United States Secretary Research Articles

The United States as a ‘Pacific Nation’: Imaginary, Performance, and Spatialisation

ABSTRACT In 2012, then United States (US) Secretary of State Hilary Clinton attended the leaders’ meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, the region’s pre-eminent politics and security-focused multilateral institution. At the meeting, Clinton remarked that: ‘I have said that the 21st century will be America’s Pacific century, with an emphasis on Pacific’, as the US is ‘a Pacific nation’. In this article, we analyse how, in the decade since, US government discourse has continued to narrate a social imaginary of the US as a ‘Pacific nation’ and to attempt to bring that imaginary into being through diplomatic performances and government policy. This has been driven by strategic concerns about the increasing activism of China in the Pacific Islands region and has sought to justify the US’s role, build its relationships, and exercise its power in the region. We argue that when the US is front stage and conscious of being observed, it narrates an imaginary of itself as a Pacific nation and performs that imaginary through its diplomatic performances and policy announcements. But the US’s back stage behaviour, including the non-implementation of policies and the spatialisation of the Pacific Islands region through efforts to discipline Pacific Island countries, build boundaries that exclude China, and emplace the US military presence, reveals its true intentions.

Defining the "Cyber-Pearl Harbor" - Validation of the DSLP-framework in "Offensive Cyberspace Operations Targeting Ukraine: A Cyber Pearl-Harbor"

The use of cyberattacks against organizations, health care and individuals have increased along with the constant digitalisation. Nations have also fallen victim to cyberattacks, often combined with other means of war. A Cyber-Pearl Harbor (further shortened as CPH) is a term mentioned by the former United States Secretary of Defense, Mr. Leon Panetta, who described it as “combined attacks that result in human death and physical destruction and that paralyzes an entire nation”. Gazmend Huskaj used Panetta's definition in order to create a framework (herein the “DSLP-framework”) for classifying an event as a CPH. This study strives to see if the DSLP-framework can be validated since the term has been widely used for the last 25 years. However, a universal definition of the term seems to be missing, therefore it is not certain that the criteria presented in the framework is accurate. A qualitative case study was conducted through a literature review regarding the term CPH and semi structured interviews with three experts were done, which were later analysed through a thematic analysis. The framework was applied to three real life cases: a public health sector in Costa Rica, a TV-tower in Kyiv, Ukraine and the grocery company Coop in Sweden. The result from applying the DSLP-framework to each case was that only the case of TV-tower in Kiev, Ukraine, could be classified as a CPH. The following conclusions were drawn in this study: 1) The framework could not be validated due to lack of data, and 2) The interviewees views differed from the framework making it hard to find common ground.

“WE’RE FAR FROM YOUR ONLY FRIEND”: STANCE TAKING IN POLITICAL SPEECH

Background. The research presents the analysis of Antony John Blinken's, the United States secretary of state, historic and significant public report on May, 16, 2024 during his visit to Ukraine. Politicians perform speeches mainly to outline the perspective for the nations, influencing the others and positioning themselves and the others through the discourse. The stance is defined as a social action which is realized through communicative strategies, and is equated to positioning. Methods. The aim of the article is to study the communicative strategies of stance-taking and positioning and methods of their realization in the mechanism constructing of a political speech. The research applied Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as the research method relating structures of the discourse to social practices based on 'ideological square' (Van Dijk, 1998) of positive-self and negative other presenting. Results. The stance-taking and positioning can explain the use of lexical patterns, constructions and discourse markers in the political discourse. This study argues the implementing of the stance-taking and positioning by the discursive strategies of polarization (positive in-group and negative out-group representation). Conclusions. The stance-taking and positioning in the political speech are presented on three levels (self- (the first order), the other (the targeted audience) positioning (the second order) and the third order positioning, when the speaker demonstrates his attitude to the people (state) not involved in the present interaction). They are implemented by the discursive strategies of polarization that embody the social ideologies (positive in-group and negative out-group representation) including the strategies of group inclusion, self-glorification, positive and negative evaluation and contrasting strategies. The linguistic means of verbalising the strategies of stance taking and positioning include the lexical content of the utterance, grammar tenses and stylistic figures of hyperbole, litotes, metaphor, personification, etc. Metaphors as conceptual and framing device help to present the main political actors, make it possible for political actors to show their stances, achieve goals and have the impact on the value judgements that they make. They express the author's attitude to the message, his points of view, positions, value orientations in relation to the subject of discussion.

Mapping of Potential Fuel Regions Using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles for Wildfire Prevention

This paper presents a comprehensive forest mapping system using a customized drone payload equipped with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), cameras, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors. The goal is to develop an efficient solution for collecting accurate forest data in dynamic environments and to highlight potential wildfire regions of interest to support precise forest management and conservation on the ground. Our paper provides a detailed description of the hardware and software components of the system, covering sensor synchronization, data acquisition, and processing. The overall system implements simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) techniques, particularly Fast LiDAR Inertial Odometry with Scan Context (FASTLIO-SC), and LiDAR Inertial Odometry Smoothing and Mapping (LIOSAM), for accurate odometry estimation and map generation. We also integrate a fuel mapping representation based on one of the models, used by the United States Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to classify fire behavior, into the system using semantic segmentation, LiDAR camera registration, and odometry as inputs. Real-time representation of fuel properties is achieved through a lightweight map data structure at 4 Hz. The research results demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed system and show that it can provide accurate forest data collection, accurate pose estimation, and comprehensive fuel mapping with precision values for the main segmented classes above 85%. Qualitative evaluations suggest the system’s capabilities and highlight its potential to improve forest management and conservation efforts. In summary, this study presents a versatile forest mapping system that provides accurate forest data for effective management.

Exploring Religion as a Tool of Nigeria’s Public Diplomacy

On April 26, 2016, former United States Secretary of State, John Kerr, emphasized the link between religion and foreign policy. He underscored how religion can have either a positive or a destabilizing influence on world affairs. Religion today remains deeply consequential, affecting the values, actions, choices, and worldview of people in every walk of life on every continent. This paper argues that religion, which is often considered a cultural element of soft power, has become an inevitable and important factor in the furtherance of public diplomacy goals in this day and age. It conceptualizes religious institutions as non-state public diplomacy actors. To this end, the influence of religion on Nigeria’s relations with the international community is examined. The study also examined the global engagement efforts of Nigeria’s religious institutions and how they can be better utilized as a constructive instrument for the country’s public diplomacy.

A Latter-day Saint Apostle's Perception of the Southern Bazaar of Liverpool, October 1864

A Latter-day Saint Apostle's Perception of the Southern Bazaar of Liverpool, October 1864

The rapidly evolving monkeypox epidemic: A call to action to leave no one behind.

Within 5 months, an emerging human monkeypox virus (MPXV) pandemic has caused >65,000 cases, leading the World Health Organization to declare it a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Applying former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's idiom, we reflect upon the "known knowns," "known unknowns," and "unknown unknowns" to improve prevention and treatment for this and future pandemics.

Madeleine Albright: Negotiating Gender at Home and Abroad

As the first female United States Secretary of State, Madeleine K. Albright redefined the role of America’s top diplomat. While Albright’s prolific foreign policy achievements are well documented, there has been little analysis of the negotiation style that contributed to her accomplishments. This article argues that Secretary Albright’s negotiation style was formed, at least in part, by the need to respond to her counterparts’ gender‐based stereotypes. Albright managed those stereotypes in two ways: by leveraging them in her negotiations, and by framing her assertiveness so as to avoid a counter stereotypic backlash. How exactly she did so is the focus of this article. Using two case studies from Albright’s tenure as Secretary of State, I draw generalizable lessons for other negotiators looking not only to mitigate, but also exploit, the gender‐based assumptions that they face.

Seward’s Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, 1863–1866

The ‘Egyptian Intervention in Mexico’ remains a little-known episode in the history of American foreign relations. This article examines United States Secretary of State William Seward’s protest against that intervention, demonstrating that his response was both a restoration and an expansion of the Monroe Doctrine.

Economic and Financial Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Review and Analysis

One year ago, both the World Health Organization and the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a public health emergency. Within weeks, confirmed cases were announced in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Responses in the form of lockdowns, travel restrictions, widespread cancellation of events, facility and workplace closures, and agricultural disruption resulted in vast social and economic disruption. These disruptions led to stress and volatility in the financial markets and the largest global recession since the Great Depression. While regulatory measures instituted since the Great Financial Crisis have increased resiliency in the core of the financial system, the COVID-19 shocks nevertheless revealed systemic financial problems. The crisis also saw unprecedented intervention by central banks in the form of credit and liquidity facilities. Combined with additional fiscal and monetary policy responses, as well as regulatory intervention, the government responses reached truly unprecedented levels.This paper provides a review and framework for policymakers, regulators and educators to evaluate the U.S. financial and economic policy responses undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, it examines several critical areas of financial stability concern that were brought to light during the pandemic: stresses in central clearing counterparties, pre-emptive redemption of money market fund shares by investors in response to broaching of weekly liquid asset levels, and extreme dysfunction in credit and U.S. Treasury markets. Finally, this paper touches on the critical equity and financial inclusion impacts of COVID-19, as an area that deserves urgent attention and the full force of economic and financial policy.

Affect and its instrumentality in the discourse of protection

ABSTRACT This article engages theories of affect to explore the instrumentality and power of emotions in policy spaces, specifically the United Nations Security Council’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. The concept of affect is applied to an analysis of the pillar of “protection,” exploring the role of discourse and emotions in the narrative creation of the “vulnerable and violated other woman.” This article analyzes speeches made by Hillary Clinton, United States Secretary of State and WPS ambassador, leading up to the passing of the second landmark United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) on conflict-related sexual violence, UNSCR 1888 (2009), in order to explore the power of emotions in WPS. It is argued that the racialized and gendered narrative of vulnerability used by Clinton enacts sympathy and pity, and that this affect is produced through a colonial history and continues to reproduce inequality and hierarchy.

Place of the United States Secretary of States in the power system and formation of the country external course (XX - at the beginning of XXI century): historical backgraund

The article deals with the position of the head of the US Department of State - Secretary of State in the US government system and his role in shaping the country's foreign policy. The author emphasizes the lack of basic research on this topic and the availability of only factual material on the activities of the Secretaries of State in various historical periods of American history. It is noted that the Secretary of State's position is not quite similar to that of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, since he serves in this country in two roles: as the President's foreign policy chief adviser and as the head of a vast diplomatic corps. The author points out that the role and status of the Secretary of State is not regulated at the constitutional level and provides a list of powers of the Secretary of State and notes their extension since the creation of such office in 1789. The author points out that, before the Second World War, in most cases, in the tandem, the President-Secretary of State was the second to formulate the foreign policy of the country and to initiate its implementation, and was able to do justice to the president. Secretaries of State such as R. Lansing, B. Colby, and C. Hughes have enjoyed the trust of their presidents and have had a significant influence on the conduct of American foreign policy. During the presidency of F. Roosevelt and G. Truman, these individuals were themselves Secretaries of State, maximally moving the heads of the State Department to the background, giving them the opportunity to "bring order" not in the foreign policy arena, but in the State Department. It was not positive for the role of the Secretary of State and his Office the adoption of the 1947 Act establishing the National Security Council and the separation of a separate position - the President's national security adviser. From this very moment, the leaders of the National Security Council began to popularize the idea that foreign policy is not just one of the activities of the state, but directly a component of national security. Of course, this has led to increased NNG involvement in the country's foreign policy, which has often led to conflicts between the President's National Security Advisor and the Secretary of State, and the US President himself has not always supported the latter. It is noted that the Secretaries of State under Presidents J. Kennedy, L. Johnson, and R. Nixon, J. Bush Jr. played a rather indirect role in the country's foreign exchange. In contrast, Presidents D. Eisenhower, R. Reagan, B. Clinton and B. Obama respected and acted in tandem with their secretaries of state.

COVID-19-A Guide to Rapid Implementation of Telehealth Services: A Playbook for the Pediatric Gastroenterologist.

COVID-19-A Guide to Rapid Implementation of Telehealth Services: A Playbook for the Pediatric Gastroenterologist.

A tale of two cities: Annapolis and St. Augustine balancing preservation and community values in an era of rising seas

PART 3. ENHANCING RESILIENCE, ADAPTATION AND SUSTAINABILITY - Linking Resilience, Sustainable Heritage and Community Livelihoods /// Annapolis, Maryland and St. Augustine, Florida, are colonial cities on the East Coast of the United States with National Historic Landmark designations recognizing the strong blends of natural and cultural resources that make each unique. Annapolis faces nuisance flooding that is challenging the above-ground resources and the natural settings and cultural frameworks that support and enhance them. St. Augustine has witnessed dozens of hurricanes and frequent coastal flooding, impacting the delicate balance of natural and cultural resources in a fast-growing population with significant vulnerabilities. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provides a model for determining community value in cultural resource hazard mitigation planning. These communities can prioritize the protection of historic places threatened by natural disasters by comparing that model against the United States Secretary of the Interior’s factors for determining historic integrity. This framework can serve as a model approach for evaluating public sentiment for the protection and preservation of historic places within the larger context of disaster preparedness and recovery. This can enable communities to evaluate and prioritize places that matter to prepare for and recover from rising waters.

Cross-situational Consistency of Female Politicians’ Language Use

This article seeks to study political discourses of American female politicians, specifically Madeleine Albright, the first female United States Secretary of State in the history of the United States of America, from 1997 to 2001, Condoleezza Rice, the 66th United States Secretary of State, and Hillary Clinton, the 67th United States Secretary of State. Different in age, ethnicity, political views, educational and social backgrounds, they reveal that in order to succeed in the political arena, women are bound to hide their female personality. Examples in question are Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice, recurrent users of such male discursive features as rhetorical questions, logical order of arguments, conceptual metaphors of war, sports, and hunting. Gender-marked female discourse is characterized by hesitation, use of standard speech, cognitive, social words, and hedges. Research shows that Hilary Clinton is a typical example of the female-marked political discourse. This has enabled her to pursue, among others, a feminist agenda, which has proved an efficient communicative tactic. Drawing on the socialization specifics of Albright, Rice, and Clinton, the paper explains why Albright and Rice tend to have a male-marked discourse and Clinton a female-marked discourse, as the first female Secretary of State, Albright simply had no female role models, with only male predecessors before her. She seeks to make her speech as neutral as possible, just at times exploiting female discursive patterns. Condoleezza Rice, Albright’s successor, uses characteristically male discourse the most. It can be attributable to the fact that she belongs to two ‘minority’ groups: women and African Americans. Sounding femalish might have weakened her chances to stay the strong Secretary of State that the geopolitical situation would demand. It is noteworthy that female politicians can, or have to, switch between male-marked and female-marked discourses in order to achieve certain goals and preserve their current status.

Whaling: An International and Environmental Conflict

The tendency to hunt and fish often makes humans turn to animals which provide more significant resources. In the oceans, in specific, whales have been targeted for centuries. Whaling as a concept began around 11th century when European countries started hunting whales for various products. With the migration from coastal areas to pelagic whaling, the market for products from whaling increased. 1946 saw the states joining hands to regulate whaling in order to reduce the amount of damage being done. With the help of establishing a new institution which was ideologically conservative and radical at the same time, drafters of the convention relied on a traditional approach followed by United States of America. Dean Acheson, acting United States Secretary of the State officialized whales as “the wards of the entire world”.

‘Who Tells Your Story?’: Narrative Theory, Public Memory, and the Hamilton Phenomenon

The popularity of Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical Hamilton has been unprecedented. Hamilton tells the story of the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, a founding father who, until recently, was often forgotten in American public memory. Miranda's unique musical, which fuses an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century story with contemporary music and text, features actors of various races and genders in order to tell the story of ‘America then’ by and for ‘America now’. Through a close textual analysis of the musical's script, cast recording, and sheet music, Valerie Lynn Schrader uses narrative theory to explore how Hamilton creates public memory of one of the lesserknown US founding fathers. She argues that, through the narrative paradigm, Hamilton creates what narrative theorist Walter Fisher refers to as ‘public moral argument’,1 through which audience members can discern life lessons, or ‘equipment for living’,2 for their own lives. Finally, the article suggests that the rhetorical theory of Burkean identification may play a role in how public memory of Hamilton's story is formed and how audience members learn life lessons from the musical. Valerie Lynn Schrader is Associate Professor of Communications Arts and Sciences at the Schuylkill Campus of the Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on rhetorical messages in theatre works, especially musical theatre productions. She is herself a classically trained lyric soprano/soubrette.

Determining the Commission of Genocide in Myanmar

Abstract In August 2018, what appears to be a draft statement to be delivered by United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the persecution of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar was leaked to the press. The text suggests that the State Department was considering whether there are grounds to believe that genocide has been, or is being, committed in Myanmar and whether the State Department should issue a statement to this effect. This article surveys the major human rights documentation efforts, academic literature, relevant jurisprudence emanating from the international criminal tribunals, statements of United Nations entities and other states, the results of the State Department’s recent empirical investigation, party and amicus curiae briefs filed before the International Criminal Court, and journalistic accounts of events in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the region with an eye towards understanding the dynamics of violence against the Rohingya — deemed by many to be ‘the most persecuted minority in the world’. The article layers the facts as we know them against established legal principles to conclude that a genocide is in fact underway in Myanmar through genocidal acts committed by discrete sets of actors (including various state organs, the Tatmadaw-Army, regional and local officials, and Rakhine civilians) and also by way of a genocide writ large against the Rohingya within Rakhine State involving the central authorities working in collusion with, and through, regional actors. This article closes with a discussion of the methodological question of the level of certainty that should be met before a non-judicial entity makes such a determination with reference to the various standards employed by commissions of inquiry and courts (both criminal and civil) that find themselves making analogous determinations.

THE MEANING OF JOURNALIST INDEPENDENCE IN THE POST FILM (ROLAND BARTHES’ SEMIOTICS ANALYSIS)

The Post film is based on a true story that tells the dilemmas of the Pentagon Papers publication involving Katharine Graham as the publisher of The Washington Post and her reporters. The Pentagon Papers is the United State Department of Defense’s research document that leaked by Daniel Ellsberg. This document revealed the government's lies about the Vietnam War. This study aims to analyze the meaning of journalist independence in The Post. Phenomenological qualitative research approach with descriptive method are used in this study. Data collection is done by observation and documentation study techniques. Roland Barthes' Semiotics theory, that divides the signification system into denotation, connotation, and myth, is used as the data analysis technique. The results shows that the Washington Post reporters are independence in publishing the Pentagon Papers. This is illustrated in Scene 113 that describes the meeting between Katharine Graham and her best friend, United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who responsible for the Pentagon Papers. The independence of journalist was shown by Katharine Graham, who tries not to be affected by McNamara who suggest her not to publish the document to the public. Keywords: Film, Independence of Journalist, Pentagon Papers, The Post

The shifting landscape of the Medicare administrative appeals process: New opportunities for healthcare providers and suppliers

The Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals has recently announced various initiatives to reduce the number of appeals pending for resolution through the Medicare administrative appeals process. Although federal statute requires that hearings on disputed Medicare appeals be heard and decided within 90 days, current estimates reflect that providers are waiting over three years for a hearing date on their pending appeals. The new resolution initiatives come on the heels of federal litigation against the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) by the American Hospital Association and healthcare providers, demanding the Secretary’s compliance with federally prescribed appeal adjudication time frames. The new initiatives include a lump sum settlement offer, mediation process and consolidated hearing programme which utilises statistical sampling and extrapolation. These initiatives are designed to provide an efficient and expedited alternative to the standard appeals process. Some of these initiatives are currently ongoing and interested Medicare providers and suppliers should understand each programme’s eligibility criteria and promptly evaluate participation.