With more constraints on government resources and increasing public demand for information, "the ability to mobilize human and informational resources efficiently will only increase in importance," he adds. Knowledge management was the first use of eDiplomacy at the department, writes Hanson.

As with many new things, a lot of foreign ministries were initially skeptical of ediplomacy. What did 140 character messages and social media have to do with serious diplomacy? There have now been more than enough social media infused international crises to silence those critics.

Images of the charred U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, flashed around the world as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton entered the Treaty Room in Washington and spoke about the deaths of four Americans there. “Today, many Americans are asking, indeed I asked myself, how could this happen?” Clinton said.

The sun had risen over a hazy Benghazi about an hour earlier, and as he grabbed the wheel of his militia’s beaten-up white Toyota pickup, 42-year-old Ibn Febrayir (not his real name) groused to himself that this was no way to treat an ambassador, especially U.S. envoy Christopher Stevens. He had heard war tales about the lanky, good-natured Californian.

Hillary Clinton says she still intends to step down as U.S. secretary of state sometime around January's presidential inauguration, dispelling speculation over reports she might opt to stay in the post amid numerous diplomatic crises if President Barack Obama wins re-election. "It's really still my same time-frame," Clinton told the Washington Post in an interview published on Friday, repeating her plan to step down after one term even if voters on Nov. 6 give Obama another four years in office.

My Brookings paper which launched today, Baked in and Wired: eDiplomacy @ State, tracks State’s remarkable emergence as the leading innovator in its field. It drills into three areas where its use of ediplomacy has been particularly striking: public diplomacy, internet freedom, and knowledge management.

The looming federal budget crunch, coming as the United States reduces its military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, should not slow the State Department’s push to hire more Foreign Service officers, a new report from retired diplomats said.

Recently, the Indian National Security Council Secretariat released recommendations by a joint public-private working group on cybersecurity that aimed to strengthen India’s capability to combat the rising threat from cyberspace.