us department of state

DanceMotion USA is a cultural diplomacy program that supports U.S. foreign policy goals by engaging international audiences through educational opportunities, performance and cultural exchange. The program is a people-to-people international exchange initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, produced by BAM.

The US says it has temporarily evacuated its staff from the Libyan capital Tripoli over security concerns. Staff, including marine guards providing security to the embassy, have been transferred to Tunisia "due to the ongoing violence resulting from clashes between Libyan militias," it adds. Secretary of State John Kerry said there was a "real risk" to staff. It comes amid fierce clashes between rival militias in the capital, with intense fighting at Tripoli airport.

The State Department on Monday awarded a task order worth up to $275 million over the next five years to AT&T Government Solutions to design and provide secure telephone and communications systems run over the Internet to more than 300 U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide.

When reports emerged that tens of thousands of children had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border by themselves since October, Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, proposed legislation to freeze most U.S. foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, where the majority of the children come from, and also Mexico for letting the children through. Joined by 11 other members of Congress, Weber said the bill would hold these countries accountable for the unprecedented number of undocumented children flowing north into the United States. 

Boko Haram’s horrifying abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria ignited universal calls for help to “bring back our girls.” President Barack Obama responded with urgency, but lost in the story is that one tool the United States would like to have at our disposal is hampered by the absence of U.S. ambassadors in neighboring Cameroon and Niger.

For the third year, the U.S. State Department is funding the University of Southern California's American Film Showcase, a $3.3 million program that sends American documentary filmmakers and their movies around the world to show them a side of America they may not know.

Bahrain ordered a top U.S. diplomat to leave the country on Monday after he met with a leading Shiite opposition group. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Tom Malinowski is not welcome in Bahrain. It said he intervened in the country's domestic affairs by holding meetings with some groups at the expense of others.

The United States officially ended one of the most ineffective and widely criticized programs of the last decade aimed at undermining the Cuban government, the State Department revealed Monday. Foggy Bottom's inspector general released a report showing that AeroMarti, a multimillion-dollar boondoggle that involved flying an airplane around Cuba and beaming American-sponsored content to the island's inhabitants, quietly ended in April. 

Pages