The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age

by Elizabeth Shackelford

Overview

A young diplomat's account of her assignment in South Sudan, a firsthand example of US foreign policy that has failed in its diplomacy and accountability around the world.

In 2017, Elizabeth Shackelford wrote a pointed resignation letter to her then boss, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. She had watched as the State Department was gutted, and now she urged him to stem the bleeding by showing leadership and commitment to his diplomats and the country. If he couldn't do that, she said, "I humbly recommend that you follow me out the door."

With that, she sat down to write her story and share an urgent message.

In The Dissent Channel, former diplomat Elizabeth Shackelford shows that this is not a new problem. Her experience in 2013 during the precarious rise and devastating fall of the world's newest country, South Sudan, exposes a foreign policy driven more by inertia than principles, to suit short-term political needs over long-term strategies.

Through her story, Shackelford makes policy and politics come alive. And in navigating both American bureaucracy and the fraught history and present of South Sudan, she conveys an urgent message about the devolving state of US foreign policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541724488
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	05/12/2020
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Shackelford was a career diplomat in the U.S. State Department until December 2017, when she resigned in protest of the Trump administration. During her tenure with the Foreign Service, Shackelford served in the U.S. embassies in Warsaw, Poland, South Sudan, Somalia, and Washington, D.C. For her work in South Sudan during the outbreak of civil war, Shackelford received the Barbara Watson Award for Consular Excellence, the State Department's highest honor for consular work.

Her resignation letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, first shared by Foreign Policy, went viral. Since her departure, Shackelford has continued to raise awareness about the consequences of our troubled diplomacy in the press, in academic and community groups, and through other public commentary.

As an independent consultant, Shackelford focuses on human rights advocacy, conflict mitigation, political affairs, and democratic processes. Born and raised in Mississippi, she now lives in Rochester, VT.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

1 Juba, July 2013 1

2 Muddying the Narrative 17

3 Human Rights, America's Just Not That into You 25

4 Stretched, August 2013 32

5 Do Less with Less, Do More with War 38

6 The Blue House, August-September 2013 46

7 Open for Business, September-October 2013 56

8 The Business of Diplomacy 73

9 The End of the Beginning, November-December 2013 79

10 A War Begins, December 15, 2013 96

11 No Safe Haven, December 16, 2013 109

12 Drawdown, December 18, 2013 127

13 Diplomacy Is the Long Game 146

14 Destruction, December 19-25, 2013 155

15 A New Year, December 26, 2013-nJanuary 3, 2014 175

16 Refugees, January-February 2014 (Uganda) 192

17 Trial and Error, March-May 2014 206

18 Leaving Juba, June-July 2014 231

19 Quieting the Voices of Opposition 240

20 The Last Resort, February-July 2015 246

21 All Your Friends Are False, All Your Enemies Real, October 2015-September 2016 257

22 Resignation, 2016-2017 267

Acknowledgments 277

Bibliography 281

Index 283

Editorial Reviews

06/08/2020

Shackelford, a former U.S. Foreign Service officer best known for her 2017 resignation letter accusing the Trump administration of abandoning human rights as a priority, debuts with an indignant and unvarnished portrait of her diplomatic life in South Sudan as the world’s youngest nation descended into civil war in 2013. Shackelford expresses frustration that the U.S. wielded little influence over local strongmen and bad actors, despite being South Sudan’s largest donor; criticizes national security advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, and U.S. Ambassador Susan Page for not using the tools of American diplomacy to hold the South Sudanese military accountable for human rights abuses; and denounces the U.S. government’s “vague condemnations of ‘abuse by both sides.’ ” Though she vividly describes the daily challenges of serving in a conflict zone and the valiant efforts of embassy personnel to evacuate U.S. citizens as the civil war erupted, Shackelford’s overview of the history of America’s foreign relations lacks depth, and her shock that U.S. diplomacy isn’t governed by an overriding interest in promoting human rights comes across as naive. Still, this bracing takedown provides concrete answers to the question of what’s wrong with U.S. foreign policy. Agent: David Kuhn, Aevitas Creative Management. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"An honest accounting by a patriot seeking a deliberate national discourse on what actually makes America great."—Kirkus Reviews

"The Dissent Channel represents an important read for those seeking to reckon with the longer-term shortcomings of American foreign policy, particularly as they concern South Sudan."—Global Policy Journal

"Her keen and empathetic eye brings into sharp relief the disastrous consequences of derelict foreign policy against the brutal backdrop of a fledgling, war-torn country."—Seven Days VT

"Shackleford's book is a damning chronicle of the naivety and gullibility of Western governments. Rather than making good on their expressions of concern, they continued to pour money into South Sudan."—Independent Catholic News

"At a time when many Americans are wondering if a values-based foreign policy is either desirable or feasible, Elizabeth Shackelford offers a passionate and detailed account of the risks of not having one, under the challenging circumstances faced by the Obama Administration in South Sudan. In presenting one side of a complex story, Elizabeth reveals why it is imperative now more than ever that dissenting voices, particularly from those closest to the ground, be heard and answered"—Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO, New America

"In these norm-shattering times, we urgently need to examine and learn from mistakes of the past. This beautifully written, personal story exposes uncomfortable truths about the costs of America's foreign policy approach and, without cynicism, offers some hope for a better way forward—Yara Bayoumy, National SecurityEditor, The Atlantic

From the Publisher

2020-03-02
An American diplomat chronicles the joys and perils of her trade, working in Africa, and the many failures of U.S. foreign policy.

Shackelford may have spent less than a decade as a diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service, but her tales about practicing diplomacy between the shifting priorities and alignments of the State Department and the White House are powerful—and terrifying—nonetheless. After an initial stint in Warsaw, she got her “dream assignment” in Juba, the capital and largest city in the newly independent Republic of South Sudan. “I wanted to be in Africa,” she writes. “I wanted to experience diplomacy on the front lines. I wanted to help a post-conflict country find stability and prosperity. I was naïve. I was looking for a real challenge, something unique. Juba was it.” Despite her inexperience, Shackelford’s compassion for the locals and dexterity in navigating the complexities of interfactional conflicts earned her pervasive respect—and later garnered the State Department’s highest award for consular work. The primary narrative thread is the bloody civil war between newly elected President Salva Kiir and his former vice president, Riek Machar. The author chronicles her desperate attempts to save civilians while drafting sharply worded cables urging the State Department to investigate war crimes. Between these disconcerting dispatches, Shackelford offers a condensed history of U.S. foreign policy that is nonpartisan but also painfully direct as well as pointed criticisms of the system under which she worked: “Could we have prevented war in 2013? Likely not. But we could have prevented our complicity, and mitigated the scale of suffering by championing our values and condemning human rights violations and anti-democratic actions.” The author also discusses her resignation after submitting a “dissent cable,” the last resort for any diplomat to push back against grievous misdeeds.

An honest accounting by a patriot seeking “a deliberate national discourse on what actually makes America great.

Kirkus Reviews