Washington International Diplomatic Academy

07/31/2025

We were delighted to welcome Ambassador Bill Burns back to WIDA after a four-year hiatus while he served as director of the CIA -- the first career diplomat in that position. His perspective on the often tense relationship between diplomacy and intelligence was especially helpful.

03/30/2025

"While other types of negotiations are mostly transactional, negotiating in diplomacy cannot be isolated from the overall relationship with the other party." Read an excerpt from another "Diplomatic Tradecraft" chapter in WIDA's Diplomatic Diary.

While other types of negotiations are mostly transactional, negotiating in diplomacy cannot be isolated from the overall relationship with the other party.

10/25/2024

The "Diplomatic Tradecraft" book tour continued this week in Geneva, Brussels, Bruges, Copenhagen and Frankfurt. I'm encouraged that more and more ministries of foreign affairs, as well as the EU, are taking formal diplomacy training seriously. The Egmont Palace in Brussels was quite a venue.

09/08/2024

Good officers seek to align other countries’ interests with those of their own government, even if they disagree with policies or instructions

07/31/2024

The 2024 Summer Diplomatic Academy has ended. Thanks to our 40 trainees from 19 countries, both in person and online, for their work and interest in diplomacy. They are now joining our 300+ alumni.

06/30/2024

Policymakers become fixated on policy and fail to focus on the process and methodologies needed to carry out that policy.

06/02/2024

Another excerpt from "Diplomatic Tradecraft."

A country’s diplomatic service is the steward of its national interests abroad, but few outsiders know what happens in an embassy.

05/14/2024

Evacuations from the Covid-19 epicenter in China and the advancing Taliban in Afghanistan pushed us to the limit.

04/01/2024

"Diplomatic Tradecraft," published by Cambridge University Press, focuses on the knowledge and skills that in the past could be learned only on the job. Read the book's foreword below.

"Diplomatic Tradecraft" focuses on the knowledge and skills that in the past could be learned only on the job.

10/02/2023

Foreign affairs agencies should take a proactive approach to using the new technology to revolutionize the conduct of international relations.

08/21/2023

Two years after Afghanistan’s collapse, a former Foreign Service officer’s memories of chaos, desperation and death still haunt him.