January 2012 Designated "21st Century Statecraft Month"

The U.S. Department of State has designated January 2012 as 21^st Century Statecraft month. Twenty-first Century Statecraft complements traditional foreign policy by harnessing and adapting the digital networks and technologies of today’s interconnected world.

The U.S. Department of State and U.S. Missions abroad have developed a range of initiatives to showcase U.S. diplomatic leadership in leveraging digital networks and technologies in service of its foreign policy goals. Throughout the month of January, U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. and at U.S. Missions abroad will host digital engagements across multiple social media platforms on a wide array of issues to directly connect with the public on foreign policy issues that matter to them. Next week’s engagements include the following events:

• The Secretary of State’s Senior Advisor for Innovation Alec Ross will participate in a Live at State video web chat with journalists and bloggers from around the world to discuss 21^st Century Statecraft on Tuesday, January 10 at 09:45 a.m. EST. You can watch a live webcast of the discussion on video.state.gov.
  
• The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince will hold a Twitter Q&A via @USEmbassyHaiti to discuss our ongoing partnership with the people and government of Haiti two years after the earthquake in January 2010. The discussion will take place on Wednesday, January 11 at 11:00 a.m. EST.
  
• The U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna will hold a Virtual Town Hall about nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear security, and nuclear safety on Friday, January 13. You are invited to submit and post your questions any time between now and then. Chargé d’Affairs Robert Wood will provide answers via video during the week of January 23. The Bureau of International Organization Affairs will post the video responses on its Tumblr page devoted to U.S. engagement with the United Nations and other international organizations.
  
• The U.S. Department of State and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in partnership with the Ramsar Convention Secretariat will showcase the public’s photography in celebration of World Wetlands Day on February 2. Now through January 20, submit your best wetlands photographs via Flickr.
  
• In 2012, U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of the Peace Corps program in Malaysia. From December 31-January 31, the embassy will gather via Facebook photographs and stories related to the Peace Corps era in Malaysia (1962-1983). Follow @usembassykl for updates, as some of the photographs and stories will be featured in a Peace Corps 50th Anniversary publication and photo exhibition.

In addition, Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland will take questions from the public selected from the Department’s 10 official Twitter feeds (Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Urdu) and answer them from the press briefing room each Friday during the month of January. Questions can be submitted using the hashtag #AskState.

Stay tuned to www.state.gov, the DipNote blog, @StateDept on Twitter and the U.S. Department of State’s official Facebook page for additional engagement opportunities on our social media platforms throughout 21^st Century Statecraft month.