![]() My first assignment was in Djibouti, where the government established the Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa, which was integral to building the post-9/11 security architecture. On the third day, everybody showed up with their State Department badge, and 9/11 definitely framed the next 20 years, my entire career. I met my future wife the first day of orientation. I took the foreign service exam while I was living with some friends in Washington, DC, and was commissioned as a foreign service officer on September 10, 2001-the day before the 9/11 terror attacks. So, I backpacked West Africa, and came back to the States and went through cultural reassimilation, put on a little bit of weight, and got a job in DC, working on international exchange programs for the State Department, which exposed me to the public diplomacy element of the US Foreign Service. I came to realize that this kind of work was for me. While I was in Mauritania, I had some interactions with diplomats at the US embassy. I spent two years living 80 kilometers from Timbuktu, which I used to write as my return mail address. Ultimately, I decided to join the Peace Corps and traveled to Mauritania. It really opened my eyes about the world, especially in light of my rural Midwest origins. I didn’t love it.ĭuring college, I also took a trip with my parents’ church to Tanzania. Three years into my studies in economics, I took an internship with PaineWebber in Los Angeles. I went to Denison University, a small school in Ohio, principally because I received an academic scholarship and because of my athletic background. I was born and raised in northwest Ohio and was the youngest of seven. ![]() Beamer maintains that a critical element of US national security is the advancement of democratic values and the modernization of information tools, such as Radio Free Europe and Voice of America.Ĭan you tell us about your background and why you joined the US Foreign Service? In this interview, Beamer details his two-decade career in the US Foreign Service focusing on public diplomacy, including assignments in Djibouti, Poland, Slovakia, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic. Chase Beamer, representing the US Department of State, is a National Security Affairs Fellow for the academic year 2020–21 at the Hoover Institution.
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