American Diplomat Podcast

Real U.S. diplomats share the untold truths behind world events—what went right, what went wrong, and what you’ll never see in the news.

Want to know what it’s really like on the frontlines of international diplomacy?  Each week, Amb. (Ret.) Pete Romero and co-host Laura Bennett sit down with active and retired US diplomats to pull back the curtain on the gritty, human side of international affairs.  From dealing with foreign leaders to navigating the chaos of war zones, these diplomats share the stories that drive the headlines.  

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Latest Podcast Episodes

We love Thanksgiving, and our diplomats especially love the holiday when celebrated overseas.  What better way to celebrate an American tradition of thanks than to share it with our friends abroad?  Plus, what's the best way to slaughter a turkey?  Better ask the Uzbeks because the Americans really don't know....
They left to join the recruiter-imams' war.  Now they're back home in Kosovo.  How to make these young men peace-loving Kosovars once more?  Greg Delawie explains.
Jim Dobbins, National Security Advisor to Bill Clinton, riffs on what it's like to work for Bill under the cloud of impeachment more than 20 years ago.
Mike Polt, who previously shared his experience in Serbia, shares a contrasting tale of successful adaptation to new circumstances in Estonia.  What can we learn from these two tales?
Michael Polt shares his perspective on the honored tradition of the State Department dissent channel, and discusses his experience in the former Yugoslavia when he arrived as Ambassador to Serbia in 2003, just after the bombings in Kosovo.  What actually was Yugoslavia, anyway?  How did its dictator Tito's death give...
Brand new to the job, Lizzie Slater arrives at Embassy Dar es Salaam ready to begin work on embassy communications of every kind. Then the bomb falls. She is buried and seriously injured. But once pulled from the rubble, does she stop working? Many of us would, but Lizzie climbs trees to place satellites and does every...
Ambassador Prudence Bushnell puts Marie Yovanovitch's recent testimony on Capitol Hill in the context of the Certificate of Commission for all Foreign Service Officers, emphasizing the integrity, prudence and ability that are the guiding principle from which all American diplomats work. The message from Pete and Pru...
The Sequoia: A presidential yacht? A floating icon of American and diplomatic history? A loan gone south? Pete schools Laura on the proper pronoun for a thing of such great beauty (a "she", not an "it") and Mike Cantor does his best to answer our nosey questions about what really went on onboard.

The Podcast Team

Ambassador and Co-Host

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.

Producer and 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.

Sound Engineer

Lorenzo Wilkins heads SD33/Art Direction and Design, focusing on identity, publication and marketing design.  His client list includes the former UPN television, Fox television, PBS, Spike Lee's 40 Acres & a Mule, the NAACP, the National Society of Black Engineers, Jane Firor & Associates, City First Bank of DC, the Education Trust and several political campaigns.

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