Department of State - Obama Presidency Oral History Department of State Index / Organizations Transcripts Frank Rose ...ceremony in early 2015 at the State Department Benjamin Franklin Dining Room. It'... ...who understands how the Pentagon, the State Department , and the national security bureaucrac... ...particularly crazy about going to the State Department , because the State Department is, ... ...to the State Department, because the State Department is, I would say, a very unique place t... ...all that crazy about going over to the State Department , but at the end of the day, it worke... ...you google “space missile defense in State Department ,” it's my name that came up. That wa... ...for me. I have mixed views on the State Department as an institution [laughs]. Say ... ...bit about that. Listen. I think the State Department is probably one of the mor... ... Secondly, the way, in my view, the State Department is set up is not conducive to a... ...twenty-first-century challenges. The State Department is primarily set up to deal wit... ...As a result, the real power in the State Department is focused on the regional assistan... ...We still have a structure at the State Department primarily focused on maintaining tha... ...working on a paper regarding this. The State Department is not going to be relevant if it keep... ...They are incentivized to do that. The State Department personnel system is not incentivized t... ...I think he came in and he saw the State Department 's organization and he said, “What ... ...and he really never understood the State Department . If I were him, I would've brought i... ...and, more importantly, understood the State Department , I think he could've been reall... ...been really effective in making the State Department a much more effective organizatio... ...questions is, what's his vision for the State Department , and does he bring in a leader who ha... ...to ensure the viability of the State Department going forward and making sure it'... ...assistant secretary–level people at the State Department who was really focused on thes... ...That's a fundamental problem with the State Department in general. DOD, I think, does a muc... ...people. That's not the case in the State Department . In the State Department, if you're ... ...case in the State Department. In the State Department , if you're a Foreign Service office... ...and management culture in the State Department , as compared to DOD. Though you ca... ...more effective organization than the State Department ? I would say, based on m... ...talking about, which is to bring the State Department into a more Department of Defense typ... ...there was a cyber coordinator at the State Department , but one of the problems with that i... ...Agency, which was moved into the State Department in 1999, I believe. It was moved in bu... ...moved in but never integrated with the State Department , so that was part of the problem. W... ...we were the second-oldest bureau at the State Department . Over fifty percent of our workforc... ...discrimination radar. I got to the State Department on June 22, 2009, the anniversary o... ...That's what we argued from the State Department point of view. There was generally goo... ...capabilities, and I asked the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research t... Show more... Charles Kupchan ...that work in the White House or in the State Department or the Pentagon. It certainly happen... ...experience. I served briefly in the State Department but then moved to the White House an... ...the intelligence community, from the State Department , from the Pentagon; or they wer... ...seven people. And my counterpart in the State Department , Tori Nuland, was going to call thes... Ken Salazar ...permit. It was handled through the State Department , and the State Department had a ver... ...through the State Department, and the State Department had a very extensive process. It i... Megan Smith ...Summit, that we did with State Department , and the Department of Commerce, an... ...some places, but maybe not so much at State Department ; and maybe at Department Labor it'... ...these topics. And all of a sudden, the State Department people are like, “We're not even o... Victoria Nuland ...to 2017, and spokesperson for the US Department of State from 2011 to 2013, as well as specia... ...of positions with Secretary Clinton's State Department , the White House looked at my résum... ...offers from various places in the State Department , political appointees in fact. An... ...take the role of spokesperson for the Department of State . Can you tell me about how you came t... ...all of the regional managers in the State Department —the assistant secretaries for Africa... ...What was your sense of the way the State Department and White House had been set up, ho... ...between what we're saying in the State Department and what they say at the White Hous... ...witness to the fall 2015 attack on the State Department . Is that right? Which was personall... ...to you. Can you tell me about that? State Department gets its email servers hacked for th... ...and mouse with the Russians inside the State Department system for a couple of weeks befor... ...stole six billion dollars from the State Department . State Department doesn't even hav... ...dollars from the State Department. State Department doesn't even have six billion dollars... ...talk to Amos Hochstein, who was the State Department 's energy envoy, and he woul... Show more... Dan Feldman ...and Pakistan at the United States State Department from 2009 to 2014, and specia... ...During that time, he was awarded the State Department 's two highest awards: the Secretary'... ...closely were all part of putting the State Department together. As I said, I think Holbrook... ...office. It was so distinct from how the State Department typically operates that I think it'... ...issues between the White House and the State Department , and between Holbrooke and others. Bu... ...all the rest of the bureaucracy in the State Department , it didn't have to go through multipl... ...space on the ground floor of the State Department . So we had a suite of offices, two o... ...of decision making from the NSC to the State Department . We effectively were the interagenc... ...E.] Lute from the NSC—but at the State Department . In fact, the room that we used fo... ...across agencies and housed it at the State Department , in a way that was very nimble an... ...able to serve. I was talking with the State Department about maybe a position in Africa o... ...all the external-facing issues from the State Department . I came in with—at first—overseein... ...representative. But he sat at the State Department , and he was empowered by Secretar... ...opening between the White House and the State Department —in part, personality driven, becaus... ...decisions and have them more at the State Department . I think there were polic... ...team. But it wasn't through the typical State Department arc of bureaucracy. It wasn't throug... ...how it was different to the rest of the State Department , perhaps. It was flat. And I thin... ...sent him to the doctor's suite in the State Department . By the time he got there—and I me... ...dingy little conference room at the State Department , for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. and do ... ...him, as the connective tissue with the State Department . He was off having bilaterals i... ...Congress. We had a big reception at the State Department . We brought them out to Camp Davi... ...areas. Just yesterday, I saw that the State Department put out an announcement that ther... Show more... Charles Bolden ...around the president, people in the State Department —this is going to sound arrogant. ... ...did—got along incredibly well with the State Department . So, I went over, went to his hotel... Jen Psaki ...the 2012 campaign, spokesperson for the State Department from 2013 to 2015, and White Hous... ...at the time, called me—I was at the State Department at the time—and said, “You know, th... ...obviously. And how do you end up at the State Department ? So I had—at that point I was s... ...to be the spokesperson in the State Department . And I said, “Well, I don't know a lo... ...policy and about the issues of the State Department and how the building ran an... ...kind of, contribute to the way that the State Department 's communications operation ran? ... ...of it is a benefit and a curse of the State Department , as it relates to preparing for ... ...this work differently? Yes. At the State Department , something I didn't know when ... ...public. People don't really watch the State Department briefing unless there's a controversy... ...so she kind of knew deeply how the State Department worked, and that was super helpful, an... ...included in policy discussions at the State Department at all? You know, I was in a lot of—... ...also a lot of people who worked at the State Department who were very experienced in doin... ...policies, and those aren't things that State Department was dealing with as much, but you... ...it, because I had—I really loved the State Department , and I loved working for Kerry... ...was probably my last job, with the State Department spokesperson job as a close second. An... Show more... Kimberly Teehee ...met with some resistance on. I had a State Department that didn't want to move forward wit... ...us moving forward. But I had to bring Department of State in on that. So that was also one o... ...meeting that was pretty high level with State Department and other people. I was being aske... ...as well. We finally got sign-off by Department of State . They agreed. So again, I'm like, “W... ...provisions mean?” I worked with the State Department and the Interior Department on ... ...The person that I worked with at the State Department that was instrumental on that documen... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Women and Girls Women and Girls go to the Climate, Environment, and Energy Climate, Environment, and Energy go to the Criminal Justice Criminal Justice go to the Immigration Immigration go to the Western Hemisphere Western Hemisphere