American Diplomat

By Ambassador (Retired) Pete Romero and Writer/Producer Laura Bennett

Society & Culture Education Government & Organizations Non-Profit

What's American Diplomat about?

American Diplomat goes behind the scenes to hear real stories from diplomats who lived newsworthy events overseas. Experience the Cuban revolution, Central American insurgencies, the end of apartheid and more through the eyes of those who were there.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

Is 757 Years Enough?

04.08.2021

It's 5:30am, and Kala Bokelman of the Diplomatic Security Service is one of many staking out a professional photographer named Solano's house on a skinny on a dead-end street in Costa Rica. Together with Costa Rican security, the DSS helps ...

American Diplomat episodes:

04.08.2021 Is 757 Years Enough? It's 5:30am, and Kala Bokelman of the Diplomatic Security Service is one of many staking out a professional photographer named Solano's house on a skinny on a dead-end street in Costa Rica. Together with Costa Rican security, the DSS helps ...
03.31.2021 Smuggling Cubans Party at Carla's house! Kala Bokelman, diplomatic security special agent, tells of a raid on a house straddling the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border. The goal? To stop coyotes smuggling people from Cuba to the US via Ecuador and every state in ...
03.26.2021 Combatting Anti-Blackness as a Diplomat of Color As a diplomat of color, how did the murder of George Floyd inspire Christian Loubeau, Security Council negotiator for the United States mission to the United Nations, to create change at USUN? And, how exactly do you conduct multilateral negotiation ...
03.18.2021 Onboarding Online Andrew Shinn onboards as a new Foreign Service Officer during the pandemic. But what is he onboarding to? There's no place to go, and even State doesn't really know what to do with these newbies. Do you swear in wearing ...
03.11.2021 F.W. de Klerk, Winnie Mandela and Cyril Ramaposa We all know the importance of Nelson Mandela, but great as he was, he did not work alone. Each of these figures brought their motives and personalities to shape South Africa's transition from apartheid to the present. John Campbell, political ...
03.04.2021 Trifecta It all began with a call from the police. Andrew Byrley, a young officer and former robotics expert, shares tales of a harrowing month assisting Americans in crisis in Belize. What can, what cannot, and what must the American consulate ...
02.25.2021 Bahrain, So Small, So Important The Arab Spring - Tunisia, Egypt - we know about these places. But Bahrain is almost never in the news. What is its geopolitical significance, and strategic importance to the US? And why was Ambassador Tom Krajeski in a tight ...
02.18.2021 The Shining City on the Hill? "But we're Americans. We don't lose wars." False! Ambassador and former National Security Advisor Tony Lake takes a hard look at American leadership in the world from Kennedy until the present time, when like so many countries, our democracy needs ...
02.12.2021 The Secret Dinners Like Chicago mobsters, hard line parties grab to divvy up the riches after the genocide in Bosnia has stopped. Ambassador Tom Miller, together with the British ambassador, organizes "secret dinners" that lead to a peaceable coalition of factions that brings ...
02.04.2021 The Ugly American Or a traitor, anyway. In an eerily quiet region during the Vietnam war, from a banana grove in the middle of the night, Lionel Rosenblatt discovers that a US military official is guilty of supplying the enemy with life-saving medicine ...
02.01.2021 Bonus Repost: That Day I Had to Run Again in honor both of Black History Month and Linda Thomas-Greenfield's recent appointment as US ambassador to the United Nations, we repost our second chat with Linda from last summer: April 7, 1994, Rwanda. Not a good day to be ...
01.27.2021 December 17, 2010 Mohammed Bouazizi, an underemployed fruit seller, sets himself on fire, launching what we later began calling the Arab Spring. Ambassador Gordon Gray walks us through life on the ground in Tunisia, when things in the Arab world began to change. ...
01.25.2021 Bouns Repost - A Few Choice Words In honor of upcoming Black History Month, and in honor of the new administration, we repost our first episode with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden's new Ambassador to the UN. Go, Linda! Here's the episode: “I respect your culture, but I do ...
01.21.2021 The Nile Just Keeps Flowing Dan Kurtzer, Ambassador to both Egypt and Israel, parses this complex part of the world from his experience on the ground. Why was Anwar Sadat killed? What social forces produced the revolution of February 2011? And how is the average ...
01.14.2021 The Merchant of Death The worst of the worst: Victor Bout, Russian arms dealer, is not the only one. A a host of other nogoodnicks invest their nefarious proceeds in American cities such as Louisville, Dallas, Cleveland, unbeknownst to city officials. These criminals receive ...
01.07.2021 The Dirty Money Tracker What exactly is dirty money, and how is it laundered? How much of it flows through the world, and the United States in particular? And how does it impact regular Americans going about our daily lives? Kathleen Doherty, aka "the ...
12.31.2020 Hiatus Post - More with Gina Winstanley For some even better discussion with Gina, here's our second of two with her: Religious police stop Gina and terrorists attack the consulate general in Jeddah. See you next week with new original content. Happy New Year!
12.26.2020 Hiatus post: Gina Winstanley's Adventures in the Middle East Bet you haven't heard this one! We recorded this story when we began the show a few years ago and no one knew about us yet. Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley regales, in her first of two episodes. Do you know where to ...
12.17.2020 Hiatus Post - Pete Goes Native Pete visits the Huarani Indians, botches up a boar hunt, drinks the mystery drink chicha, and receives upon his departure a marriage proposal, ambiguously addressed either to himself one of the other fine young gringos. Follows first episode, titled “Cowboys ...
12.10.2020 Hiatus Repost - Cowboys and Indian at the Embassy In this adventure tale in two parts, Pete visits the Huarani tribe in the Amazon jungle while serving as US Ambassador to Ecuador. Today, in light of Covid, Pete feels remorse. We promise that no one contracted any Western illness ...
12.03.2020 Hiatus Post - Foreign Service Test? Quiz Show? You Decide. You’ve heard a zillion stories of adventures in Foreign Service. How did all of these regular people become such erudite heroes of public service? They took the Foreign Service Test. And so, for your entertainment, Laura did, too. Here’s a ...
11.25.2020 AmDip Thanksgiving Special! Join us for some of Pete's jokes (Laura laughed, we promise) and our annual show featuring stories of Thanksgiving overseas. Enjoy! Stay safe! ~Pete & Laura
11.18.2020 Hiatus Post - Bill Burns: The Back Channel Bill Burns, one of our favorite guests, is shortlisted for Secretary of State in the Biden administration. Go, Bill! We're reposting our discussion with him from last year about his book "The Back Channel," which is even more timely now ...
11.06.2020 Hiatus Post - The Man of My Dreams We're on hiatus until January - so we want to hear from you as we look ahead to future programming. Send us your questions, ideas, comments at [email protected], on Facebook or at www.amdipstories.org. And enjoy a rerun, a propos of ...
10.29.2020 That Day I Had to Run April 7, 1994, Rwanda. Not a good day to be mistaken for the acting Prime Minister. Linda Thomas-Greenfield shares the tale of her escape from the anti-government militia, while millions of others perished in the country's genocide.
10.22.2020 A Few Choice Words "I respect your culture, but I do not believe it is your culture to allow women to die," says Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield to the Taliban. And do you know what the Taliban did after that? And why? Listen to find ...
10.15.2020 Bananas Was His Business Hugo Rodriguez, from the banana business in Latin America to the US Foreign Service. Machetes, scorpions, poisonous snakes, starting work at four am in the fruit fields...how does this prepare someone to help bring education to American-born children of Mexican ...
10.07.2020 Malfeasances Aside... There's a gray area in judging the actions of ambassadors, whether political appointee or career. What's the difference between what is illegal, inappropriate, or, more to the point, truly unethical? Harry Geisel puts his subtle mind to the task.
09.30.2020 My Job is to Keep You out of Jail What's the difference between a political appointee ambassador and a career ambassador? Increasingly, these ambassadorships are offered as rewards for large political campaign contributions. How can these appointments go awry? Harry Geisel helps us count the ways.
09.23.2020 The World's Blindest Power? 9/11/2012, Benghazi, Libya, an attack on our diplomatic mission, killing four, including our ambassador. The legendary Tom Pickering led the first investigation (of ten), and it was not a pleasant report to write. But, as a consequence of these events, ...
09.17.2020 Ukraine is Not Dead Yet And neither is worldwide democracy, thanks in part to the very fine-tipped pen and tiny notebook of Ambassador William Taylor, a key source in the Congressional investigations into the Ukraine corruption affair of the last year. Democracy lives another day!
09.10.2020 Second Annual AmDip Greatest Hits! Need a mood lifter? We do! Laura likes our music selects so much that she's listening to this one twice! Go back to simpler times (say, 2019) with AmDip, then sing along to our Covid-era theme song. Love, Pete and ...
09.03.2020 Colombia: Bloodless Theater in the Jungle Ambassador Whitaker tells the story of how the Colombian government fooled the guerrillas into releasing long-held hostages... an operation that would make Hollywood proud.
08.27.2020 A Grandfather's Love and Legacy Desiree Cormier, one of our favorite guests, is back to share stories learned of her grandfather's life since his recent passing. We hear not only how he shaped Desiree's life of public service, but also how his very personal commitment ...
08.25.2020 Bonus Episode - The Lovely Miriam Gutierrez Who really holds the Foreign Service together? Spouses, who raise children and start their lives again and again every couple of years in support of their partners' career. Miriam Gutierrez is perhaps the loveliest of them all. Here's her story.
08.21.2020 The Day Beirut Exploded Were the recent explosions in Beirut the last straw, the end of the corrupt political elites, or a new opportunity for militant political party Hezbollah? Ambassador Patrick Theros parses beautiful Lebanon, once heralded as the Paris of the Middle East, ...
08.13.2020 TikTok: Dance Party or Trojan Horse? Is Trump's forced sale of TikTok to an American company another China-bashing "Kung Flu" episode, or does the tech giant pose a genuine national security threat? Nova Daly, former chairman of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, ...
08.05.2020 Quiz: What Do Bernie and Trump Agree on? Trade! Similar attitudes about trade protections. Is a free trade agreement a free-for-all or a deal to optimize countries' competitive advantage? (Hint: Remember Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations? Or did you snooze during that segment of 11th grade?) Controversy aside, ...
07.30.2020 A Black Diplomat? You're Lying. The sting of American racism when you come home. Black diplomats face harassment and humiliation at the border at the hands of Customs and Border Patrol. Senior diplomats Charlie Ray and Alonzo Fulgham discuss reentering the States while Black.
07.23.2020 This Ain't the Manhattan Project And it should be. Cybersecurity is one of the biggest threats we face. The cost to bad actors is minimal, the benefits great. An enemy can hide its attacks, divert attention from other aggressive actions, benefit economically, sow geopolitical chaos ...
07.16.2020 Who Stole My Axe? Many early adopters of technology are criminals, and their crimes are best done across borders. From stock manipulation, to stealing trade secrets, to weaponizing information in election interference, Chris Painter has investigated a lot of bad actors. As the nation's ...
07.09.2020 The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend? A young Foreign Service officer posted to Vietnam, his girlfriend, a ride in the country, and what? Cambodia is on fire? Why? The first ever Cambodian refugees tell Ken Quinn, the first person ever to report on this, that the ...
07.03.2020 The First Woman Ambassador to Thailand They royal family requests that the Ambassador wear a skirt. What? Ambassador Kristie Kenney can come up with a skirt, fine, but what about Secretary Clinton? She has only pantsuits! Don't the Thai royals know about Pantsuit Nation? (That came ...
06.25.2020 The Man of My Dreams He's charismatic, he's exciting, he's strong. How do elected autocrats woo their publics and then destroy the very countries they promised to elevate? What happens to the populace? Kristie Kenney, ambassador to Ecuador, Thailand and the Philippines has a thing ...
06.18.2020 Hong Kong: The Chinese are Coming! Chinese President Xi wants one-man rule, but pesky Hong Kong must be put in its place. Is there any future for "one country, two systems"? And why is Xi doing this now? Richard Boucher shares some nuggets of his vast ...
06.11.2020 The State Department Spokesperson's Dilemmas Ever had that dream where you sit for an exam and you haven't been to class once? And you're not wearing any pants? Welcome to the world of the State Department Spokesperson, as told by Richard Boucher.
06.04.2020 The Scorpion and the Frog - Egypt's Morsi The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 meant to oust authoritarian President Mubarak, at which time the armed forces took over until Mohamed Morsi was elected by popular vote in 2012. Why did Morsi last only one year before being removed in ...
05.28.2020 I'm an Inspector General and I'm Here to Help No one likes the Inspector General, but they're here to protect the taxpayers' money through inspections, audits, criminal investigations and advisement. They are impartial (read: strictly not partisan). The ethos is independence. Ambassador Anne Patterson shares her expertise.
05.21.2020 Saving Lives: Collaborate or Vilify? Jimmy Kolker, who ran the largest AIDS program in the world, discovered the power of diplomatic skills in saving lives during numerous worldwide health crises. So what happened in Wuhan? Have we "self-disarmed"?
05.14.2020 "Get Me Out of Here!" From "Pearl of the Pacific" to epicenter of COVID 19 in Latin America. Consular Officers Gabriel Kaypaghian and Ian Hayward share their tale of evacuating Americans fast during the sudden outbreak in Ecuador. But is this a tale of misery ...

Older episodes