Security Debrief

Nextgov – State Department promotes Internet diplomacy

For the first time in its history, the State Department is conducting international relations by encouraging online interaction between individual Americans and foreigners. But the risks associated with this approach are unknown so far, said the department’s new media strategist on Monday.

Calling the tactic, “21st century statecraft,” Alec Ross, senior adviser for innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, explained that this use of information technology to move beyond “traditional government-to-government diplomacy to people-to-people diplomacy” is “a big move forward in terms of how the State Department engages with the wider world.”