Department of State - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Department of State Index / Organizations Transcripts Robert Gates ...who had some skills in these areas. The State Department would always come back and say, “Well... ...give him any money. I could give the State Department money, but I couldn't give Agricultur... ...really was mainly in the hands of the State Department and the White House. Yo... ...NSC meetings always went was that the State Department thought there ought to be militar... Chuck Hagel ...strategy has to comport with our State Department and what our State Department strateg... ...with our State Department and what our State Department strategy is. Defense Departmen... ...[NSC] and the president, along with State Department , yes, the Pentagon is part of that. S... ...Security Council. And, I might add, the State Department . They are the lead Cabinet departmen... ...This was all in conjunction with the State Department , and Secretary Kerry was involved i... ...of Agriculture people, Commerce yes, State Department . Representatives from all thes... ...some in the White House and probably State Department were not very happy with my comment... Show more... Evan Medeiros ...at either the Defense Department or the State Department , because those are the people, whe... ...they actually had two dialogues. The State Department led one. It was called the senio... ...US and China was occurring through the State Department and the DOD [Department of Defense]... ...curveball. So Jeff ends up not at the State Department , which may have been his preference. ... ...and the Clinton people were in the State Department ? Did that manifest itself in polic... ...of tensions between the NSC and the State Department . That's normal and natural. Tha... ...was more as the China guy from the State Department . The normal, natural—tensions aren'... ...Dialogue [S&ED] was created. And the State Department , under Kurt Campbell, very nicel... ...had people at the White House and the State Department who were steeped in the experience o... ...we went to the protocol office at the State Department and said, “Give us a bunch of option... Show more... Hadi Pir ...that meeting you described with some State Department folks, or maybe you didn't say that... ...of you are going to meet some of the State Department officials.” I was one of the organizer... ...helping you set up the meeting with the State Department . Do you remember? To be honest, ... ...Washington, to meet with folks at the State Department , and what that meeting was like an... ...went inside, into a big room inside the State Department . They brought representatives from al... ...from all different areas of State Department , to just kind of listen and tak... ...is a possibility, probably.” So in the State Department meeting, I raised my hand, and I wa... ...then we start receiving texts from the State Department . They took our phones and they said... ...it along, and how you understood the State Department and the US government was using th... ...know. They asked us if we can go to the State Department next day at eight o'clock, and we wer... ...to ask who were the key people at the State Department that were involved in this process? ... ...as well, or was it primarily with the State Department ? No, on August fifteen—yes, it wa... ...Leanne if she can print our maps at the State Department because we had a small printer. It wa... ...to the way those meetings that the State Department had gone? What was it like to interac... ...contact in this remain the folks at the State Department in Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor... ...There was other people even at the State Department . We met Tom Malinowski. He was th... ...I was thinking, before he went into the State Department , he had been at Human Rights Watch, ... ...what ISIS did. Our friends at the State Department and inside the US government, they tol... Show more... William Taylor ...for Middle East transitions at the Department of State , a position which he served unti... ...mentioned, my real experience in the State Department started in 1992 after the fall of th... ...Development], with other parts of the State Department . They were those kinds of things tha... ...building on the mall, right near the State Department . But I started in the old buildin... ...lot of the US government, including the State Department —was a surprise. It was no... ...Evan, that President Obama—in 2011 at State Department . I was of course still at th... ...might be willing to come back to the State Department to help coordinate the assistance goin... ...I, of course, agreed to come back. The State Department was just then starting to think abou... ...Transitions] . You're familiar with the State Department 's offices? Yes. So D/MET, and the ... ...Support Act, and it specified that the State Department would designate a coordinator t... ...we, all of the coordinators—we were all State Department people—learned that it's reall... ...used to having a coordinator from the State Department telling them what to do, or allocatin... ...for democracy was shared outside of the State Department ? Did you have any visibility into th... ...supportive. They allowed the State Department , under Bill Burns and Secretar... ...as well. We had, certainly, all of the State Department offices responsive to our office... ...but he was my boss. So all of the State Department folks—I could tell you about ou... ...meetings of all of the parts of the State Department who had anything to do with supportin... ...senior representatives from all of the State Department offices that it involved, but also fro... ...that everybody was—but even within the State Department , there was some resistance. I... ...and there's e for economics in the State Department , d for the deputy, and s for th... ...month of meetings that Beth led in the State Department , that I participated in, i... ...deputy and then, as designated by the State Department , was the leader of the START team. Th... ...course, stayed in the game, was in the State Department . After Jeff Feltman left and Bet... ...So we tied ourselves in knots. And the State Department lawyers and National Security Counci... ...and we had conversations at the State Department . We wrote op-eds and this kind o... ...case and we got strong support from the State Department , and strong support from the Defens... ...the opportunity to brief people in the State Department and at CIA and the Defense Department... ...toward providing these weapons—and the State Department and the Defense Department all agreed... Show more... Michael Posner ... I want to talk about coming into the State Department , becoming part of the large... ...the experience of actually joining the State Department , is the first question, “What are th... ...you began to work with the team at the State Department , did those things that had conditione... ...affect some of the work going on at the State Department in the Bureau of Human Rights... ...come before you came on board to the State Department ? I should say that I was in thi... ...had an office in the first floor of the State Department . I wasn't allowed to physically be i... ...than just having a few people in the State Department writing the report, with some inpu... ...in Beijing or in Washington at the State Department and I would say, “We talked about thes... ...between the White House and the State Department on human rights issues? Obviously yo... ...Obviously you were seeing this from the State Department , but were they in sync on the rol... ...secretary for the Middle East in the State Department , and General Mattis, who was the hea... ...The Pentagon, Jeff and I in the State Department , trying to reinforce a human right... ...effort. Pentagon, White House, State Department all on the same page saying, “This is ... ...on transitions has some relation to State Department Bureau for Human Rights, Democracy, an... ...Did that signify a change in the State Department 's approach to responding to protest... ...went back to the powers that be in the State Department and I said, “We're about to approac... ...and privacy. When I got to the State Department , there was a program that had bee... ...to be a very successful thing for the State Department to be funding the Falun Gong. Beyon... Show more... Michael Leiter ...It came from CIA. It came from the State Department . And the piece that definitely got m... ...was a lot of blame to go around. The State Department was working on 1970s software, whic... Arturo Valenzuela ...interested in my going to work at the Department of State ; that after twelve years of Republica... ...I went over for a meeting at the State Department with the then just-named assistan... ...reform. My notetakers from the State Department often didn't understand why I was bein... ...I didn't expect to go back into the State Department . Remember that academic institution... ...was invaluable when I would join the State Department as assistant secretary in the Obam... ...his concern, I joined two senior State Department officials and traveled to Venezuela t... ...membership. When I was at the State Department in the first Clinton administration... ...with a particular regime. In fact, State Department officials convoked a meeting with Lati... ...to pass that ended with you back at the State Department ? I worked very closely wit... ...this point, so the ins and outs of the State Department 's response to the coup in Hondura... ...So I was in the press room at the State Department , and a Colombian journalist didn't as... ...And I traveled with somebody from the State Department . In fact, it was Rob Malley, who woul... ...times. The first time while in the State Department , I went down as part an electora... ...was a very important office at the State Department handling Haiti affairs. So I was no... ... I'll never forget, when I was at the State Department —again, this is the firs... ...got the Office of Cuban Affairs at the State Department , headed by Ricardo Zúniga, to come u... ...policy, I suddenly got a call at the State Department from the papal nuncio here i... ...together at the end of your time at the State Department . One that jumped out to me wa... ...within our own building; within the State Department , but also with other agencies workin... ...Security, and the other bureaus at the State Department . But, just more broadly, I wonder i... ...helped me in thinking—when I was at the State Department , I would always make sure that if ... ...over the time that you were at the State Department ? Well, it was something that w... ...was a decision that was done by the State Department . I think that we probably should'v... ...the Office of the Legal Counsel at the Department of State . At the time, it was Harold Koh, wh... ...Did that start while you were in the State Department , or was that a later initiative? ... ...country director for country x at the State Department and get a sense of that, and then mayb... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Veterans Veterans go to the The People's House The People's House go to the LGBTQ Policy LGBTQ Policy go to the Immigration Immigration go to the Counterterrorism Counterterrorism