U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered remarks with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC, June 3, 2013. A text transcript can be found at http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/210198.htm.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC, June 3, 2013. A text transcript can be found at http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/210198.htm

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hosts swearing in ceremony for U.S. Ambassador to Poland Stephen Mull at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on October 24, 2012. [Go to http://video.state.gov for more video and text transcript.]

About the Author: Frankie Sturm serves as Deputy Cultural Attache at U.S. Embassy Warsaw in Poland.

Sitting down to dinner to wrap up two jam-packed days of outreach by Judy and Dennis Shepard in Poland to parents of LGBT individuals, non-governmental organizations, parliamentarians, TV reporters, and others, I was struck by how universally their story resonates even thousands of miles from the United States.

As co-founders of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Judy and Dennis have worked tirelessly to expand LGBT rights and protections through the legal system, while changing hearts and minds by telling the tragic story of their son’s murder due to hate and intolerance.

The State Department is proud to be sponsoring the Shepards on a five-country, two week-plus European outreach trip. The Shepards’ tour includes stops in Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, and… more »

About the Author: Hannah Rosenthal serves as the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.

As the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism and the child of a Holocaust survivor, I have found that the lessons of World War II and the Holocaust greatly influence my professional and personal life.

During my trip to Germany and Poland, I have reflected on those lessons while visiting the towns in which my father and family members lived — and died. After an incredible time in Mannheim, Germany, where my father — who had been a rabbi there before World War II — was honored, my sister and I went to Poland to see how my father and his family lived. I know how they died.

The Rosenthal family came from Beuthen, Germany, in Upper Silesia, the part of Germany that became Poland after the war. 

Bytom is one of the oldest cities in Silesia. Jews had lived in Beuthen — now Bytom, Poland - -since the 11th century. It was a vibrant Jewish… more »

About the Author: Frank Rose serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Space and Defense Policy in the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance.

The European Phased Adaptive Approach to missile defense (or EPAA) is designed to protect our deployed forces and Allies in Europe, as well as improve protection of the U.S. homeland against potential ICBMs from the Middle East.

Today, there is a growing threat from short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles to our deployed forces, allies, and partners. This threat is likely to increase in the coming years as some states make their ballistic missiles more accurate, reliable, and survivable.

That is why in 2009, President Obama outlined a four-phase approach for European missile defense that would augment the defense of the United States against a future long-term threat and provide more comprehensive and more rapid protection to our deployed forces and European Allies against the current threat. The President made clear his commitment to… more »

About the Author: Ivo Daalder serves as U.S. Ambassador to NATO.

At the just-concluded NATO Summit in Chicago, the largest gathering of NATO nations and partners since the Alliance was founded, we delivered on the promises we made at our historic Lisbon Summit 18 months earlier.

First of all, we added details to the Lisbon roadmap for how we will gradually and responsibly wind down the NATO mission in Afghanistan. By the middle of 2013, every district and province in Afghanistan will have Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in the lead for security, with NATO forces in a supporting role. By the end of 2014, the Afghans will be fully responsible for their own security, and the NATO-led combat mission will come to an end. But our engagement in Afghanistan will continue after 2014, with a new mission focused on training and advising the Afghan forces.

Second, even in this fiscally austere time, NATO leaders agreed to… more »