the Declaration contains at least six glaring omissions that have real-world consequences.

Reclaiming Human Rights from the Pompeo Commission – Part 1
Its report displays an interpretative sneakiness, invoking the “founding era” and “founding principles” in a highly selective and under-inclusive way.

A Test for the US Posture on the Int’l Criminal Court: “Safe Harbor” Licenses?
A US willingness to consider mitigation will signal the true intent of sanctions against the ICC prosecutor and a division director.

Why Them? On the U.S. Sanctions Against Int’l Criminal Court Officials
What messages is the United States sending by targeting Fatou Bensouda and Phakiso Mochochoko in particular?