---
created: 2025-07-23
updated: 2025-08-04
title: State Department
aliases:
  - U.S. Department of State
  - Department of State
  - "United States Department of State"
tags:
  - Organization
  - Government
  - USA
  - Diplomatic
  - Foreign Policy
  - Dark_Alliance_Investigation
description: The United States Department of State is the federal executive department responsible for the nation's foreign policy and international relations.
category: "U.S. Government"
summary: "The State Department serves as the federal executive department responsible for the United States' foreign policy and international relations."
---
The [[State Department]] serves as the federal executive department responsible for the [[United States]]' foreign policy and international relations.

### Middle East Policy and the Osirak Incident

In June 1981, following Israel's bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at [[Osirak bombing]], the State Department issued a formal condemnation. This public stance contradicted President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s private acceptance of the raid.[^2]

### The Moscow Signal Cover-Up

The State Department played a central role in managing the U.S. government's response to the [[Moscow Signal]], establishing a classified program code-named the [[Moscow Viral Study]] to secretly conduct genetic testing on embassy personnel. Embassy employees were deliberately misled about the testing's purpose. The department publicly minimized the dangers despite scientific concerns.[^3]

### BCCI Banking Scandal Involvement

Beginning in 1983, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] started distributing intelligence about the criminal activities of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] to the State Department.[^5] By September 1986, the State Department had access to a CIA report indicating BCCI had owned [[First American Bank]] since 1982.[^4] Rather than pursuing criminal allegations, the department silenced [[Paula Hawkins]] and worked to protect BCCI's operations.[^6]

### Odyssey Network Evidence Destruction

The State Department under Secretary of State [[Henry Kissinger]] received over 30,000 index cards containing client names from [[John David Norman]]'s child trafficking operation in 1973 and subsequently destroyed them, preventing further investigation.[^7]

### Dark Alliance Investigation

The State Department granted [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] political asylum in 1984 despite the [[DEA]] having identified him as a major cocaine trafficker since 1983. It is State Department policy to check with the DEA before approving asylum applications. When the [[Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General|Justice Department's Inspector General]] examined Blandón's immigration records, he found them "in disarray." The same occurred with Blandón's wife [[Chepita Blandon|Chepita]], granted asylum in 1985 despite being reported as a "member of a cocaine distribution organization."[^8]

The State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy for [[Latin America]] was described by a 1992 House committee report as "a domestic, covert operation designed to lobby the Congress, manipulate the media and influence domestic public opinion" regarding the Contra war. The State Department issued a White Paper on Contra drug allegations that belittled every claim except those involving the [[Sandinistas]], studiously avoiding any mention of [[Norwin Meneses]].[^9]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991.
[^3]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 12.
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 366.
[^6]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank*. Random House, 1993, p. 363.
[^7]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
[^8]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
[^9]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 15 and Chapter 9