Over the past several weeks of orientation it hasn't escaped me how much a privilege it is to be in the Foreign Service. Impressive leaders within the Department congratulate us on our accomplishments before imparting their hard-earned wisdom. Current Foreign Service Officers notice our fresh faces in the FSI cafeteria, and warmly welcome us to their ranks. And just yesterday, our boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave us a little recognition during a televised discussion on foreign policy.
Our class was graciously invited to be in the audience for a Charlie Rose PBS series titled "Conversations in Diplomacy." The series brings the current Secretary of State together with a former Secretary to discuss and past and current foreign affairs issues. We were very very lucky to watch Secretary Clinton have a frank discussion with former Secretary James Baker, who served under Bush 42 during the Gulf War. After weeks of foreign policy immersion, it was fascinating to actually see how these issues are framed by our leaders. But what really made our night was when the talk turned to the current work being done by FSOs on the ground, and Secretary Clinton turned to Charlie Rose to point out that in the audience was a brand new class of Officers. That was us!! I can't even describe the immense patriotism and pride that I felt at the moment. The conversation can be watched online
here, though sadly the Secretary's shout out to our class was edited out (for time purposes I'm going to assume).
The event took place in the Benjamin Franklin Dining Room on the 8th Floor of the State Department headquarters. These rooms are gorgeous, and wandering through them during the reception grounded our work in the context of a long history of U.S. involvement in foreign affairs. Gifts from world leaders, the desk of Thomas Jefferson (our first Secretary of State), and the original Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War, were scattered among stately reception rooms. The rooms are actually
open for public tours that can be scheduled ahead of time.
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| Secretaries Clinton and Baker in discussion |
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| The Treaty of Paris |
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| The view from the 8th floor of Main State. |
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