Department of State

www.state.gov

Possible Story Ideas

Most regional reporters cover few if any foreign policy stories during their time in Washington. So why include the State Department in this book?

Because implementing the president's foreign policy is only one of this agency's chores. It's also the place to call if someone is injured, killed or arrested overseas.

If that someone hails from your circulation area, it's a story for you.

Some other possible stories that would involve the State Department:

A child from your state or region has been abducted by a parent during a custody battle and taken to another country.

Travel warnings have been issued for a country now being visited by a local (to your paper) missionary group.

Hmong refugees are being resettled in the city where most of your readers live.

The deputy secretary of State who's an expert on the world's latest hot spot went to high school and college in your circulation area.

The State Department also issues passports and visas, offers background notes on other countries, conducts daily press briefings on a wide range of events and issues, and even provides a "stakeout" area for reporters to question the secretary of State and visiting foreign dignitaries.

Strict Ground Rules

Even some reporters who cover the State Department full-time - their cubicles are in area of the building called "the bullpen" - complain that it's difficult to get past the wall of press officers.

There is no paper phone book, though there is one on the State Department's Web site (www.state.gov).

And reporters who want face-to-face, on-site interviews of State Department officials have to be escorted to and from the officials' offices. The escorts are not supposed to stay during the actual interview, though.

State Department officials - including press officers - are permitted to talk to reporters for stories, but only after the officials and reporters agree on exactly how the information can be used or attributed.

There's on the record; on background (the remarks may be quoted and attributed to a "State Department official" or "Administration official"); on deep background (information cannot be quoted or attributed, only used with such phrases as "it is understood" and "it has been learned"); and off the record (the information cannot be used in the story; it is only for the reporter's background knowledge).

Privacy laws also prevent press officers from giving certain information to the press. When an American is arrested overseas, for example, press officers can comment on what happens when a person is arrested and can confirm the circumstances. But the arrested person cannot be named by the State Department unless that person has signed a privacy waiver - most people don't.

The privacy protections end with a person's death - if his or her family says it is OK to identify them.

Press officers also have a guide on the policy for each country and region. That dictates what they can say on the record.

They can speak on radio, but are not permitted to do on-camera interviews.

Useful information

Regional newspaper reporters don't have a place to write or file at the State Department. But local or Washington-based TV crews can do standups at either end of the second floor mezzanine overlooking the C Street Diplomatic Lobby. That offers a background display of flags from every country with official relations with the United States.

Reporters can also attend the daily press briefings (the ones on C-SPAN) at 12:30 p.m. in the Carl T. Rowan Press Briefing Room 2209. A transcript of the briefing is posted the same day on the State Department's Web site.

Speaking of the Web site (www.state.gov), it offers a wealth of information on the makeup and mission of the State Department.

It includes information about the department's various bureaus, including the Bureau of Consular Affairs, which issues 7.5 million passports a year.

It offers detailed background on each of the 180 countries the United States has relations with, including information on geography, history, people, political conditions and travel.

Its A-to-Z section offers links to information on everything from adoption of children born overseas to background notes on Zimbabwe.

You'll also find transcripts of the latest TV interviews with Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is in charge of 250 U.S. embassies and other posts around the world.

More useful information: 

FOIA requests must be made in writing, then faxed or mailed - not e-mailed - to (202) 261-8590 (FAX) or Margaret P. Grafeld, Information & Privacy Coordinator of Information Resources Management Programs and Services, A/RPS/IPS, SA-2, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20522-6001, Re: Freedom of Information Act Request. (For more info, visit http://foia.state.gov/  

The Intergovernmental Affairs Office provides international services to state, county and city officials. Say, for example, the governor of the state you write about is taking an official trip abroad. Or the Sister Cities program in your circulation area is gearing up. Contact this office for help. 

The USAID - the U.S. Agency for International Development - coordinates with the secretary of State as it awards contracts and grants that could involve a business or non-profit in your city or state. 

The Department of State is located at 2201 C. Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20520.

Web Resources

The Office of Press relations, www.state.gov/r/pa/prs

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's page, www.state.gov/secretary

Briefing transcripts, www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb 

Country background notes, www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn

U.S. embassies overseas, http://usembassy.state.gov/ 

Office of the historian, www.state.gov/r/pa/ho

Terrorism, www.state.gov/s/ct

Travel warnings, www.travel.state.gov

Does this agency's information need updating? programs@nationalpress.org