Dipnote - U.S. Department of State Official Blog http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/index/ en U.S. Department of State 2008-08-29T19:16:00-05:00 U.S. Department of State and Social Media: Tell Us What You Think About the Author: Heath Kern Gibson is the Editor-in-Chief of DipNote.

Secretary Rice has called the Internet "…possibly one of the greatest tools for democratization and individual freedom that we've ever seen." We are seeing this when people blog from Cuba and Iran and other societies in which restrictions are placed upon their personal freedoms.

Last year, along with the creation of the Department's own YouTube Channel, this blog signified the Department's foray into social media. Since then, the Department has created a Flickr photos profile, began microblogging using Twitter, distributed audio and video podcasts to iTunes and others using ten RSS feeds, and last week, launched the Department's first official Facebook page. We encourage you to explore these products and let us know how we can better utilize them.

There have been many books and articles written on the relationship between traditional media and foreign policy, with the question often asked as to what degree the news media influences foreign policymakers and vice versa. What has not been discussed as much is the impact of social media on policymaking and the foreign affairs community.

It may not be quite clear yet as to what impact social media will have exactly on foreign policymaking. What is evident, though, is that foreign policy does not operate in a vacuum, and it must incorporate or respond to changes in communications. We are interested in your thoughts on how social media -- how these changes in communication -- will affect foreign policymaking in the years ahead.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/state_department_social_media/ 2008-07-17T19:02:00-05:00 Serving in Iraq: Why I Went
Steven Buckler served as a Provincial Reconstruction Team leader in Iraq.
“This has your name written all over it!” were my spouse’s words when I brought the position description home for PRT leaders in Iraq. But the path to volunteering for Iraq began a number of years ago when a distinguished former senior officer told me there was a time in every career when it was “payback time.” I’ve been very fortunate and the Foreign Service has been a wonderful career and experience for my family and me. The Secretary’s personal appeal in 2006 and my feeling that I and the Senior Foreign Service should lead by example convinced me to volunteer. The prospect of working in the field, at a PRT, in a truly unique situation with great latitude to innovate and lead seemed ideal. And my two children are now young adults, and I hoped as well to encourage in them -- if not now, then later -- to follow a career in public service by taking on an assignment of unusual rigor even this late in my career. My son just enlisted in the Marine Corps...!

Anne Aguilera served as a Senior Human Resources Officer in Iraq.
I look on my year in Baghdad as one of the hardest, yet one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I joined the Foreign Service because I wanted to represent my country overseas; I took an oath to be worldwide available and to go where I was needed and to do what was asked of me. I decided to volunteer for service in Iraq because of a sense of duty and because it was – in my opinion – the right thing to do.

It was very, very difficult to leave my young sons and my husband behind. But becoming a Foreign Service Officer was my childhood dream. I have given over 20 years to the Department of State, and I have never regretted my time with the Department. I wanted to be able to give something back to the Service.

While being in Iraq was difficult, it was also rewarding – both personally and professionally. My family and I have become much closer and I appreciate them and our way of life so much more now that I am back. They feel the same way as well. Each day is more precious than the last and I value my family and my country more than ever. From a professional standpoint, being in Iraq was challenging and fast-paced, but it gave me a chance to "shine" and show what I could do as an officer. Immediately after returning from Iraq, I was promoted – not simply because I went to Iraq, but because Iraq gave me the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of diplomacy and to be a pioneer.

Neither my family nor I regret my decision – OUR decision – to volunteer for Iraq. I gave up a year in my children’s lives, but our lives were much more enriched for the sacrifice.

Bruce Andrew, currently a Post Management Officer in Washington, served in Iraq.
Before going to Iraq, I'd spent my entire career in safe and comfortable places. But duty called. I felt an urge to accept the challenge of a difficult assignment and was eager to do my part in the noble cause of helping the Iraqis establish a free and just society after 35 years of horrific oppression. Under rocket and mortar fire in Baghdad, my own freedom became more precious. Seeing how our Foreign Service Nationals bore up under extreme danger and wrenching personal loss, I took heart in the courage and resilience of the Iraqi people. For this reason I have great hope for their ultimate success.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/serving_in_iraq_why_i_went/ 2008-05-28T20:22:01-05:00 DipNote Poll: Is the Increased Emphasis on Africa… I went home to New York for Easter weekend and was surprised to find my work life infiltrating the holiday weekend. On Saturday night I went to a popular Broadway musical. The theatre was packed, the production phenomenal and the applause lengthy. The surprise came after the curtain came down and the lead actor asked the audience to give money to a charity that helps prevent disease in Africa. My curiosity was piqued by the recipient. I had never seen a Broadway actor pitch for any charity outside of the U.S before. Surprise number two came during Easter services at the church I have been going to since I was a little girl. Three quarters of the way through, a woman went to the pulpit and spoke about a church trip she had made to Africa. The story was riveting, and then she came to the point -- a plea for the congregation to give generously this year because everything donated on Easter Sunday would go to charities in Africa.

emptyWorking in Washington, one can lose perspective on what the general public is focusing on at any given time. Having worked at USAID and now the State Department, I was well versed on the situation in Africa and development in the region. The President's unprecedented increase in aid to Africa surpasses that of any of his predecessors; the richest man in America devotes a large portion of his foundation to the cause; and the most visible celebrity in America adopts children from, visits, and gives time and money to this region.

I've noticed "Africa:"on many of the resume I've received lately. It seems as if every high school and college student is racing to do good work on the continent of Africa. I have often asked myself whether this is a trend, or a sustainable interest of the American people. Is this the "in" cause due to all the attention high profile names have given to it, or is this a cause the general public believes is important to global stability?

Today, DipNote is partnering with Sodahead, a polling company, to quantify your thoughts on various foreign policy issues. This is your poll, devoid of any bias. The only opinions taken will be the ones you give. The poll will attempt to determine broad trends of thought with regard to an international issue.

]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/dipnote_poll_is_the_increased_emphasis_on_africa/ 2008-04-15T19:26:00-05:00 Thanks for a Great Start in ‘07, Here’s to ‘08 A letter from Heath Kern, DipNote's
Editor-in-Chief

All of us at DipNote want to thank you for your participation and interest in our blog. Our successful launch was due in large part to the enthusiasm and interest of our readers, bloggers, and all of you whom have commented over the past three months.

Having given a series of talks over the past few weeks, I have been thrilled, and a little surprised, by the genuine disbelief that a cabinet level agency could have started a legitimate blog complete with criticism and contrary opining. Thanks to great leadership in the State Department's Bureau of Public Affairs and beyond, we were given a green light to start a dialogue with the general public. In turn, I have been consistently impressed with the thoughtful and erudite comments we have received on a wide variety of foreign policy issues.

Since launch, we have made a strong attempt to get you on-the-ground blogging and will continue to strive for more of this in 2008. Also in the new year, we plan on addressing design/redesign issues, upgrading the design and functionality of our photo gallery, launching a micro blogging effort via Twitter, and embarking on joint partnerships to provide further opportunities for an interactive user experience. And, of course, we will continue to provide as much behind the scenes content as possible.

Finally, without the participation of our State Department bloggers we would not have a blog. To all of you who have taken the time to write for us, many thanks. I am greatly appreciative for the consistency with which so many of you at the State Department have provided us with material.

We wish you all a happy holiday season and a festive new year. Be sure to take a look at our “Christmas in Kabul” entry to see how one of our officers is celebrating the season miles away from home. We look forward to welcoming you back to DipNote in ’08 and furthering the dialogue.

Heath Kern
Editor-in-Chief]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/thanks/ 2007-12-20T15:32:00-05:00 The Passport’s in the Mail Heath Kern, Director of Digital Media, provides additional information in the video above.



Steven Royster, Spokesman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, comments on the latest developments regarding passport applications.



We are back on top of our passport game. Over the summer, the Consular Affairs Bureau, with the support of the whole Department, worked hard and now we're back to processing routine passport applications in no more than six weeks. This is great news, and provides for a smooth transition as we return to passport rules that went into effect in January. Once again, all Americans must have passports when returning to the United States on international flights (with one exception, see "If you traveled under... below).



One of the many things we did this summer was work with our partners at the Department of Homeland Security to minimize inconveniences to the American public as we worked through the record demand for passports (we issued 18 million passports in the year ending in September - compared to 12 million the year before). Under this "accommodation," as we've come to call it in-house, Americans who were waiting for their passport could fly back home after trips to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Bermuda with proof that they had applied for the passport. This accommodation was scheduled to end on September 30, and as the date approaches we find ourselves turning around passports as promptly as we did before those travel rules went into effect.



But over the past few days, reporters have been calling me about the "change in passport rules." They're actually disappointed when I explain that this "change" is just a return to the way it was before. But it's just that simple - we're going back to the rules in January: if you're flying out of the United States, you'll be just fine if you have passport in hand when you return. If you traveled under our "accommodation" before September 30, you can return to the U.S. with the same proof of passport application you used when you left.



This means that, despite the changes in rules and proposals over the past few months, that if you're planning to travel internationally, the best advice is the simplest: Apply now for your passport. With new hires and plans for meeting even greater increases in demand in the months ahead, we're ready. We're handling record numbers of passport applications, but we're turning them around as fast as we did last year.



By the way, this gives me a chance to share my personal passport story. In the height of our summer passport crunch, I dropped my application in the mail to renew it. My new passport showed up in the mail about seven weeks later, even as stories ran across the countries about Americans whose applications took longer. While service was disrupted for some customers, many of us got our passports back with time to spare. Still, it's great to be able to share news today that we expect that all travelers who apply today should have their passports within six weeks.

]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/the_passports_in_the_mail/ 2007-10-02T00:15:00-05:00 Protecting Diplomats at UNGA: The Inside Story #2 Interview by Heath Kern With Darwin Cadogan, Director of Protection for Diplomatic Security

QUESTION: President Ahmadi-Nejad, the President of Iran, is being given what I understand to be the highest level of security one can receive, which obviously makes some sense. Are you -- do you have any part in his security?

MR. CADOGAN: Well, his foreign minister is accompanying him on this particular trip, so it's at joint operation detail with the Secret Service and the New York City Police Department.

QUESTION: Is he being given more than any other previous foreign minister has been given during UNGA or does it still fall into the --

MR. CADOGAN: He's given what's according to his perceived threat in the United States, so that level of protection balances out against the threat.

QUESTION: And are you coordinating with the Iranian Government?

MR. CADOGAN: We're coordinating with the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.

QUESTION: And how have they been to deal with?

MR. CADOGAN: They've been cooperative.

QUESTION: Can you give our viewers some idea of what causes a random street closing to occur?

MR. CADOGAN: Well, you know, I'm happy that you asked that because I just left a meeting with the Police Commissioner Kelly. That's an NYPD decision and they make that decision. They inform us and we abide by it.

QUESTION: So you have nothing to do with determining we want "said" street closed?

MR. CADOGAN: Well, they've decided that -- to keep the flow of traffic in a certain pattern without affecting the citizens of New York City, they would close certain streets to facilitate this particular event. And so, you know, we're happy with their decisions and we abide by them and we work together with them. Since 9/11, the street closures that you mentioned, you know, we have now Delta barriers, these are the pop-up portable barriers that we put in place to stop any instances of vehicles or trucks getting into that particular location. And we've also had coordination with the City of New York working with lanes to facilitate the motorcade traffic, cordoning off a lane just for that, so they can go through and they're not stuck in traffic and they're not affecting the natural flow of traffic in the city.

QUESTION: Is UNGA the biggest job that you do every year or is there something else that's even larger?

MR. CADOGAN: No, UNGA is the crown jewel of what we do. It takes us, in terms of coordination, I mean we start -- we'll start coordinating for the next UNGA immediately after this.


]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/unga_security_2/ 2007-09-26T20:45:00-05:00 Protecting Diplomats at UNGA: The Inside Story #1 Interview by Heath Kern With Darwin Cadogan, Director of Protection for Diplomatic Security

September 24, 2007

MR. CADOGAN: Hi. I'm Darwin Cadogan, Director of Protection for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security for the U.S. Department of State.

QUESTION: Agent Cadogan, how long have you been with Diplomatic Security?

MR. CADOGAN: Oh, I've been an agent with the State Department for 31 years.

QUESTION: And you're here in New York because of the UN General Assembly.

MR. CADOGAN: That's correct.

QUESTION: Otherwise known as UNGA.

MR. CADOGAN: That's correct.

QUESTION: So how long -- how many UNGAs have you done in your career?

MR. CADOGAN: I've done a total of 13 UNGAs, most recently -- consecutive the last three years, since I've returned from overseas.

QUESTION: What exactly is your role during this UNGA? Who are you protecting?

MR. CADOGAN: We're protecting approximately 34 foreign ministers visiting the U.S. for this particular event.

QUESTION: And who are you protecting from the U.S. Government?

MR. CADOGAN: U.S. Government we have, of course, the Secretary of State, we have the Deputy Secretary of State and we have the U.S. UN Ambassador.

QUESTION: And how many special agents do you have covering this? How many people are working for you?

MR. CADOGAN: We have a total of 320 special agents from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and we also have 55 agents from the U.S. Marshall Service and from the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco.

QUESTION: So for each foreign minister, so foreign minister X, tell me exactly what kind of protection you're giving that foreign minister, if you can?

MR. CADOGAN: The level of protection is based on threat or perceived threat in the United States and so we go from high, medium to low and then we provide services based upon that particular thing. And reciprocity falls into place and as well as political considerations. So we have to put all of that together when we're putting together a protective package.

QUESTION: Who's determining what the threat level is?

MR. CADOGAN: We work with our threat analysis division and they, in turn, work with the intelligence community.

QUESTION: So at the highest level of threat, what kind of protection would foreign minister X be getting?

MR. CADOGAN: At the highest level for that particular individual, would get 24/7 protection, while they're in the United States. Many of the ministers that are in, we see now take trips to Washington while they're here and they may take trips to other parts of the United States for various reasons while they're here: Chicago, Los Angeles, or whatever. And that detail will go with them and remain with them until they leave the continental United States.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/unga_security_1/ 2007-09-25T15:58:00-05:00