Career members of the Foreign Service are none too pleased with comments made this week by Texas Gov. Rick Perry regarding the purpose of the State Department and U.S. diplomats serving abroad. “I’m not sure our State Department serves us well,” Perry, a Republican presidential candidate, said Tuesday on a radio program with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. “I’m not talking about the secretary of state here. I’m talking about the career diplomats and the secretary of state, who all too often may not be making decisions or giving advice to the administration that’s in this country’s best interest.” Read full article > >

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Diplomats respond bluntly to Rick Perry

A group of exchange students sponsored by the State Department spent thousands of dollars to experience life in the United States, but what they got were arduous shifts in a factory and no help when they complained.

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Hershey Exchange Student Warnings Were Ignored

In the rush to take the capital, rebel forces who captured military garrisons along the way often looted weapons depots and guarded them only occasionally at best.

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U.S. Sending Contractors to Secure Libya’s Weapons

In the rush to take the capital, rebel forces who captured military garrisons along the way often looted weapons depots and guarded them only occasionally at best.

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U.S. Sending Contractors to Secure Libya’s Weapons

President Obama will push for what he calls the “toughest sanctions” to punish Iranian officials whom he accused of complicity in a suspected plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

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Obama Vows to Punish Iran in Alleged Plot Against Envoy

TRIPOLI — The United States is planning to dispatch dozens of former military personnel to Libya to help track down and destroy surface-to-air missiles from Moammar Gaddafi’s stockpiles that U.S. officials worry could be used by terrorists to take down passenger jets. The weapons experts are part of a rapidly expanding $30 million program to secure Libya’s conventional weapons in the wake of the most violent conflict to occur in the Arab Spring, according to State Department officials who provided new details of the effort. Read full article > >

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U.S. launches campaign to track down Libyan missiles

The State Department is racing against an end-of-year deadline to take over Iraq operations from the U.S. military, throwing up buildings and marshalling contractors in its biggest overseas operation since the effort to rebuild Europe after World War II. While attention in Washington and Baghdad has centered on the number of U.S. troops that may remain in Iraq, they will be dwarfed by an estimated 16,000 civilians under the American ambassador — the size of an Army division. Read full article > >

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State Department readies Iraq operation, its biggest since Marshall Plan

American efforts to wield “smart power” amid natural disasters and political upheaval would be hurt as lawmakers propose slashing funding for the State Department.

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Foreign Aid Set to Take Hit in U.S. Budget Crisis

Severe congressional cuts in the $59 billion fiscal 2012 State Department and foreign assistance spending request should force the Obama administration to take a tougher look at what those programs accomplish. For example, some $1.6 billion is to pay for worldwide security, including Diplomatic Security agents, armored vehicles, training and guards for diplomats, employees and private contractors. Read full article > >

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State Department fiscal 2012 spending bill warrants a closer look

The State Department has released a new series of e-mails about the controversial Keystone pipeline proposal that show a friendly relationship between a U.S. Embassy official in Ottawa and Transcanada’s Washington lobbyist. At times, State Department official Marja D. Verloop–who oversees energy, science and environmental issues at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa–appears to be cheering on TransCanada’s Washington lobbyist Paul Elliott in his efforts to enlist congressional support for the pipeline extension. Read full article > >

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Keystone Pipeline e-mails show friendly exchanges

The US state department issues a travel alert to Americans worldwide after the killing of key al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen.

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Awlaki killing sparks US warning

Drones can clearly track down terrorists. But they can apparently boost an economy, too. The U.S. military’s deployment of MQ-9 Reaper drones to the Seychelles , a tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean, generated $3.1 million in revenue for local businesses during their first four months of operations, according to an unclassified U.S. diplomatic cable buried in the database of State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks. Read full article > >

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In tropical paradise, U.S. drones meant revenue

Amid negotiations between rebels and loyalists in the town of Bani Walid, a convoy of top Libyan officials fled to Niger, the State Department said.

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Libyan Rebels Press Gains as Some Loyalists Are Said to Flee

The antisecrecy organization WikiLeaks has published nearly 134,000 diplomatic cables, including many that name confidential sources, in recent days.

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WikiLeaks Leaves Names of Diplomatic Sources in Cables

The State Department said Thursday that it would withdraw some $100 million if Hamas officials did not back off a demand to audit the books of American-financed charities operating there.

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U.S. Threatens to Halt Gaza Aid Over Hamas Audits