Promoting America: Diplomacy in the Digital Age

The rules of diplomacy were invented by the French in the days of sailing ships and quill pens. Now, instantaneous communications and social media enable foreign ministers and presidents to deal with each other without their bureaucracies and embassies getting the way. Social media puts diplomats in direct contact with the citizens of the countries where they are stationed.

Does digital diplomacy make traditional diplomacy irrelevant?

Currently the Deputy Commandant at the National Defense University,Ambassador Michael Hammer is a career Foreign Service Officer who has had multiple postings in Europe and Latin America, including as Ambassador to Chile. In Chile, Ambassador Hammer and his embassy staff created an impressive digital presence. As Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of State, he pushed the hidebound bureaucrats into cutting-edge digital diplomacy. Hammer will discuss the tension between digital diplomacy and striped-pants diplomacy.