MS BRUNER: Well, as I mentioned earlier in the program, we are honored to have a keynote speaker who is our champion, who exemplifies integrity and visionary leadership. His unwavering commitment to diplomacy, including this conference, serves as an inspiration for us all. Please join me in extending a warm welcome to the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken. (Applause.)
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you, everyone. Good afternoon.
AUDIENCE: Good afternoon.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Oh, we got a great echo here. (Laughter.) It’s wonderful to see so many of you here. I know we’ve got a lot of folks online, too. And I just want to, first of all, welcome you to the State Department, and I hope this has been a productive day so far.
I was hoping to see you a little earlier today. We had a few intervening events, which seems to happen every day, but I’m glad to be here this afternoon. And whether you’re here in person or whether you’re here virtually, we are thrilled to be joined by so many young folks considering careers in diplomacy, and that’s what I’m here to encourage you to do.
I’ve had a number of jobs throughout my career. I spent a little time as a journalist. I tried my hand very briefly at making movies – briefly and unsuccessfully. (Laughter.) I was a lawyer – for one year, ten months, three weeks, two days, and five hours. (Laughter.)
But eventually, I found my way to the United States Government and to diplomacy. And what I’ve discovered over more than three decades now of being engaged in this is that even on the toughest days – and there are a few – it is incredibly meaningful to go to work every day, trying to advance the interests of the American people by making the world in which we all live just a little bit safer, a little bit more secure, a little bit healthier, a little bit more full of opportunity.
And that’s what our foreign policy is all about – or at least what it aspires to be all about. And in many ways, what we do here is more important, more urgent, and requires us to engage on more things than ever before – certainly more than ever in the 30 or so years I’ve been doing this.
You all know this – and I can see it from all the phones that are out here – technology is transforming everything, from how we live to how our economies function. Rising temperatures, pandemics, food insecurity, and other challenges all demand that we work more closely than ever before with other countries. As powerful as we are, as great the resources are that we have at our disposal, we simply can’t do things effectively alone if we’re really going to deliver for the American people. We have to find ways to work with others, to cooperate with others, to coordinate with others if we’re going to get the job done.
And as President Biden likes to say, right now in this moment we are at an inflection point for our country and for the world. The decisions we make in this particular period of time are likely to share the way the world looks not just for years to come, but potentially for decades and generations to come.
So every day, as you’ve heard, people here at the State Department are shaping and working to shape what that future looks like – working to resolve violent conflicts and unrest and alleviate the deep suffering they cause, from Gaza to Haiti to Sudan; addressing the threat of synthetic drugs, like fentanyl, that have ravaged so many of our communities here at home; building an economy that delivers more opportunity for folks, whether it’s here in the United States or around the world.
The more complex our work becomes, the more vital it is that this department – and the United States Government as a whole – attract a diverse range of thinkers and doers who can help us address these challenges – who think critically, who ask tough questions, who bring…
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