Deep in the Hermit Kingdom
Former Assistant Secretary of State Susan Thornton joins us with tales of negotiations to disarm North Korea's nuclear arsenal – What could go wrong? Could anything go right? After chairs have been th...
3 Sep 50min
Last Officer at Abbey Gate (Encore)
In our third of three episodes honoring the lives impacted by the US departure from Afghanistan in 2021, we repost one of our most moving episodes. Consular officer Alan Eaton helped scores of Afghans...
27 Aug 35min
Civil Servant Dons Body Armor
In the second of our short series on Afghanistan five years after the US exit, Ken Handelman, former senior civil servant in the Department of Defense, reflects on the beauty, the weirdness and the tr...
20 Aug 38min
Bill Burns on Public Service (Encore)
Bill Burns says it best: "This is exactly the moment when you need to attract the best in our society to lives in public service, whether it's in the State Department, the US military or elsewhere. I ...
13 Aug 31min
High School Reunion in Kabul
How did Soviet-era bureaucratic stamps and a personal relationship between highly placed Afghan frenemies impact the outcome of US involvement in Afghanistan? Amb. John Bass shares the part of the sto...
6 Aug 42min
AI Diplomacy: Dueling Banjos?
Its economic potential is huge, but AI also brings serious national security threats. How exactly do diplomats work to create global standards that promote innovation but also protect us? Knowledge is...
30 Jul 49min
And in Other News…The Western Sahara
Ever wonder what it's really like to move policy along as a diplomat? Join Ed Gabriel and Bob Holley as they chronicle the progress of policy in the Western Sahara. Kings die, Texans retire and admini...
23 Jul 59min
My Romance With Romania
Why is Romania so important for US interests? Hint: The Black Sea, and a very long border with Ukraine. Amb. Kathy Kavalec shares insights on this often overlooked but strategically powerful US allian...
16 Jul 33min
