Department of State - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Department of State Index / Organizations Transcripts 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... Roberta Jacobson ...at the end of a lengthy career at the State Department , which included, during the Obam... ...Free Trade Agreement], director of the State Department 's Office of Mexican Affairs, an... ...ways shapes a lot of officers at the State Department . That's really important background... ...in 2008 shape the way anyone at the State Department was thinking about US–Latin America... ...domestic groups, I think, and how the State Department might have interaction with thos... ...you had really wanted to have at the State Department , and you were lucky enough to have it... ...good at that, having been around the State Department forever. I joke with people that ... ...really important. One of the things the State Department has seen is entry-level classes o... ...Jacobson served in several roles at the State Department during the Obama years. The two we wil... ...when everything came out. The State Department set up a task force to review th... ...one hand, said this sort of makes the State Department look good. We do the job we're taske... ...going on, because they're going to need State Department support for what they want to do. So... ...driving out to Andrews from the State Department , and I'm very nervous about all o... ...Elise Labott, the CNN reporter for the State Department , who wants to know what's going on... ...leave early because I had to go back to State Department to make more phone calls [laughs] an... ...a little bit about last time was the State Department 's attention to diaspora communities... ...bunches of lawyers, obviously, from the State Department , people from within my own bureau wh... ...the next round of negotiations at the State Department , I told my folks, “I want a roo... ...tag on it that says “Roberta Jacobson Department of State ,” because I had traveled a lot i... Show more... Jefferey DeLaurentis ...I was on my way. Of course, in the State Department , all these things are usually don... ...to call somebody physically inside the State Department . There were a couple of calls tha... ...butt of jokes from my colleagues at the State Department for weeks. “Dear unidentified, how ar... ...op center—” operation center of the State Department “—wants to talk to you. I get on th... Jake Sullivan ...and director of policy planning in the State Department during Hillary Clinton's tenure a... ...effectively as a bridge between the State Department and the White House in the Obama year... ...ultimately her transition team into the State Department . Can I ask: it seems like you ha... ...me to the job that I got in the Clinton State Department in the Obama administration. Can w... ...building, to all of the bureaus in the State Department and then the two hundred and sevent... ...of course the bread and butter of the State Department . She writes in her memoir about ho... ...idea of leading the building, or the State Department , as you mention it? And what are som... ...statecraft. And the State Department was pretty well behind the times i... ...so that the work of both the State Department 's foreign assistance, arms, and USAI... ...issues in her time at the State Department . Finally, she believed passionatel... ...capability, personnel, strategy of the State Department and thinking about, once every fou... ...was happening. I think she came to the State Department with that mix of experiences as ... ...to hear Secretary Clinton now at the State Department , her thinking as well. Very earl... ...in the relationship between the State Department and the White House, to use this issu... ...had in her mind a view about what the State Department should be doing on each of those front... ...question of coordination between the State Department , the NSC [National Security Council]... ...coordination between, particularly, the State Department , where you were, and the White Hous... ...the world on board, spearheaded by the State Department . And it required coordination at th... ...the summer of 2012, which involved one State Department representative, myself, and one Whit... ...that strike you as an episode in which State Department and White House coordination wa... ...a disconnect between some in the State Department who were arguing when [Vladimir] Puti... ...off the rails. And others both in the State Department and in the White House saying, “No, w... ...it be fair to say that the State Department view of the Russia reset was differen... ...that? Or were the White House and the State Department drawing on the same sources o... ...opinion, as attuned as people at the State Department were. I actually think, interestingly... ...between agencies. For example, in the State Department , in policy planning, when I wa... ...waters with Russia. And even within the State Department , senior officials who worked th... ...it's inescapable that a lot of what the State Department , what the secretary of state, and ... ...for periods of time, and how the State Department and how the secretary responded t... ...was director of policy planning in the State Department , 2011 to 2013; and deputy chief o... ...of the team of senior officials in the State Department who was giving advice to Secretar... ...of the decision-making circle of the State Department , and then we were engaged with ou... ...was that also a shared feeling of the State Department ? And what were the concerns, th... ...DOD [Department of Defense] and the State Department and USAID and the embassy and everyon... ...to get into the building,” meaning the State Department . And I said, “Why?” He said, “There'... ...“Okay, all right.” So I got to the State Department , and it struck me, Oh, he's talkin... ...and Harold [Hongju] Koh, who was the State Department legal advisor, was actually already i... ...essentially saying, “We won't stop the State Department from pursuing that policy.” What wa... ...is the kind of thing for why you have a State Department and a secretary of state and a... ...channel begins for you. We had at the State Department played a really critical role in on... ...team, just three of us, really, at the State Department —Secretary Bill Burns, the deput... ...we negotiate—I had been involved at the State Department in negotiations between the Israeli... Show more... Avril Haines ...legal advisor for treaty affairs at the State Department from 2008 to 2010. Prior to that, sh... ...the Office of the Legal Advisor at the State Department . In this interview, we will not b... ...to be really interesting. So, from the State Department to the [Capitol] Hill, the Hill to th... ...to the [Capitol] Hill, the Hill to the State Department , into the White House, into th... ...experience, has its own caricature. The State Department caricature is one of diplomats that ar... ...more effectively. And going through the State Department , the Hill, the intelligence community... ...to me when I came over from the State Department Legal Advisor's Office—we were facin... ...nominated to be legal advisor for the State Department , which already from, frankly, m... ...on. So in other words, if you asked the State Department to provide an analysis of what'... ...Blinken] was going to be going to the State Department to be deputy secretary of state an... ...For me, the story starts back as a State Department lawyer in the Bush administration... ...space, even though you've got the State Department , and others obviously, leading th... Show more... Thant Myint-U ...as well. This included people in the State Department . And in a way that seems almos... ...and hosted a high-level meeting between State Department officials and American officials i... ...administration, the White House, the State Department at any given time says or tries to do... ...was a growing feeling not just in the State Department but also in the White House that thi... Bernie Aronson ...the Distinguished Service Award, the State Department 's highest honor, by Secretary Warre... ...with the other players inside the State Department , including Secretary Kerry. I ha... ...large table, and both sides—I had some State Department aides with me. And I said, “I know yo... ...this back to Secretary Kerry at the State Department ? Did you have any sense in this, a... ...informed, I had a team of two or three State Department people who would take notes when I wa... Ricardo Zúniga ...freezes of the intake of personnel into Department of State . I had a very small incoming class... ...but I wonder what the view was from the State Department . As Obama wins the primary, wins th... ...crisis. There was a view at the Department of State in the Bush administration that State'... ...that the United States would return the Department of State to a frontline position as ... ...who had been very friendly to the Department of State , who believed in diplomacy. So, ... ...for International Development] and the Department of State . They decided to arrest a USAI... ...unlike most of my colleagues in the State Department , I hate managing visits. That's not m... ...the work that was going on between the Department of State and their Cuban counterparts on an... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Healthcare Healthcare go to the Asia Rebalance Asia Rebalance go to the Education Education go to the Black Politics Black Politics go to the Science Science