State Department

Hitting Bottom in Foggy Bottom

The State Department suffers from low morale, bottlenecks, and bureaucratic inepititude. Do we need to kill it to save it?

BY MATTHEW ARMSTRONG | SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Arming Somalia

The United States sent RPGs, machine guns, mortars, and -- in the words of one U.S. official -- "cash in a brown paper bag" to Somalia last spring. Foreign Policy reports on how the shipments took place, and who's not happy about it.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

Can Mosquito Nets Stop Terrorists?

A previously unreported program sheds light on the battle for Africa's hearts and minds -- and the battle between the State Department and the Department of Defense.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | SEPTEMBER 1, 2009

Failing State

Money alone won't produce smart power.

BY MICHAEL SHEEHAN, KAREN GREENBERG | AUGUST 20, 2009

Time to End the Congo Charade

Hillary Clinton is making the same tragic mistake the world has been making for the past 40 years: imagining that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is real.

BY JEFFREY HERBST, GREGORY MILLS | AUGUST 14, 2009

How America Is Funding Corruption in Pakistan

Graft is on the rise in Islamabad, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.

BY AZEEM IBRAHIM | AUGUST 11, 2009

The New Iran Sanctions: Worse Than the Old Ones

The U.S. Congress is considering cutting off petroleum-products shipments to Iran -- a useless sanction, and a distraction from real solutions.

BY GAL LUFT | AUGUST 11, 2009

An Insider's Guide to Washington's China War

Where and how the battle lines are being drawn.

BY JOHN LEE | JULY 28, 2009

Sound the Alarm

How to stop Burma from getting nukes.

BY CATHERINE COLLINS | JULY 24, 2009

Seven Questions: Jay Garner

The man who first led reconstruction efforts in Iraq says that Arab-Kurd tensions are overblown and that "soft partition" would have been a good idea.

BY ELIZABETH DICKINSON | JULY 15, 2009

A Road Map to Nowhere

Obama's refusal to dub Israeli settlements illegal is undermining any hope of Middle East peace.

BY FLYNT LEVERETT, HILLARY MANN LEVERETT | JULY 1, 2009

The Diplomatic Surge

With the State Department on a rare hiring binge, the next U.S. president will inherit a beefed-up diplomatic corps. Foggy Bottom may get the personnel it desperately needs. But if the government’s fancy new test is any indication, the American people may not quite want what they get.

BY ANDREW CURRY | OCTOBER 10, 2008

Foreign Disservice

BY NEWT GINGRICH | JULY 1, 2003

Rogue State Department

Anti-American sentiment is rising unabated around the globe because the U.S. State Department has abdicated values and principles in favor of accommodation and passivity. Only a top-to-bottom reform and culture shock will enable the State Department to effectively spread U.S. values and carry out President George W. Bush's foreign policy.

BY NEWT GINGRICH | JULY 1, 2003

Brand U.S.A.

NOVEMBER 1, 2001

It's All Pashto to Them

NOVEMBER 1, 2001

Between the Lines: Terrorizing the Truth

BY ANDREW J. BACEVICH | JULY 1, 2001

Family Affair

MAY 1, 2001

When Sanctions Worked

After using economic reprisals as an alternative to military action against Iran and the Soviet Union, the Carter administration may well find itself in a thorny dilemma if it balks in the case of South Africa.

BY JUDITH MILLER | MARCH 15, 1980

An Interview with Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro on communism, his own death, and the U.S. embargo.

BY BARBARA WALTERS | SEPTEMBER 15, 1977

Beyond Detente

The United States and the Soviet Union must stop squab­bling over relatively small differences in their capacity for overkill. The real issue is the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of many nations.

BY EDWARD M. KENNEDY | SEPTEMBER 15, 1974

The Machine That Fails

40 years ago, in the inaugural issue of Foreign Policy, Richard Holbrooke laid out a forceful vision of U.S. diplomacy that would echo throughout his career.

BY RICHARD HOLBROOKE | JANUARY 1, 1971