American Diplomat Podcast

Arizona State University's American Diplomat – The Stories Behind The News podcast, co-hosted by Ambassador (ret.) Pete Romero and Ms. Laura Bennett have casual conversations with American diplomats about newsworthy events from around the world.

Our mission is to provide informative entertainment to the listening public from our nations’ diplomatic practitioners. The conversations with this elite cadre of career diplomats seek to give the listener a better understanding of the very human dimensions of those serving on the front lines of war, crises, and conflict around the world.

Ambassador (retired) Pete Romero and Ms. Laura Bennett (a writer and videographer) host weekly, 20-40 minute podcasts featuring conversations with active duty and retired US diplomats. These intimate, lively and informative conversations center on the personal recollections and reflections…their stories…as they succeed, fail and enter the fray again to advance our national interests overseas. They discuss what they really think about dealing with foreign leaders and reveal their thoughts about dealing with tribal leaders, militias and thugs.

Latest Podcast Episodes

American Diplomat Podcast - [node:title]

March 11, 2021

F.W. de Klerk, Winnie Mandela and Cyril Ramaposa

We all know the importance of Nelson Mandela, but great as he was, he did not work alone.

March 4, 2021

Trifecta

It all began with a call from the police.

February 25, 2021

Bahrain, So Small, So Important

The Arab Spring - Tunisia, Egypt - we know about these places. But Bahrain is almost never in the news.

February 18, 2021

The Shining City on the Hill?

But we're Americans. We don't lose wars. False!

February 12, 2021

The Secret Dinners

Like Chicago mobsters, hard line parties grab to divvy up the riches after the genocide in Bosnia has stopped.

February 4, 2021

The Ugly American

Or a traitor, anyway.

February 1, 2021

Bonus Repost: That Day I Had to Run

Again in honor both of Black History Month and Linda Thomas-Greenfield's recent appointment as US ambassador to the United Nations, we repost our seco

January 27, 2021

December 17, 2010

Mohammed Bouazizi, an underemployed fruit seller, sets himself on fire, launching what we later began calling the Arab Spring.

All podcasts

The Podcast Team

Ambassador

Amb. Pete Romero had a twenty-five year career as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service. In his last three postings, he was head of our embassy in El Salvador, US Ambassador in Quito, Ecuador and Assistant Secretary of the Western Hemisphere Bureau at the US Department of State.

Co-Host

Laura Bennett has written, directed, produced and edited short films that have won 11 awards and screened at 35 festivals throughout the United States. Laura speaks Spanish, French and English and has traveled in five continents, often solo and working as a volunteer.

The Intern

The best interns in Washington DC work for the American Diplomat podcast. Angela Martins is an undergraduate in Communications. She is the webmaster of the American Diplomat web page. She also maintains and takes suggestions and comments regarding the podcasts.

Learn more

Read Pete’s paper “Living Up to the American Idea,” published in the Foreign Service Journal’s September 2020 issue.
Pete testifies before Congress on the need for diversity in the Foreign Service. To read Pete’s full testimony, click here.
U.S. Ambassador (Ret.) Peter Romero speaks during Saturday’s “Foreign Service Day” at George Mason University.
Roles of Chief Diplomats
U.S. Diplomats Talk Brazilian Politics at Ford School
Peter Romero’s article “The Making Of Plan Colombia” as featured in the Jan/Feb 2018 Issue of “The Foreign Service Journal”
“The Hill: Here’s our plan to bring diversity and fairness to the Foreign Service” Co-authored by Peter Romero.
A good brief summary of the life of a US Foreign Service family.

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