U. S. STATE DEPARTMENT
(United States Department of State)
Most experts believe that this objective was sustained all through the Afghanistan War in the early 21st century.
Yet we continued to give the government aid.
The American Embassy in Berlin had wiretapped the telephone and telegraph wires of the German Foreign Ministry. The man who did that was hired by Secretary of State Lansing as the first employee of the new unit.
The United States had just ousted the popularly elected leader Patrice Lumumba {640611}, and backed Mobuto. Lumumba was an idealist who was not corrupt at all, but were not so sure about our new protégé. Sadly he turned out to be one of the worst kleptocrats of all time, and he stole with more United States money than we gave to many nations in toto. Many believe that one of the reasons, corruption of our “allied” leaders was so bad lies in the wording of this cable. Note that to the State Department writers there was “normal” corruption as opposed to excessive corruption. Once that view is taken there is a constant battle to determine whether each new act of corruption is “normal “ or not, and corruption is simply lessened by pushing back against the most abnormal schemes. These critics advocate a zero tolerance for corruption especially with United States AID money. The State Department has been ambivalent and have often used the corruption system to bribe leaders to obtain national objectives.
After the U.S. Ambassadors to Chile refused to deliver a demarche {610338} to the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on U.S. objections to a proposed assassination, the State Department decided not to act and as a result the former Chilean foreign minister, Orlando Letelier and his American assistant were murdered in Washington DC the next morning. This incident became known as the Condor scheme. Incredibly, for years the State Department covered up the fact that they had advance knowledge of a murder that was committed in the United States and did not act. Pinochet, many years later was tried for his many crimes.
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the nation's foreign policy and international relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nations, its primary duties are advising the U.S. president, administering diplomatic missions, negotiating international treaties and agreements, and representing the U.S. at the United Nations. The department is headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building, a few blocks from the White House, in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.; "Foggy Bottom" is thus sometimes used as a metonym.
