Blog
The Life of an Economic Officer
The following is an excerpt from the blog, Beau Geste, Mon Ami. Larry is an Economic Officer currently on post in Rome. His interesting take in this post on the art of cable writing is a great introduction into the life of an Economic Officer in the Foreign Service. Take some time to read through his [...]
Hearing highlights need for Foreign Service training, lack of congressional interest
At a time when some North African and Middle East states are in chaos and America is posting large numbers of civilians in war zones, the United States is sending Foreign Service officers abroad poorly equipped to deal with the critical situations they face.
That’s the takeaway of a report by the American Academy of Diplomacy and [...]
Children of diplomats displaced by strife often caught between two worlds
With each regime that teeters, each uprising that forces a U.S. embassy to be evacuated, more American diplomats, aid workers and their families seek shelter at a nondescript Falls Church apartment complex with a nondescript name: Oakwood. The only hint of its connection to international affairs is the United Nations flag flying overhead.
The students left [...]
U.S. Foreign Service: on the front lines in Egypt
It is right and natural that we devote a great deal of time deliberating about the foreign policy and other implications of the events unfolding in Egypt. For Egypt, these events constitute a national crisis; for the United States, a foreign-policy crisis. But for many individuals, these events also represent a personal crisis. These include [...]
T-Scores Explained
While it may be true that we compete against ourselves, especially in the oral exams, on the written exam, the score is based on our relative position on a standardized curve (T-scores), meaning that the mean number of questions answered correctly may have less or more correlation with final mean T-scores based on how representative the population of test [...]
