On Tuesday, distinguished ambassador Thomas Pickering spoke at GWU’s School of Media and Public Affairs (on his birthday, no less!) about his experience on the advisory panel that investigated the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, as well as Russia, Iran, and the future of U.S. public diplomacy.
The talk was part of the Third Annual Walter Roberts Lecture, which brings in prominent figures in public diplomacy practice and academia to speak on relevant issues of the times.
Tara Sonenshine, who spoke at the Second Annual Walter Roberts Lecture, responded in a blog post on her sentiments in introducing the ambassador. Former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and current Professor of Practice at GWU, PJ Crowley, was also in attendance, as well as Frank Sesno, director of the School of Media and Public Affairs, who led the conversation with the ambassador.
Some tweets from the event:
Happy birthday, Amb. Thomas Pickering! #PickeringPD The room is singing!
— IPDGC (@IPDGC) November 5, 2013
TP: We did everything we could to see that the mistakes (from Benghazi) were not repeated #PickeringPD
— IPDGC (@IPDGC) November 5, 2013
Ambassador Tom Pickering @IPDGC: Domestic politics turned #Benghazi from a diplomatic tragedy into a catastrophe. #PickeringPD — Philip J. Crowley (@PJCrowley) November 5, 2013
TP: Washington is out of touch with what’s going on in the field of #diplomacy. #PickeringPD — IPDGC (@IPDGC) November 5, 2013
Q: “You speak of making international promises we [USA] can’t keep, what is an example of this?” TP: “The Cairo Speech.” #PickeringPD @IPDGC — Miles Hayward (@miles_hayward) November 6, 2013
Ambassador Tom Pickering @IPDGC: By relying too heavily on military action, we have lost sight of the value of diplomacy. #PickeringPD
— Philip J. Crowley (@PJCrowley) November 6, 2013
Thank you to all who attended. Please visit our website for a video and transcript of the event here.
