A Conversation with Career Ambassador David Satterfield

Career Ambassador David Satterfield has served as special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Assistant Secretary of State, National Security Staff Director, Ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey, also Charge d’affaires in Iraq and Egypt. He is currently Director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, leading the Institutes Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East. With this conversation, Ambassdor Satterfield highlights his recent article, "The Role of US Diplomacy in a Changing World". At the outset of his article, Ambassador Satterfield says, " There is an enduring critical role for diplomacy—personal and institutional—in a world that is always changing. Today’s diplomacy is facilitated by technology in terms of access to information and communication within Washington, from Washington agencies, between DC and overseas posts, and among our missions to an extent unimaginable when I entered the Foreign Service in 1980. The days of the airgram are long past, of waiting for encrypted teletype messages to be deciphered and printed, of mastering Wang computers and the art of producing documents on daisy wheel printers—and good riddance to all!" The article includes discussion on positive changes, problems and challenges and Diplomacy in action in today’s world.  In conclusion, Ambassador Satterfield says , "The bottom line is that there is a great present and an enduring future in diplomacy and a need for the best diplomatic practitioners possible in today’s world and the world of tomorrow."