Foghorn Aug. 4, 2016 Mtg - Jeffrey D. Levine, US Ambassador to Estonia

Having retired from the Department of State on Nov. 30, 2015 after 30 years of service he is now working for an Estonian technology start-up.
Ambassador Levine started his talk to the fascinated club members by answering questions he said he often received, starting with, how did you get to be an ambassador? It begins with the wish to represent a country overseas, he said. He described various career paths including in foreign service or a political path that would include those with close personal relationships or connections such as fund-raising, with the President. From there, skill sets or talents determined whether a person should become an ambassador. Some countries, he noted, such a Saudi Arabia, seem to prefer ambassadors who have followed political paths, with experience in foreign or public policy. 
Another question Levine says he often gets is, what do ambassadors do? They serve as a respected personal representative of the President. As such, he added, ambassadors focus on the relationship between that country and ours, and are responsible for military people though not active-duty personnel in the countries in which they are working, and are responsible for the safety of Americans in those countries.

                                    
What does an embassy do? Embassies are involved in agreements pertaining to economic or communication links between their countries and ours, and work to keep such communication channels smooth. They can be thought of as invisible, he said, while they allow contact with countries outside of our borders. They help explain to those countries the U.S. and aspects of its culture that might be difficult to understand, and Levin paraphrased Pres. Bush’s comment to the effect that if the world understood us then it would support us. He went on to say that embassies are also involved in commercial advocacy, issue visas, protect American citizens abroad and ensure that they receive equal treatment under the laws of the host country. He added that generally Americans are well-treated.
He went on to correct some popular fallacies that exist about embassies: American embassies are not, in fact, American territory or “little pieces of America.” Not true, he said. Embassies are inviolate (if I understood him correctly) in that you need the permission of an ambassador to enter them, and diplomats have certain special privileges.
But in the world, he continued, “there is always a crisis somewhere,” and went on to list major crises that he had seen since 1985 including holdovers from the Cold War, Nicaragua and the sandanistas, Sept. 11, conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and Ukraine and Brexit. 
He praised President Obama for a “superb” job in foreign affairs, citing the Nobel Prize award received early in his administration, and Obama’s support of relationships with American’s foreign allies. He also praised the U.S. military. He suggested that while any blots on America’s image in the world come from internal issues such as government shutdowns, the high cost of health care, gun violence, disagreements over incarceration of minorities or political questions such as Trump’s policies, America is still seen as a land of opportunity with its top-quality universities, medical care and willingness to step in and help on the international stage when and if needed. 
He criticized what he saw as an increasingly partisan versus an objective and impartial media. As challenges we face now he listed building a relationship with Russia. He mentioned the Middle East and Syrian civil war in which we did not get involved, the dangers posed by ISIS including its role as a rallying point for terrorism, and the need for those involved in the Israeli-Pakistan conflicts to develop their own solutions. 
In answer to a question from Rotarian Brian Lee as to how he assesses things from his perspective, he spoke of the opportunities that still exist here, the difficulties he faced during the Bush administration and noted that people (abroad) may disagree with American policies but still like Americans.