Department of State - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Department of State Index / Organizations Transcripts Anne-Marie Slaughter ...the director of policy planning in the State Department , where she served until 2011 as th... ...Again—so, I wanted to be high up in the State Department from senior year in high school on... ...and how did you use them? The State Department thought of diasporas as groups o... ...chief. She definitely cared about the State Department . She did things like advancing gay an... ...policy, GLBTQ policy, within the State Department , as well as around the world. Sh... ...kind of comes to be a strength of her State Department . Absolutely. It's not that she'... ...tied to the initiatives of the State Department or the administration. How did yo... ...partnership that involved the State Department collaborating with the Aspen Institute... ...that she and so many others in the State Department do is—you're just exhausted all th... ...down for those kinds of dinners to the State Department , which was very exciting. Polic... ...done. And it was not only making the State Department do it—and remember, the Stat... ...Department do it—and remember, the State Department is much less resourced than th... ...International Development], which—the State Department and USAID aren't exactly friends mos... ...Raj Shah said it was the only time a State Department official had ever gotten one, becaus... ...can't do anything else, rearrange the State Department .” But I think, actually—again, i... ...of Transition Initiatives, where the State Department was trying to develop more of a... ...more importantly, more officials in the State Department who saw the world this way—and ther... ...Clinton always said that. Yet our State Department is far better geared towards dealin... ...in the first term, when you were in the State Department , that you witnessed? Or do I perhap... ...perhaps hear you saying that maybe the State Department 's approach to some of these foreig... ...had very different conversations in the State Department when it was just the women in th... ...technology to the kinds of problems the State Department faces. Imagine if you hav... ...crisis in Honduras while I was in the State Department . And Secretary Clinton was jus... ...was director of policy planning at the State Department from 2009 to 2011. She is currently CE... ...We had a really great team at the State Department . Roberta Jacobson was not ye... ...confronting an issue like this from the State Department , so what was that like? I was no... ...any other examples from your time at State Department where you saw the secretary, or wher... ...there's nothing else from the State Department time, I'd love to pick up where we wer... ...time around—was. John Kerry was at the State Department —and there was a lot of business to ge... ...wasn't so much about having been in the State Department ? Yes, definitely the latter... ...in mayors' offices than who work in the State Department . Yes. That's such a fascinating idea... Show more... Ryan Crocker ...on both Iraq and Afghanistan from the State Department , and also dealing with Iran a littl... ...Right. Well, again, as you know, the State Department is pretty tribal. I was with the Nea... ...the Iraq-Kuwait task force of the State Department , so I was kind of steeped in this sor... ...[C.] Holbrooke's position within the State Department as a special envoy, Karl [W.... Brett McGurk ...with. I was in the NEA Bureau at the State Department ; I used to debate counterparts wh... Colin Kahl ...Mitchell who was in charge of that. The State Department was very much—and the White House—wer... ...to be a senior Iraq official at the State Department , and then I had actually brought he... ...Clinton's deputy chief of staff at the State Department , and then he had come over to replac... Betsy Bramon ...served in several positions in the State Department . From 2011 to 2012, she worked i... ...and then 2012 is when you joined the State Department . How did your story weave from one t... ... How did the position at the State Department come about? Super randomly I met ... ...kind of within a similar segment of the State Department , but it is separate. Had it existe... ...working on internet freedom at the State Department . Secretary Clinton had given a few bi... ...about this is the various parts of the State Department , like e-diplomacy, internationa... ...almost a cultural shift in the way the State Department would think about who needed suppor... ...the coordination, not just within the State Department but across government, was much mor... ...is. That's part of it. In terms of the State Department itself, being able to have a politica... ...on these issues in a place like the State Department provides a lot of interestin... ...per se, isn't the mandate of the State Department . That's not their job... ...they're doing. People think about the State Department and they think external diplomacy. Bu... ...of the status, the pecking order of the State Department . Who is more important, x, y, z... ...in a lot of ways, a more traditional State Department structure to fit into and help stewar... ...As you look back to that time in the State Department , during the Obama years specifically... ...to you, essentially, to work in the State Department in the Obama administration on thos... ...I could answer this. I came into the State Department when I was forming a lot of m... ...up during that time that I was at the State Department too. We all got to test ou... ...tech sector played for your work in the State Department with regard to internet freedom that'... Show more... Johnnie Carson ...intragovernmental process involving the State Department , involving USAID [US Agency fo... ...to move the process along within the State Department is also critical, because forging ... ...policy requires coordination inside the State Department and inside the interagency. It mean... ...that the military has, and one that State Department officers also attend. While my jo... ...is kind of in the building in the State Department . I'm thinking the first half of 2009... ...Secretary Clinton's agenda at the State Department . So I thought we could maybe take tha... ...during the years that you were at the State Department —some of the specific cases that yo... ...a meeting with Secretary Clinton at the State Department , briefings at the State Department... ...the State Department, briefings at the State Department , and would culminate in a meeting wit... ...Secretary Clinton and for those in the State Department , as well as working with the Whit... ...on the African continent from the State Department and the Peace Corps your entire career... Show more... Wally Adeyemo ...economically, but our colleagues at the State Department cared deeply about this from th... ...secretaries for regional affairs as the State Department during the Clinton administration, an... ...agencies. So that would include—the State Department was a big player here. And it force... ...include a number of agencies like the State Department or Defense Department that you wouldn'... ...NSC, and Secretary Kerry's team at the State Department to see what we could do to bring thi... Stephen Kroft ...some more help,” and it went into the State Department . There's no sign that it got as hig... ...was damaging enough [laughs] to the State Department . Those are all facts that ar... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the The People's House The People's House go to the Arts and Humanities Arts and Humanities go to the Asia Rebalance Asia Rebalance go to the Agriculture Agriculture go to the Atlantic Relations Atlantic Relations