Department of State
269 Articles
Norms Watch: Democracy, the Trump Administration, and Reactions to It (August 4-August 11)
Editor’s Note: Welcome to the latest installment of Norms Watch, our series tracking both the flouting of democratic norms by the Trump administration and the erosion of…
Representative Ted Lieu in Defense of Global Justice
As mentioned last week by Jane Stromseth in her terrific post “Why the U.S. needs the Office of Global Criminal Justice Led by a Senate-Confirmed Ambassador-at-Large,” the…
Why the U.S. needs the Office of Global Criminal Justice Led by a Senate-Confirmed Ambassador-at-Large
The survival of the State Department’s talented Office of Global Criminal Justice (GCJ) is at risk. Since 1997, this small but mighty team led by a Senate-confirmed Ambassador-at-Large…
Not So Fast: Trump Administration Continues U.S. Sanctions Toward Sudan
After months of speculation, the Trump administration has decided that the current U.S. sanctions against Sudan will remain in place – at least for now. The State Department…
The “Leahy Law” Prohibiting US Assistance to Human Rights Abusers: Pulling Back the Curtain
With almost weekly news reports of US support for foreign governments with track records of gross human rights abuse—think torture in Yemen by Emirati security forces, violations…
Cutting To the Bone of American Leadership
The recent resignation of David Rank, a 27-year career Foreign Service officer who was serving as acting U.S. Ambassador to China, is just the latest U.S. diplomatic casualty of…
New Atrocities Prevention & Response Legislation Introduced
I posted earlier about a new bipartisan bill to advance accountability in Syria: the Syrian War Crimes Accountability Act of 2017 (current status is here). Two additional pieces…
Congress Protects U.S. Foreign Aid For Now but the Budget Wars Are Just Beginning
While overshadowed by news that House Republicans voted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, last week’s signing of a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund the…
Gutting the State Department is National Security Malpractice
If you think about national security in health terms, the State Department serves as a primary care physician, a vaccine researcher, a psychiatrist, a rehabilitation expert, and…
The Deconstruction of America’s Global Leadership
Stephen Bannon, President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, has made it clear that the Trump administration wants to see the “deconstruction of the administrative state.”…
Is the State Department Being Intentionally Gutted?
Amidst the public speculation of a State Department possibly in disarray, I know that officers at State are still hard at work. One example: I recently received in my email inbox…
What Does it Mean to Designate the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization?
According to reports, President Donald Trump may shortly issue an Executive Order directing the State Department to examine whether it should designate the Muslim Brotherhood as…