diplomacy

"Humility and confidence should be the flip sides of America's leadership coin," Antony Blinken testified at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, where he vowed to work for the "greater good."

Mike Pompeo's critics see his trip to Georgia, less than a month before key Senate runoff races, as another example of the secretary of state breaking norms by getting involved in domestic politics.

The U.S. "not only has a higher percentage of political ambassadors, but has a higher percentage ... who don't seem to be temperamentally or intellectually suited for the work," says an ex-diplomat.

Former diplomat Tianna Spears says she was pulled aside 20-plus times crossing from Mexico into the U.S. "One time, I was told not to look at the officer in the eyes when I spoke to him," she says.

A former diplomat at the U.S. embassy says Ambassador Robert Wood "Woody" Johnson IV told him about the request. "I advised him that doing so would violate federal ethics rules," he tells NPR.