Public diplomacy (PD) -- which the State Department defines as "engaging, informing, and influencing key international audiences" -- is not rocket science. All too many academic theories about PD are incomprehensible, pompously-expressed "concepts"...

Mattis is one of the "outliers" -- one of the few top commanders who understand that America's enemies will not be defeated in a pitched battle on a field, but rather through the slow change of hearts and minds around dinner tables and tribal councils in countries in conflict.

This week the United States will welcome South Asian teenagers to the State Departments under the “Seeds of Peace” programme... Founded in 1993 by journalist John Wallach, Seeds of Peace describes itself as being dedicated to empowering young leaders from regions of conflict...

Jared Cohen, the youngest member of the State Department’s policy planning staff, and Alec Ross, the first senior adviser for innovation to the secretary of state, were taking their tweeting very seriously...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spent the holiday weekend on what might be described as a makeup tour. In Central Europe and in the Caucasus, she visited countries that the Obama administration has been accused of ignoring or undervaluing as it has sought to "reset" relations with Russia.

The U.S. government seems to have changed tack by engaging young people to find tech solutions to problems affecting the East Africa region. Previously, the U.S. government primarily used the USAID agency to pursue sustainable solutions...

A significant aspect of this engagement strategy has been to use new media and public diplomacy to express more effectively what America is and why it is carrying out the policies that it does. One outgrowth of this is the State Department's "Conversations with America" series.

Thirty students from across the United States traveled to Kyoto last month under a new U.S. government initiative to boost the country's supply of Japanese speakers, part of its effort to make the country more competitive globally. The student trip is sponsored by the U.S. State Department...