State Department

Would Machiavelli Have Drawn a Red Line?

The case for subtle diplomacy.

BY ROSA BROOKS | MAY 2, 2013

The Angst in Foggy Bottom

Many in the State Department aren’t happy with the president’s policy on Syria. And they’re speaking out.

BY GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON | APRIL 30, 2013

Minority Report

Should presidents seek out dissent?

MAY/JUNE 2013

What Vali Nasr Gets Wrong

A former State Department insider has written a blistering account of the Obama administration’s missteps in Afghanistan. But is he right?

BY SARAH CHAYES | MARCH 12, 2013

Why Being So Right Feels So Bad

Why did it take the State Department 10 years and billions of dollars to figure out that Iraq reconstruction was a massive failure?

BY PETER VAN BUREN | MARCH 6, 2013

A Clear View from Foggy Bottom

How State Department analysts  -- and no one else -- foresaw the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

BY WILLIAM BURR | MARCH 5, 2013

The Prince of the White House

Eleven rules for how Barack Obama, or any U.S. president, can have his way on national security.

BY ELLIOTT ABRAMS | MARCH 4, 2013

Secretary of Schlep

Hillary Clinton traveled to 112 countries -- we made an awesome slide show.

JANUARY 30, 2013

Continental Shift

Why the Pentagon should pay less attention to Africa.

BY GORDON ADAMS | JANUARY 25, 2013

Lawsuit: Kabul Embassy Guards Told To Lie About Long Hours

The saga of U.S. diplomatic security in Afghanistan continues.

BY ADAM ZAGORIN, DAVID HILZENRATH | JANUARY 23, 2013

Second-Term Heat

What will be the legacy of Obama's next four years?

BY JAMES TRAUB | JANUARY 18, 2013

The Year in Quotes

The 20 most puzzling, hypocritical, and revealing things said about U.S. foreign policy in 2012.

BY MICAH ZENKO | DECEMBER 28, 2012

Lingering Questions on Benghazi

This week's report on the Obama administration's actions in Libya was credible but incomplete.

BY DARRELL ISSA | DECEMBER 21, 2012

Running Hills

Why senators shouldn't head the Pentagon or Foggy Bottom.

BY GORDON ADAMS | DECEMBER 20, 2012

Secretaries of Safe

Obama’s likely national security picks are going to reinforce his innate caution -- for better and for worse.

BY JAMES TRAUB | DECEMBER 14, 2012

Lost in Cyberspace

Why the State Department’s proposed new Twitter restrictions are a terrible idea.

BY WILL MCCANTS | DECEMBER 10, 2012

The Rice Stuff

Criticized unfairly on decades-old Africa policy, Susan Rice has shown she's got the right temperament to be secretary of state.

BY WITNEY SCHNEIDMAN | DECEMBER 5, 2012

Twice As Rice

Who said it: Condoleezza or Susan?

NOVEMBER 27, 2012

It's His Prerogative

Let Obama pick his secretary of state. Even if it's Susan Rice. 

BY DAVID ROTHKOPF | NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Everything You Need to Know About Susan Rice

The lowdown on America's maybe-next secretary of state.

BY COLUM LYNCH | NOVEMBER 19, 2012

Throwing Rice

Barack Obama was right to defend Susan Rice from the GOP attacks. She's got the chops to be secretary of state.

BY SEAN KAY | NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Does It Matter Who the Next Secretary of State Is?

Whether Kerry, Rice, Donilon, or somebody else is named America's top diplomat, there will be one man in charge in Foggy Bottom -- Barack Obama.

BY AARON DAVID MILLER | NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Secretary Kerry

Would John Kerry do a good job of filling Hillary Clinton’s shoes?

BY JAMES TRAUB | NOVEMBER 8, 2012

'Troubling' Surveillance Before Benghazi Attack

Sensitive documents found amid the wreckage of the U.S. consulate shine new light on the Sept. 11 assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

BY HARALD DOORNBOS, JENAN MOUSSA | NOVEMBER 1, 2012

Happy Birthday, Madam Secretary

Fourteen of the best images of Hillary Clinton as she celebrates her 65th birthday.

OCTOBER 26, 2012

Madam President?

While Barack Obama was off fighting to keep his job, Hillary Clinton was busy in New York doing it.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Assessing Hillary

Is America's 67th secretary of state a Seward or a Powell?

SEPT/OCT 2012

Deadwood

Forget the best and brightest. Why did America send its C team to Afghanistan? An exclusive excerpt from the new book Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan.

BY RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN | JUNE 26, 2012

Why Is the U.S. Selling Billions in Weapons to Autocrats?

The export of American arms to countries around the world -- even those actively repressing their own citizens -- is booming.

BY ZACH TOOMBS, R. JEFFREY SMITH, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY | JUNE 21, 2012

Abandoning Sergei Magnitsky

Why is Hillary Clinton giving up on human rights in Russia?

BY JAMISON FIRESTONE | JUNE 21, 2012