Program Extras
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Program Overview
- Hosts: Deborah Amos
- Length: 51 minutes
- Original Airdate: Jul 2009
"When I worked in the state department, we made the decision to put diplomats into the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's an entirely different proposition than serving in Rome."
- Former Ambassador Nicholas Burns
The cocktail parties and communiqués of traditional diplomacy are giving way to counterinsurgency and crisis management missions in places like Iraq and Colombia. American diplomats are now required to serve in both embassies and embeds. But the Foreign Service is short on folks with the language and technical skills to fill these modern posts. Add to that a bureaucratic State Department short on funds and slow to adapt and you end up with the 82nd Airborne as the face of American foreign policy to the world.
Segment 1: Deborah Amos and Sean Carberry discuss the changing landscape of American diplomacy. Listen to this segment.
Guests include Ambassador Nicholas Burns, former US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs in the Bush Administration and Ryan Crocker, Ambassador to Iraq from 2007 to 2009.
Segment 2: Language/Security Training. Deborah Amos investigates what the US is doing to equip Foreign Service officers with the language and survival skills necessary for the diplomacy of the 21st Century. Listen to this segment.
Guests include Ambassador Ryan Crocker; Barbara Cummings, Diplomat-in-Residence; Dr. Nabeel Khoury, Director of the State Department’s Near East and South Asia Office; and Ray Leki, Director of the Transition Center at the Foreign Service Institute. Listen to this segment.
Segment 3: Plan Colombia. Deborah Amos explores how US diplomats implemented Plan Colombia, and what lessons can be learned from their efforts to stabilize a struggling state. Listen to this segment.
Guests include Leslie Bassett, a political counselor in Bogota from 1999 to 2001; Luis Moreno, former head of the Narcotics Affairs Section at the US Embassy in Bogota; Anne Patterson, Ambassador to Colombia from 2000 to 2003; and Stewart Tuttle, a political officer at the US Embassy in Bogota from 2001 to 2005.
Segment 4: Hyderabad. Matt Ozug travels to Hyderabad, India, where the new Consulate General is expanding commercial and diplomatic ties in an emerging economic center. Listen to this segment.
Guests include Cornelis Keur, US Consul General; Pandrangi Radhakishore, Commercial Specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce; Ajit Rangnekar, Dean of the Indian School of Business; and Alok Sethi, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hyderabad.
Segement 5: Roundtable. Deborah Amos moderates a discussion on the fiscal and functional challenges facing the State Department. Listen to this segment.
With Professor Gordon Adams, a Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center and a U.S. Foreign Policy professor at American University and Marc Grossman, former Ambassador to Turkey, Director General of the Foreign Service, and US Undersecretary for Political Affairs from 2001 to 2005.
Diplomacy Under Fire / Executive Producer: Aaron Lobel / AAM Producers: Monica Bushman, Sean D. Carberry, Matt Ozug, Monica Villavicencio and Chris Williams / Interns: Natalie Friedman, Alex Taylor and Jake Yarmus.
Music heard on this broadcast:
"Vindaloo" by Four Piece Suit
"Angel" by Massive Attack
"The Envoy" by Warren Zevon
"Namaste" by the Beastie Boys
"Beware of the Boys (Mundian to Bach Ke)" by Panjabi MC
"Guabina Chiquinquireña" by Cuerdas Colombianas
"Los Guaduales" by Cuerdas Colombianas
What People are Saying
I would do this if I was younger!
, 8 months ago
I am amazed that your report on Colombia did not include the fact that this country has between 3 and 4.5 million displaced people, second only to Sudan. The people of Colombia are better off the commentator claims. Which people? The rich ones. Para military may be demobilized, but other groups have taken their place. Another opinion to observe is in Beyond Bogota by Garry Leech.
, 8 months ago
I was very disturbed by your segment on Plan Colombia. Your analysis makes this Plan seem like a huge success, but ignores the many side-effects. The military and President Alvaro Uribe, of which you speak on the program, are the worst side effects of this Plan. General Mario Montoya, leader of what you call a "professional military" has resigned after being accused of executing civilians. Numerous allies and relatives of President Uribe have resigned from political offices because of their ties to far-right paramilitary groups. These paramilitary groups, who you say have declined, continue to commit the same atrocities but now have allies in the national government. Therefore, I completely disagree that Plan Colombia was a success. Also, I find it extremely frightening that someone would propose that this plan using this same Plan in other part of the world.
, 8 months ago
I co-write Whirled View (www.whirledview.typepad.com), a foreign affairs, public diplomacy blog and I thought you might be interested in my post on this broadcast. I posted it on Aug. 13. See the comments also. Here is the URL to the post: http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2009/08/diplomacy-under-fire-and-the-usaidification-of-the-us-foreign-service-.html
, 7 months ago
