When Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced his agenda for modernizing the State Department in 2021, he highlighted an issue that has plagued the Department since its creation: Americans are not tuned in to diplomacy. The challenge is larger than the U.S. public not knowing about specific policies toward a given country or how U.S. diplomats are trying to support stability in a region. U.S. diplomacy has struggled to form a constituency beyond the confines of think tanks and academic institutions, leaving it without public support for its major initiatives and struggling to expand its meager budget. The State Department must increase its public engagement to garner the buy-in necessary to transform itself into an institution suited to the 21st century.
In his announcement of the modernization agenda, Blinken pledged to address this gap. He summarized the problem well, saying, “Too often our communication is a one-way street. We talk and we hope they listen.” The proposed solutions were reasonable: send senior officials to U.S. communities and increase outreach to civil society groups, private companies, state and local governments, and community organizations. But as this administration’s plan for State Department modernization concludes, it is apparent that a new phase is needed that takes a bolder approach when it comes to domestic outreach.
Sending senior diplomats to communities around the United States is a key tool for developing a constituency for diplomacy. However, the design of the outreach system is crucial. While the State Department has the necessary basic structures for outreach, it must dramatically rescale and bring back initiatives that have sat dormant. The first existing structure that should be expanded is the Diplomats in Residence program. There are currently just 17 diplomats who are tasked with engaging in crucial outreach to roughly 17.5 million college students, which involves meeting with students and highlighting career opportunities. If these positions were expanded, the diplomats could reach more students and broaden their outreach to include more meetings with local community groups and stakeholders, helping convey public sentiments and ideas back to State Department headquarters.
The second existing structure that should be expanded is the Office of Public Liaison. The office is tasked with “connect[ing] the Department of State to domestic audiences through people-to-people outreach” while communicating feedback from Americans back to the Secretary of State. However, it is underutilized and does not have the resources to carry out its intended mission. In addition to expanding the office, its Diplomats’ Hometown initiative should be built out beyond the mere six diplomat biographies it currently boasts to send staff of various experience back to their hometowns to speak about their work and what the Department is doing as a whole. An office that can effectively coordinate their travel and events, ensuring they have suitable venues and audiences to connect with, and prioritizing the diversity of staff and geographic backgrounds represented, would help to advance the mission of the office.
The Department may also consider holding more topical public events that allow its most knowledgeable employees to demonstrate and share their regional and issue-area expertise. These meetings should take place outside of Washington and bring in non-government experts to discuss pertinent issues in U.S. diplomacy, weaving together public outreach and professional education. State Department-facilitated roundtables at universities around the country could help recruit new talent and build connections with domestic experts. Something as simple as holding public-facing ceremonies for the promotion of high-level staff and utilizing the occasion to highlight diplomatic initiatives that they have worked on, could spread awareness of the Department’s work while bolstering the public image of its employees.
These efforts can be complemented with a reconceptualization and expansion of State’s Office of the Historian, making it an active participant in the formation of diplomatic policy by leveraging its unparalleled expertise on regional power dynamics and the outcomes of past diplomatic initiatives. The office could then expand its current role of publishing State Department history by partnering with the Office of Public Liaison to serve as a resource for public engagement initiatives with Hollywood and the media, collaborating to tell stories of diplomacy that capture the world-shaping work that the Department carries out. This would require bolstering both offices by hiring more diplomatic historians and public relations specialists who can engage the public and media to tell stories of diplomacy.
Greater outreach to the American public is not just necessary for sustaining support for U.S. diplomatic efforts — it can improve how the State Department operates. Part of the current modernization effort has focused on the training and education of State’s workforce, which has historically been informal and underdeveloped. Advancing beyond the workforce reforms implemented as part of the current modernization effort, the Department should bring back the Senior Seminar, which connected senior U.S. military and civilian foreign policy leaders with the public. Harry Gilmore, then the dean of the seminars, wrote of the two-fold benefits of the experience, “During these study trips, participants engage in public affairs outreach activities, demonstrating to fellow Americans how foreign affairs and national security professionals project U.S. values abroad and promote important U.S. interests.” A revamped Senior Seminar would help build ties across national security leadership, offer a rare late career educational opportunity, and facilitate interactions between top foreign policy minds and Americans outside of the Beltway.
Broadly, there is a need for the State Department to be seen more by the public. As the next steps for the Department’s modernization are debated, it is important to consider how history and tradition can be harnessed to capture the public’s attention while simultaneously creating a modern, agile State Department. While Blinken has made important strides in modernizing the Department, the impending end of the Biden administration presents the opportunity for a new administration to continue building upon the progress made to ensure that the State Department possesses the tools necessary to deal with the daily challenges facing the United States.
Domestic Engagement is Needed in State Department Modernization
By Evan Cooper • Lucas Ruiz
Diplomacy & Dialogue
When Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced his agenda for modernizing the State Department in 2021, he highlighted an issue that has plagued the Department since its creation: Americans are not tuned in to diplomacy. The challenge is larger than the U.S. public not knowing about specific policies toward a given country or how U.S. diplomats are trying to support stability in a region. U.S. diplomacy has struggled to form a constituency beyond the confines of think tanks and academic institutions, leaving it without public support for its major initiatives and struggling to expand its meager budget. The State Department must increase its public engagement to garner the buy-in necessary to transform itself into an institution suited to the 21st century.
In his announcement of the modernization agenda, Blinken pledged to address this gap. He summarized the problem well, saying, “Too often our communication is a one-way street. We talk and we hope they listen.” The proposed solutions were reasonable: send senior officials to U.S. communities and increase outreach to civil society groups, private companies, state and local governments, and community organizations. But as this administration’s plan for State Department modernization concludes, it is apparent that a new phase is needed that takes a bolder approach when it comes to domestic outreach.
Sending senior diplomats to communities around the United States is a key tool for developing a constituency for diplomacy. However, the design of the outreach system is crucial. While the State Department has the necessary basic structures for outreach, it must dramatically rescale and bring back initiatives that have sat dormant. The first existing structure that should be expanded is the Diplomats in Residence program. There are currently just 17 diplomats who are tasked with engaging in crucial outreach to roughly 17.5 million college students, which involves meeting with students and highlighting career opportunities. If these positions were expanded, the diplomats could reach more students and broaden their outreach to include more meetings with local community groups and stakeholders, helping convey public sentiments and ideas back to State Department headquarters.
The second existing structure that should be expanded is the Office of Public Liaison. The office is tasked with “connect[ing] the Department of State to domestic audiences through people-to-people outreach” while communicating feedback from Americans back to the Secretary of State. However, it is underutilized and does not have the resources to carry out its intended mission. In addition to expanding the office, its Diplomats’ Hometown initiative should be built out beyond the mere six diplomat biographies it currently boasts to send staff of various experience back to their hometowns to speak about their work and what the Department is doing as a whole. An office that can effectively coordinate their travel and events, ensuring they have suitable venues and audiences to connect with, and prioritizing the diversity of staff and geographic backgrounds represented, would help to advance the mission of the office.
The Department may also consider holding more topical public events that allow its most knowledgeable employees to demonstrate and share their regional and issue-area expertise. These meetings should take place outside of Washington and bring in non-government experts to discuss pertinent issues in U.S. diplomacy, weaving together public outreach and professional education. State Department-facilitated roundtables at universities around the country could help recruit new talent and build connections with domestic experts. Something as simple as holding public-facing ceremonies for the promotion of high-level staff and utilizing the occasion to highlight diplomatic initiatives that they have worked on, could spread awareness of the Department’s work while bolstering the public image of its employees.
These efforts can be complemented with a reconceptualization and expansion of State’s Office of the Historian, making it an active participant in the formation of diplomatic policy by leveraging its unparalleled expertise on regional power dynamics and the outcomes of past diplomatic initiatives. The office could then expand its current role of publishing State Department history by partnering with the Office of Public Liaison to serve as a resource for public engagement initiatives with Hollywood and the media, collaborating to tell stories of diplomacy that capture the world-shaping work that the Department carries out. This would require bolstering both offices by hiring more diplomatic historians and public relations specialists who can engage the public and media to tell stories of diplomacy.
Greater outreach to the American public is not just necessary for sustaining support for U.S. diplomatic efforts — it can improve how the State Department operates. Part of the current modernization effort has focused on the training and education of State’s workforce, which has historically been informal and underdeveloped. Advancing beyond the workforce reforms implemented as part of the current modernization effort, the Department should bring back the Senior Seminar, which connected senior U.S. military and civilian foreign policy leaders with the public. Harry Gilmore, then the dean of the seminars, wrote of the two-fold benefits of the experience, “During these study trips, participants engage in public affairs outreach activities, demonstrating to fellow Americans how foreign affairs and national security professionals project U.S. values abroad and promote important U.S. interests.” A revamped Senior Seminar would help build ties across national security leadership, offer a rare late career educational opportunity, and facilitate interactions between top foreign policy minds and Americans outside of the Beltway.
Broadly, there is a need for the State Department to be seen more by the public. As the next steps for the Department’s modernization are debated, it is important to consider how history and tradition can be harnessed to capture the public’s attention while simultaneously creating a modern, agile State Department. While Blinken has made important strides in modernizing the Department, the impending end of the Biden administration presents the opportunity for a new administration to continue building upon the progress made to ensure that the State Department possesses the tools necessary to deal with the daily challenges facing the United States.
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