The US Department of State held a key event on campus to help promote recruitment. The event was co-hosted with Congressman Henry Cuellar. They came to give remarks and influence the importance of young professionals finding careers in the Department of State. The event was designed to answer some questions about the Department of State, as well as the application process, and the some of the criteria to earn a position.
Rep. Cuellar welcomed Ambassador Arnold Chacon to come and speak to the students attending. Chacon was accompanied by two other top government officials, John Roberts and Derwood Staeben. At the recruitment booth was one of the State Department’s recruiters named Faisal Khan. Chacon is currently the director general of the Foreign Service and director of human resources for the State Department. Roberts is the Diplomat in Residence, and Staeben is the director of recruitment.
“It is vital that we encourage greater diversity, especially among Hispanics, in the workforce at the State Department and across the federal government,” Congressman Cuellar said.
The event happened at STC 236 in the Rotunda. It was a part of TAMIU’s Business and Hospitality Career Fair where other government agencies alongside other business and services came to recruit fresh minds from the university.
“We’re here to recruit diverse, talented men and women who can effectively carry out the Department’s mission of shaping a peaceful, prosperous, just and democratic world. We thank Congressman Cuellar for extending this opportunity to speak with the students at TAMIU,” said Chacon.
Congressman Cuellar was able to stay and answer some questions pertaining to recent international events that the State Department is active in.
The first was on the recent terrorist attack in Belgium. The Congressman previous release a statement condemning the attacks.
“The violence experienced today is tragic. The cowardly acts perpetrated today are a reminder that we need to remain vigilant in this day and age. Our European allies and the world have experienced too much senseless violence, and we must stay on guard to keep Europe and the rest of the world safe from events like these and bring those responsible to justice. My thoughts go out to the Belgian people and those impacted by today’s attacks,” said the congressman.
Concerning international relations, Cuellar was asked about some possible plans and strategies the State Department could push to counter this kind of violence. The Bridge asked him about a possible pan-European intelligence network. Turkish President Erdogan said that the European nation were aware that one of the attackers was hostile, but they took him in as he was being deported from Turkey. The congressman did agree that Europe need to work together more to deter these kinds of threat because now they are spanning across the European Union. The nations are able to trade fairly easily, but vital information and intelligence could also be passed around the EU. The Paris attacks last year were done by Belgians who crossed into France. If the borders are open, then so does the flow of security information.
Following the same topic, Cuellar was asked about changes in NATO’s mission. NATO was originally established to deter the Soviet threat during the Cold War, but much of that has change since then. Russia has been somewhat aggressive, but terrorism has hit heart of these NATO nations in the United States, UK, France, and now Belgium. The NATO allies cooperated to some extent in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, but their mission does not entirely mandate a form of collective security amongst the member nations. Cuellar agreed that the NATO nations do need to come together and decide on topics like these. The terrorist threat pays no regard to boundaries and borders, and hits targets wherever they can by unconventional means. Be believed that a collective network and a system seen during the Cold War could be used again here. As the Islamic State expands its reach and attacks outside of Iraq and Syria, the allied nations of NATO need to cooperate and expand their military capabilities to deter and confront them.
