What does it take to be a successful diplomat? How does one best "train" or prepare for this type of work? And how, if at all, does the art of diplomacy differ from how it was, say, twenty or thirty years ago? A recent change of leadership at the U.S. State Department --- in the wake of last year's deadly attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens as well as three other Americans --- has reminded us, once again, of the serious challenges now facing the U.S. Foreign Service. Our guest on this edition of ST is Nicholas Kralev, an author, journalist, and former correspondent for the Financial Times and the Washington Times, whose latest book is "America's Other Army: The U.S. Foreign Service and 21st Century Diplomacy." In researching this book, Kralev interviewed hundreds of foreign service professionals --- he's visited more than 80 countries thus far in his career --- and also traveled around the globe with four U.S. Secretaries of State: Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Madeleine Albright. Last night, Kralev gave an address to the Tulsa Committee on Foreign Relations entitled "The U.S. Foreign Service: Behind the Scenes of American Diplomacy" --- and he joins us on today's program to discuss this same topic. (You can learn more about his recent appearance in Tulsa here.)
"Behind the Scenes of American Diplomacy"
