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What do you do?
Currently, I am the press attaché and spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. I handle all relations with local and international press here and explain evolving U.S. policy and issues in this region. At present, the mission here is mostly focused on the war on terrorism, and more specifically on the unstable border situation between Pakistan and Afghanistan in which al-Qaeda remnants and Taliban are flowing hither and yon across a somewhat porous, imprecise border in trackless, mountainous terrain.

How did you get your job?
I passed the foreign service test. It is given periodically, once or twice a year these days, although it was administered much less frequently 10 years ago (you can find info on this test at http://www.state.gov/). Once you pass the test, you must get both a medical clearance and a top secret security clearance.

What was the best professional lesson you learned at the J-School?
Take your personal beliefs out of news presentations, and provide as balanced and comprehensive (objective) a rendition as possible. This is very useful for my position as a foreign service officer, particularly since policies and approaches change depending on who is president, which party holds political power, etc. I may personally disagree with a policy, or I may agree with it, but my job is to inform foreign publics about the specifics of the current administration policy. It is, really, the same process a truly professional journalist goes through when he or she covers a particular issue in which they might harbor a personal opinion. The job is to get the truthful info out completely and objectively in service to the public, and not get your personal biases all tangled up in the presentation.

What would be your best advice to current students?
Read the newspaper everyday, really be current on all aspects of national and international events and look for connections and expressions in the local Missouri context. My news writing 101 professor at Mizzou once said, "Unless you really have a daily desire to read the paper and know what's going on, it is difficult to be a professional working journalist." I think that is true.

What do you consider to be your greatest professional achievement?
One thing leads to another. With every new job I have attempted to "add value" to my own wisdom and understanding of the world in hopes that my contribution in conveying information to wider publics (either as a journalist or as a U.S. diplomat) is better informed and more useful. Whether that has been a successful venture or not...? I really enjoyed being a working journalist, moving from cameraman to reporter to national assignment editor at CNN. As a foreign service officer I have learned two foreign languages fluently (Spanish and Japanese) to the point where I gave speeches explaining U.S. policy in those languages, and I have been able to gain insight into foreign lands and cultures by living in "exotic" places for years at a time. Since 1994 I've been posted to (in order) Honduras, Peru, Ethiopia, Mexico City, Yokohama Japan, Fukuoka Japan and now Islamabad, Pakistan. Each place has been just simply amazing.

What are your next career steps?
I plan to continue in the diplomatic service for probably another 10 years. After that, I very possibly will go back to Japan (where I was posted from 1999-2003) or maybe somewhere in South America. It would be interesting to teach at the university level.

What did you want to be as a kid?
Growing up on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, I watched the barges going downstream and wanted to be Huck Finn and adventure south by raft. Basically, I wanted to see the world. Fresh out of undergrad (I majored in international relations at Georgetown), I hitchhiked alone across the Sahara Desert (you cannot do that anymore and live to tell about it) from Algiers to Accra Ghana. I hitchhiked six times coast to coast across the U.S., hitchhiked the trans-Canada highway and all over Europe. Only after that major expedition did I get, somewhat by accident, into television journalism as a cameraman/editor. I came to Mizzou to get my master's much later, when I was already 30.