Embassy of the Future

CSIS published the report of the Embassy of the Future Commission earlier this month. The Commission co-chaired by former Ambassadors Felix Rohatyn, Marc Grossman and George Argyros, has assessed the state of the U.S. diplomatic presence abroad and submitted recommendations for how to make the diplomatic pursuit of U.S. interests abroad even more effective than it is today. The report includes comments on IRCs, American Corners, American Centers, and other public diplomacy tools.

Diplomatic history

Thank you Kate for alerting me to LC's The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. This site "presents a window into the lives of American diplomats. Transcripts of interviews with U.S. diplomatic personnel capture their experiences, motivations, critiques, personal analyses, and private thoughts. These elements are crucial to understanding the full story of how a structure of stable relationships that maintained world peace and protected U.S. interests and values was built." As you will see from the picture of Ambassador Clarence Gauss crossing the river to Chungking, China, May 26, 1941 to present his credentials, the pomp and circumstance so dear to our Ambassadors hasn't changed much over the years.