On Being a Citizen Diplomat: A Personal Reflection

In the 1990s, shortly after I finished my Ph.D. in international relations, I worked at two foreign affairs agencies of the United States federal government: the United States Information Agency (USIA) and the Department of State (DOS). My career has been defined by these experiences since my first two books, Propaganda, Inc. (1998/2010) and Information War (2003), reflect on foreign policy in the context of serving as a public servant.

I was a civil servant in the Washington headquarters of these respective government agencies, working alongside diplomats, specifically Foreign Service Officers (FSOs). FSOs were specially trained individuals working in an exclusive category. They were the crème-de-la-crème government officials who presented America’s face, reputation, and policies abroad.

You couldn’t just show up at a job site and apply to be a Foreign Service Officer. You had to qualify through months, if not years, of study to prepare for the initial written exam called the Foreign Service Officer Test.