At a time when Trump wages war against expertise, with scores of career ambassadors being recalled and a thinning of officers in the field, Undersecretary of State John Bass holds forth on why real estate and business experience, as well as AI, cannot substitute for diplomatic tradecraft.

You probably thought that an ambassador's job was to help Americans and work with local governments. And so did Ambassador Dan Rosenblum! But to his amazement he discovered that he was in charge of bioweapons campaigns designed to infect populations and plots to overthrow governments and destabilize society overseas! Not true, of course, but the disinformation machinery is hard at work. At what cost? And what can we do to combat this form of warfare? Listen to Dan's personal experience in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Have you ever heard of the teeny tiny Bureau of Intelligence and Research within the State Department? Pull up a chair, because we have Phil Goldberg and Dan Smith here – both career ambassadors (highest rank in the Senior Foreign Service), and both Assistant Secretaries of State for this small but mighty intelligence service. Have a look under the hood at what may be the coolest job in the world.

Israeli security has been the third rail of public discourse. Support all that Israel does or Hamas owns you. The result: waning support. Joel Rubin is back to unpack how Trump is changing the script.

Jewish-American political analyst Joel Rubin unpacks the reasons for the increase in hate crimes and why Jewish-American groups did not expect a rise in anti-Semitism.

Must our foreign policy be based on ego, resources and might-makes-right? Can we effectively meet future challenges with policies based on American values? Ambassador Mike Polt hopes so, and ASU is developing a plan for the long game.

Why hasn't Trump decided to keep US boots on the ground? Let us count the reasons. Hint, it's not because it would be a bad look.

An oldie but a goodie and one of our very favorites, our annual New Year's special: In Vodka Veritas with Dick Hoagland. Ambassador Dick Hoagland, having served many years in Russia and former Soviet republics, has had ample opportunity to consider the high-stakes drinking game of vodka diplomacy. Break a bottle over the bow of 2026 and Happy New Year!

For the holidays, we asked diplomats to share their tales. We have Ken Quinn whose young kids' Christmas in Austria was saved by a team including the Chattanooga Choo Choo, a muslim Santa and a temporary North Korean "daugther". We have Peter Pham who, on his way home for the holidays from his post in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was diverted to Paris due to the US government shutdown, which turn of events led him to ensure the safety return of a recent Congolese Nobel Prize winner. And we have Kent Logsdon who shares a moving tale of singing in an ambassadors' version of a barbershop quartet the song War Is Over, when indeed, war had only just ended in that country. Have a lovely holiday season, everyone!

The Administration's new National Security Strategy document contains exaggerations, contradictions, insults, racism, posturing and slamming, which is to say nothing of the important topics it does not address. Amb. Charlie Ray takes the ideological manifesto apart for us, with discussion of the existential consequences for America and for our species.